PITTSBURGH -- The father of a Braddock toddler purposely took the girl outside and left her in subfreezing temperatures after knocking her unconscious because he was angry, police said.

William Lorenzo Page, the father of 23-month-old Nyia Page, was arrested Wednesday night on charges of criminal homicide, kidnapping, false reports to law enforcement and simple assault, according to Allegheny County police.

The suspect was already in jail on indecent assault charges against another child in an unrelated case the night his daughter went missing.

Nyia was found dead Sunday in a field in Rankin, not far from her home on First Street. She suffered from hypothermia and exposure, according to the county medical examiner, but the case was ruled a homicide.

Page told police he woke up early Saturday, found the girl awake, got mad when she would not go back to bed, and hit her so hard she lost consciousness, according to a criminal complaint.

Page then took the girl outside wrapped in a blanket and left her on the porch, but said she was still breathing, according to the complaint.

Tiny footprints in the snow suggest the toddler got up and wandered around before she ended up at the wooded location where she was found dead the next day, about a 10-minute walk from home.

Nyia's mother told police she last saw the girl after Nyia tried to crawl into bed with her parents about 12:30 a.m. Saturday. The mother told police she put the child back into her own bed in an upstairs room.

An Amber Alert was issued about seven hours later, after another child told the parents that Nyia was gone. Police, emergency crews and dogs searched in 20-degree weather for most of Saturday and again Sunday before finding the body.

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