Deborah Mark's friends said they planned to contact authorities... but were too late

Friends of a former pediatrician suspected she was abusing her adopted daughter. Prosecutors say the 4 year old was covered in bruises and had fractured ribs when she died of head trauma last year. Weeks before 4 year old Kairissa Mark died of head trauma, her mother's friends were growing increasingly concerned, according to WZTV FOX 17.

Rebecca Allen has 2 adopted daughters from China who played with Kairissa and the Marks' older daughter. She noticed bruises and was alarmed by what Deborah reportedly did at a children's birthday party a month before Kairissa died.

"It was her right wrist," says Allen. "She was squeezing it while feeding her and she saw me looking and she let go."

Mark's friends say they planned to contact authorities in the Summer of 2010, but were too late to save the 4 year old.

"The week before a child was lifeflighted to Vanderbilt from the Providence area," says Allen. "My heart just sank. I knew it was probably Kairissa."

Defense attorneys argued that Kairissa was malnourished, with health problems that made her prone to falling down and bruising easily. They also pointed out that her father was a stay-at-home dad and the child's primary caregiver. Steven Mark is charged with Aggravated Child Abuse but not murder.