Tot Says Mom Cooks Her in Oven “Like a Turkey”

A 4-year-old Michigan girl told police yesterday that her mother "cooks me like a turkey in the oven," the Detroit News reported.

Reyna Valentino, 40, called police Jan. 23 and confessed to burning her daughter in the oven, singeing the child's eyelids with a hot nail and beating her other daughter, 5, with a crowbar.

"I felt fire. It burned my back," Valentino's daughter told police in an official account. "She hurts me with a screwdriver all the time."

If convicted of the first-degree child abuse charges, the Hamtramck, Mich., woman faces life in prison.

"She said her heart is hurt and broke because momma doesn't love me anymore," police said of the 4-year-old.

Neighbors said they didn't recognize any signs of abuse in the two-story, suburban home with a "1 God" sign in the front window.

"I didn't realize what was going on. It's horrific. I'm just happy the kids are alive," neighbor Deandre Martin, 28, told the News.

Valentino and her husband, Randy, have three other children - two older boys and a younger infant. All of the children are currently in foster care as Valentino awaits trial.

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