Woman charged in boy's beating death

A Sanford woman was charged early Friday with killing a 3-year-old boy in her care, police said.

Ebony Lashaun Watson, 22, was charged with murder, felony assault inflicting serious injury and felony child abuse. She was being held without bond in the Lee County Jail.

The unidentified boy was taken to Central Carolina Hospital at about 1:30 p.m. Thursday, police said. He was transferred to UNC Hospitals, in Chapel Hill, and was in cardiac arrest upon arrival.

The boy underwent three hours of surgery, but doctors said he suffered from massive internal injuries that were the result of an assault, police said. He died shortly after midnight.

Watson was the girlfriend of the boy's father, Eddie Pugh, and she was left in charge of the child. Pugh, Watson and the boy lived at the Regal Inn, 3200 Jefferson Highway.

Watson had someone call 911 from the Regal Inn Thursday, reporting the child was choking, police said. After the boy died, she told investigators that she injured him, police said.