Man who overdosed in home with dead 4-year-old inside to face murder trial

A Beaumont man accused of causing the death of his girlfriend’s 4-year-old daughter, whose remains were found in an apartment with him and the woman after they overdosed on drugs, must stand trial on murder and other charges, a judge ruled Friday.

Tyler Lawrence Finley, 28, was arrested in 2020 following an investigation by the Beaumont Police Department.

Following a preliminary hearing Friday, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Valerie Navarro found there was enough evidence to sentence Finely to trial on murder charges, as well as child abuse and an aggravated sentencing allegation of inflicting great bodily injury or death on a minor.

The hearing was held at the Riverside Hall of Justice, but the judge ordered the case sent back to the Banning Justice Center for arraignment after a preliminary hearing, scheduled for September 19.

Finley is being held without bail at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.

According to Beaumont police, on the afternoon of December 16, 2020, officers and paramedics responded to Finley’s apartment in the 800 block of East Sixth Street, near Palm Avenue, after receiving reports of an occupant in medical distress.

First responders found the dead girl, whose name has not been released, along with Finley and the woman, Cheyenne Blackerby, 24, who was unconscious and near death from an overdose of unspecified drugs, police said.

She and Finley were taken to San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital, where Blackerby later died. The defendant arranged to convalesce, after which he was incarcerated.

No further details have been released, including the victim’s exact cause of death.

Finley has no prior felony convictions in Riverside County.