ANCHORAGE — A Whittier man charged with murdering a 2-year-old has been indicted on new allegations that he persuaded his girlfriend to falsely confess to the crime, Alaska State Troopers said today.
Shaka Levshakoff, 27, was charged with interfering with official proceedings, a felony, on Monday in connection with the case that began with the death of Annemarie Nimmo on June 24, 2007, troopers said.
The mother of the child, Shaunteala Graham, 23, testified for the state at the grand jury proceeding, troopers said. She previously told troopers in interviews and a written statement, after Levshakoff was charged with first- and second-degree murder, that Levshakoff was innocent and that she unintentionally killed her child.
Troopers investigating the case learned Graham was at work when Annemarie stopped breathing. The toddler had severe bruises on her face and elsewhere on her body, according to an affidavit filed in court by troopers investigator Mark Granda.
Levshakoff, on the other hand, was alone with the child in Whittier's Begich Towers, the affidavit says. And in the end, he was the one charged with murder. He pleaded not guilty Oct. 7.
In an interview with the Daily News last fall, Graham described being hung over and irritable while she was getting ready for work the day Annemarie died. She was frustrated at the child for being "constantly right in the way trying to get hugs and kisses."
She said she collided with Annemarie while trying to get ready for work and, at another point, elbowed her. The youngster hit her head on an armrest of the couch, she said.
Annemarie started crying, and Graham held her, said she was sorry, and the girl appeared to be OK, she said. Only when Levshakoff later called her at work did she realize the girl wasn't OK, she said.
Read the full story at adn.com.
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