The first-degree felony charges could bring up to life in prison to the mother and her partner.
(Paighten Harkins|Salt Lake Tribune file photo) Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill’s office charged a Sandy couple with child torture, attempted aggravated murder and aggravated child abuse for the alleged mistreatment of the woman’s 3-year-old daughter.
A Sandy mother and her partner have been charged with three felony counts each in the alleged abuse of the woman’s 3-year-old daughter.
The Salt Lake County district attorney’s office announced Wednesday that charges have been filed against Amber Lee Leary, 29, and her partner, Tyrel Scott Belone, 28. All three counts — attempted aggravated murder, child torture and child abuse — are first-degree felonies, which carry a sentence between five years and life in prison if a person is convicted.
Belone was booked into Salt Lake County jail June 28, the day prosecutors say the alleged abuse happened. Leary was booked two days later, on June 30.
The child, identified in court documents only by her initials, is in a medically induced coma, prosecutors said.
The court documents say police arrived at the couple’s house on Saturday, June 28, after receiving a report that a child had been assaulted.
At the house, prosecutors say, Leary led officers to the basement, where they found the child breathing but not responsive, with bruises on her face.
Police then interviewed Belone — who is not the child’s biological father — and learned that the child had just begun potty training before moving to Utah in May, court documents state. Belone told police the training had been going well at first, but that the child had regressed and had been “combative,” the documents said.
According to the charging documents, on the night of June 27 and early on June 28, the child had relieved herself on the floor several times. Belone told officers he tossed the child onto her mattress, but she bounced, “like a rock skipping over water,” and her head hit the wall. Belone said the child was breathing but not responsive, court documents say.
He then called his mother, who court documents say is a nurse practitioner. Belone believed his mother contacted emergency medical services.
Belone also acknowledged to officers that he grabbed the child by the hips and gave her bruises, the documents state. He also told officers that he spanked and hit the girl with a closed and open hand.
Leary told officers that she was about halfway to work at 5:30 a.m. on June 28 when Belone called and told her to come home because he believed the child needed to go to the hospital, the documents state.
She said the child had been fine when she left earlier that morning, according to the documents.
Leary also told officers that Belone’s mother said they needed to take the child to the hospital or they would “both go to jail,” the documents say. However, the documents say, Belone would not let Leary call 911, saying he would go to jail and leave Leary with no money or friends.
Before June 2025, the documents say, Leary recalled Belone as “pleasant and nice” — but he “started getting madder about potty training” the child, and he hated it when the girl cried.
According to the documents, on Sunday, June 22, Belone texted Leary several times saying he wanted to kill the child. When she got home from work, she found the child had a bruise on her head and her eyes were swollen shut. Leary stayed home with the child Monday through Thursday the next week.
According to court documents, the child had a “complex skull fracture with extensive soft tissue injury,” among other injuries.
Prosecutors said in a pretrial detention motion that “while defendant Belone committed these extreme acts of violence, defendant Leary made the choice to watch the abuse happen, made the choice to allow the abuse to happen, made the choice not to seek medical care when needed and made the choice not to seek help from professionals or law enforcement despite the victim’s extreme visible injuries.”
In a statement, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill urged parents who are “struggling with your children [to] please ask for help from friends or family or outside organizations that can help you.”
“As parents, we are meant to protect and raise our children in a healthy environment where they can flourish,” he said.
A note to readers • If you suspect a child is being abused or neglected, reports can be made to the Utah Division of Child and Family Services by calling 1-855-323-3237 or visiting dcfs.utah.gov/child-abuse-reporting-form.