Deborah Mark didn't want people to think she was a child abuser

In a nearly three-hour taped conversation with Mt. Juliet Police detectives and former Wilson County Sheriff's Department Det. Brian Harbaugh played to the jury, Deborah Mark eventually admitted to them that the night before her daughter died, out of frustration she "flung" the child toward a mattress on the floor and her head hit the wall, according to Mt Juliet News.

Mark said she checked on Kairisa at around 11:30 p.m., and she was still unresponsive. She then left the child and got ready for bed. She said she was going to let her "sleep" and see what "happens in the morning."

The next morning at 7 a.m., the child was still unresponsive and had saliva and blood coming out of her mouth. Mark said she went to work and left the child in her husband's care. She got a call from Steven at around 9:30 a.m. saying Kairisa was not breathing and 911 was called.

When the detectives questioned her why she didn't get help sooner, Mark said she thinks she was in denial.

"No way, shape or form would I have wanted to kill her," she said on the tape.

She said looking back she should have gotten help at the 11:30 p.m. time she checked on her.

Mark also admitted she may not have gotten help because she was scared and didn't "want people to think I was a child abuser."

She also said that morning she realized something might be seriously wrong with her daughter and "was praying in the car asking God to help her and for a miracle."