POLICE & COURTS

The Buffalo News

Foster mother denies guilt in death of battered girl

Arthurlein Holcomb was indicted Wednesday on two counts of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree manslaughter in what an Erie County grand jury described as "depraved indifference" to the life of her 22-month-old foster daughter.

Holcomb, 35, of Lisbon Avenue, was ordered to remain jailed without bail after she pleaded not guilty before Erie County Judge Sheila A. DiTullio.

Holcomb, whose husband, Anthony, was in court for her arraignment, has been in custody since her arrest hours after Jaymaya Auls, one of her two foster children, died Oct. 26. An autopsy showed the girl had suffered severe injuries.

At that time, Holcomb reportedly told police that she needed "help for my anger."

The couple's 10-year-old daughter and 4-year-old foster son have been placed with Child Protective Services.