Partin told detectives Ryan Hensley and Dan Turner that “I slapped her up the side of the head.” Hannah had taken ketchup and squirted it in the toilet, she told them.
“I didn’t think it would hurt her,” she said.
Partin, 36, is charged with murder, involuntary manslaughter and child abuse for the death of Hannah on March 8, 2018, while she was babysitting the 3-year-old.
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Prosecutors say Partin abused the 32-pound girl between March 6 and 8, 2018, while babysitting her. Partin admitted “to uppercutting Hannah multiple times and poking her in the chest,” prosecutors told the jury during opening statements.
On March 8, after father Jason Wesche dropped the child off at the neighboring house, Partin picked up the girl and shook her to stop her from crying, according to prosecutors. The child collapsed and died days later at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
The defense team says Partin did not abuse or injure the child, pointing to injuries Hannah suffered while at play on March 6 and 7 and noting that Partin told the child’s father about the incidents.
On Thursday, the jury watched a lengthy interview of Partin with detectives just hours after the child was taken away from the Shank Road house.
Partin told the detectives about falls the girl had in the preceding days, from a toy train and a “face plant” on the gravel driveway.
She told them on that March 8, 2018, Hannah was brought to her house at about 7 a.m. by her father and collapsed within about 30 seconds after asking for a doughnut.
“I swear on my daughter’s life she walking into the house and nothing was wrong,” Partin said in the first interview. “I would never hurt a kid in my life.”
But in the second interview, Partin said she had been frustrated and suffering after having a miscarriage at the end of February.
She said she slapped the child and hit her a couple of times on the chin with a closed fist after detectives pointed out bruising on photos of the unconscious baby. Partin also said she remembered squeezing Hannah when she fussed about her father leaving.
When detectives pressed her about what happened on March 8, telling her Hannah had suffered abusive head trauma and it happened immediately, Partin first said the girl fell on the steps tripping over the blanket and striking her head on the metal part.
After more prodding, Partin said she fell on the steps while holding Hannah.
“I opened the door, I slipped and we when down … we went down hard,” Partin said. “I didn’t hit her Thursday morning.”
Eventually, Partin told detectives that they did fall, but she also shook Hannah.
“She didn’t want him (father) to go to work, and I shook her,” Partin said.
She said she shook the girl by the shoulder but didn’t know for how long.
“It was awful, I didn’t mean to hurt her. I love her,” Partin said.
Detectives left Partin alone in the interrogation room, and when they came back in, she said “I just want to go home, I won’t go anywhere.” They told her she was going to be charged and going to jail.
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