Pasco mother charged in death of 4-year-old daughter

PASCO COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) – A Pasco County mother is in jail accused of murdering her four-year-old daughter.

The child died last August. An arrest report states that she was beaten and restrained until she died.

The police report states that the child’s mother, Sonja Ann Zsiga, 33, was present when the child died and apparently did nothing to prevent the crime.

According to court documents, an autopsy revealed that the child had at least 55 injuries, some of them serious. He suffered bruises and abrasions on his face, arms, legs and upper body.

According to court documents, officers were called to the child’s Newell Drive home on August 18, 2023, after a report of an unresponsive child. When officers arrived, they found 4-year-old Leighana Cover dead.

An investigation revealed on July 5, 2023, that the child showed up at the daycare with bruises on his face.

She was removed from the daycare on July 7 when staff questioned her about the bruising.

On July 23, daycare staff saw additional photos of the child’s injuries, but they never reported the injuries to authorities.

On August 14, she went to see a doctor, who found no injuries. On August 17, she went to see a dentist, who reported severe tooth decay but found no obvious injuries on her face or body.

On August 18, according to court documents, the mother and boyfriend were home with the child and a witness. The witness was in the bedroom with the mother and father, which were separated by a sheet. On the other side of the sheet, the witness could hear the child screaming for more than 20 minutes and described the screaming as sounds of horror, but the mother told him to shut up.

At that point, the witness said, the mother’s boyfriend, Richard Guardino, went to the other side of the room to “calm down” the child, giving him what he described as a “bear hug.” The child stopped screaming, the witness said, but was found the next morning not breathing.

Guardino has not been charged in connection with the child’s death, but he is in prison on suspicion of possession of cocaine and meth.