Body of abused girl's sister pulled from Michigan grave

Branch County officials Monday exhumed the body of a 3-year-old girl who died in 1995 after her foster mother allegedly pushed her down a flight of stairs.

The girl's foster parents, Becky and Christopher Tucker, first told authorities that the girl had accidentally fallen down stairs at the family's Coldwater home. But the foster mother recently admitted to pushing her.Branch County Prosecutor John Livesay's request to exhume Danielle Tucker's body from a Coldwater cemetery was approved June 8. The body was taken to a hospital in Grand Rapids, where a more thorough autopsy will be performed, Coldwater police said.

The Tuckers moved to Utah in 1996 and were convicted in March of locking another 6-year-old adopted daughter, Danielle's half-sister, in the basement of their Utah home and nearly starving her to death in 1997.

Brittany was found Nov. 4 living in a filthy locked basement room in the family's Utah home. She weighed just 32 pounds.

In a deal with prosecutors in that case, Becky Tucker pleaded guilty to third-degree felony child abuse, while her husband pleaded guilty to a second-degree count.

Becky Tucker, 34, was ordered to the Utah State Prison for up to five years. Christopher Tucker, 36, was given a one- to 15-year sentence.