News Releases
July 3, 2025: DA Hochman Announces Guilty Verdict in Murder of 7-Year-Old Girl by Her Mother, Boyfriend in Hawthorne
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Ida Helen Brockman and Malachi Xavier Whalen found guilty in the brutal torture and murder of A’Miya D. in 2021
LOS ANGELES – A jury convicted Ida Helen Brockman and her boyfriend, Malachi Xavier Whalen, of the torture and murder of Brockman’s 7-year-old daughter, A’Miya D., at their Hawthorne residence in September 2021.
Following a 10-week trial, jurors found 34-year-old Brockman, and 33-year-old Whalen, guilty yesterday in case BA514909 of one count each of murder, also finding true the special circumstance of intentional torture-murder for each, The jury also found both defendants guilty of one count each of torture, and found Brockman guilty of one count of child abuse causing death, and Whalen guilty of one count of assault on a child causing death.
“This was a case that shook us all to our core,” District Attorney Natahn J. Hochman said. “The brutal murder of A’Miya, a defenseless 7-year-old girl, at the hands of her own mother and her mother’s boyfriend is nothing short of horrific. We are grateful that the jury returned a guilty verdict and held both defendants accountable for their cruelty.”
On September 9, 2021, A’Miya was brutally tortured, beaten, and killed by Brockman and Whalen. The couple attempted to frame A’Miya’s biological father for the murder; however, Brockman eventually admitted the plan to frame A’Miya’s father.
According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, A’Miya endured physical torture encompassing over 58 individual injuries, including severe burns, blunt force trauma, multiple fractured ribs, a collapsed lung, and other significant internal injuries.
“I want to acknowledge the hard and tireless work of Deputy District Attorneys David Zygielbaum and Kelly Kraetsch, LASD Homicide Detectives Matthew Landreth and Frank Heredia, and the rest of the Family Violence Division's prosecutorial team, as they sought justice for A’Miya,” District Attorney Hochman added. “Our officewill continue to fight for the most vulnerable among us and do everything within our power to prevent such senseless acts of violence.”
Sentencing for Brockman and Whalen is scheduled for September 12 in Dept. 80 of the Airport Courthouse.
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