CEDAR CITY, Utah (AP) — A southern Utah mother and her boyfriend are facing child abuse and murder charges in the death of her 14-month-old daughter.

The Spectrum newspaper reports 24-year-old Cherokee May Dea of Cedar City was charged Wednesday, months after the child died of severe brain injuries. Prosecutors say she also had older injuries, morphine her in her urine and a previous hospitalization for dehydration.

Prosecutors say Dea and her 30-year-old boyfriend Brendan Russel Dalton were regular drug users, and a witness had previously seen Dea shake her daughter.

Authorities say Dalton told police the child went into a sudden spasm that ended in her death while the couple was fighting in April 2016.

Prosecutors say a complex autopsy report that took months to complete delayed charges.

No attorneys or publicly listed phone numbers were immediately available for the defendants.