A conversation between a San Diego couple has come to light as they stand trial for their infant daughter’s passing.
Elizabeth Ucman, 26, and Brandon Copeland, 25, are accused of fatally starving their three-month-old daughter, Delilah.
The baby girl was found unresponsive on November 9, 2021, after suffering what the prosecution described as "severe malnutrition.”
Highlights
- Elizabeth Ucman and Brandon Copeland are accused of fatally starving their three-month-old daughter, Delilah, in 2021.
- A recorded exchange after their arrest reveals the father admitting that they had "neglected" their baby.
- A family member raised concerns about the couple’s filthy home and mental health issues, reporting them to social services “hundreds” of times.
Image credits: CBS 8 San Diego
Trigger warning: This article contains details about child neglect that some readers may find distressing.
The couple is accused of first-degree m*rder. Both Ucman and Copeland have pleaded not guilty.
According to Deputy District Attorney Francesca Ballerio, Delilah was born healthy but was neglected and starved by her parents.
“She was reduced to less than half of her birth weight,” Ballerio said. “What happened was prolonged severe malnutrition.”
Image credits: CBS 8 San Diego
The defense for both of the accused allege they are guilty of neglect but not m*rder, and that their actions were the result of different mental health issues. They have pointed the finger at Child Welfare Services for failing to take action to protect the infant despite being aware of their clients’ situation.
On January 28, the prosecutor revealed an exchange between the accused after they were taken into custody. The couple was placed in a room together, where they were unknowingly recorded by authorities.
Image credits: CBS 8 San Diego
“Even if we get a lawyer, we are guilty as s**t. We neglected her,” Copeland said to his girlfriend. “I mean, technically, what we did was m*rder.”
Ucman allegedly told Copeland she was “scared,” to which he responded, “Oh well, how do you think Delilah felt?”
During her first month of life, Delilah was reportedly in the care of her great-aunt, Annie Chapman, who was concerned for the child and begged to take her in until the couple cleaned their filthy apartment, located in City Heights.
Image credits: CBS 8 San Diego
Photos from the couple’s apartment showed piles of trash, spoiled food, and animal feces, as per NBC 7.
Chapman said she even offered to take Delilah permanently and suggested adopting the baby, but Ucman refused.
Social workers created a safety plan that the parents agreed to as part of Voluntary Services with the county, NBC 7 reported. Under the agreement, they would not get Delilah back until their home was clean and safe for the child.
Image credits: CBS 8 San Diego
After Delilah was returned to her parents, Chapman still had concerns about the couple’s ability to care for the baby.
The aunt testified that she had reported the home to Child Welfare Services “hundreds” of times.
She said that Copeland and Ucman's home was filled with trash “up to your hips.”
The last time Delilah was seen by a social worker was 55 days before she lost her life in November 2021, weighing only 3.65 pounds (1.65 kg).
Image credits: CBS 8 San Diego
According to San Diego Police Detective Kelly Thibault-Hamill, the father told her he would leave Delilah alone and unattended in a playpen all day.
Copeland allegedly added that he covered Delilah with blankets when she cried, and that Ucman would go days without feeding their child or changing her diaper because she “didn't feel like it.”
The father’s attorney, Courtney Cutter, claimed the couple was “completely overwhelmed” and “functioning at the level of children themselves.”
Image credits: CBS 8 San Diego
She said her client had suffered ab*se and neglect himself as a child, beginning when his substance-dependent mother sold him to a stranger for $1,500.
The defense attorney also claimed Copeland had been malnourished as a baby and suffered burns on his body.
Additionally, she said her client had bounced around the foster care system for most of his childhood, where he suffered physical and s*xual ab*se. When he was adopted, his foster parents gave up their parental rights due to Copeland’s behavioral issues.
Copeland was reportedly hospitalized for those issues and eventually aged out of the foster care system.
Image credits: Jace Di'angelo/Facebook
“There might be some criminality, but you need to look at the whole picture,” the attorney told jurors. “The government only wants you to see the outcome and see it as malicious. Nobody wanted her to d*e. Everybody failed her.”
The couple, who were 21 and 22 at the time, moved from Tennessee to San Diego in 2020 and were initially homeless, but they managed to find housing through San Diego Youth Services, an organization that provides resources to young people from impoverished backgrounds, local media reported.
Similarly, Ucman’s defense attorney, Anthony Parker, insisted that his client had no malicious intentions toward her daughter, saying, “No broken bones, no bruises. At the end of this trial, you’ll find that Delilah’s d*ath was not m*rder … only neglect.”
Image credits: CBS 8 San Diego
Parker said Ucman was ab*sed and neglected by her mother as a child and suffered postpartum depression after Delilah was born.
“Symptoms of postpartum depression made Jade not see a problem with the home,” the defense attorney claimed. “She wasn’t seeing the world or Delilah through normal eyes, but through the lens of postpartum depression.”
He also accused social workers of failing to intervene to save the three-month-old and of ignoring complaints from family members.
“They were content to move forward with only what could be referred to as a watch-from-afar plan,” he said.
The couple is being held at separate facilities, with Ucman detained at Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility, and Copeland at San Diego Central Jail. Both defendants have remained in custody without bail since their 2021 arrests.
"They should be jailed for life," one reader expressed
