A courageous young girl, desperate to escape a life of mistreatment, leapt from a second-story window and pleaded with strangers for assistance. Despite her cries for help, she was returned to her home and tragically killed just months later, according to investigative reports.

Rebekah Baptiste, a ten-year-old girl, was discovered lifeless on a highway in Holbrook, Arizona, on July 27. It is alleged that she had suffered years of abuse and neglect prior to her death.

Her father, 32-year-old Richard Baptiste, and his girlfriend, 29-year-old Anicia Woods, have been arrested and face charges including first-degree murder, aggravated assault, child abuse, and kidnapping.

Just nine months before her death, Rebekah had managed to escape by jumping out of a second-floor window of her apartment. She sought help, but police reportedly dismissed her claims and sent her back to the couple who now stand accused of ending her life, according to a report by AZFamily.

At the age of nine, Rebekah ran to a nearby QuikTrip, where she confided in the manager about the abuse she was enduring at the hands of her stepmother.

Rebekah claimed Woods made her run laps as a punishment and had ‘hit her with a brush on the back of her hand’, according to ABC15.

The report read: ‘She also stated she was hit with a brush and a belt on her feet, and pointed out bruising and red marks on both of her feet.’

The girl told police that she had escaped after getting into trouble with Woods, who thought Rebekah was pretending to be asleep.

Rebekah Baptiste, ten, died after being found unresponsive near a highway in Arizona in July 

Her father Richard Baptiste, pictured, and his longtime girlfriend were charged with first–degree murder, aggravated assault, child abuse and kidnapping

Rebekah claimed Anicia Woods, her father’s partner, made her run laps as a punishment and had ‘hit her with a brush on the back of her hand’

Rebekah disclosed this during a police interview at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital last October – after running away from home.

The hospital told the DCS about this incident after examining Rebekah, per the new report. 

Rebekah also showed officers a bloody lip and marks on her fingers, in addition to her other injuries.

‘It has happened a lot,’ she said, according to the report.

During a court hearing in September, prosecutors described the girl’s dangerous escape from her parents. 

‘She jumped from a two–story window in an apartment complex,’ Kole Soderquist, the Apache County deputy sheriff, said. 

However, Rebekah’s parents denied abusing her and instead said she was self–harming.

In bodycam footage of when Rebekah was found, Woods told officers that the girl had tried to run away from their Holbrook home multiple times. Baptiste can be seen on the left

According to the new police report, Rebekah previously ran away from home to a QuikTrip convenience store. She told the manager there that her stepmother was abusing her 

Police concluded the case did not warrant criminal prosecution, citing conflicting accounts and a lack of witnesses. 

She was returned to the care of her father and stepmother, who prosecutors say continued with the same abuse Rebekah accused them of until the little girl was killed by it. 

Starting in 2015, 12 reports were compiled about Rebekah’s safety before her death in July. 

She was rushed to hospital, where she died from non-accidental trauma three days later, per the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS). She was ten years old and is believed to have had no family with her.

Doctors said Rebekah showed signs of sexual abuse, was ‘missing chunks of hair’, had ‘severe bruising throughout her body’ and ‘possible cigarette burns’ to her back.

In bodycam footage of the moment police found the girl unresponsive, her step-mother was seen telling officers about Rebekah’s attempt to escape.

‘She just ran away before we came up here,’ Woods said. ‘That one was super scary.’

Rebekah’s uncle Damon Hawkins said that she ‘was black and blue from her head to toe’ and had two black eyes at the time of her death

Her step-mother added: ‘[Rebekah] jumped, she kicked out a screen and jumped out a good two–story window a week before we moved here.’

Prosecutors said Rebekah was running to a well to both get water and seek help.

Teachers at Empower College Prep in Phoenix – where Rebekah and her two younger brothers were enrolled until May – said the children invented ‘stories to protect their parents’ when questioned, according to court documents.

Prosecutors alleged that Woods and Baptiste admitted to hitting the children.

Her father said he hit Rebekah ‘with the belt approximately ten times, with a pain level between one to ten at a seven.’ He said he had used ‘excessive force.’

Rebekah and her siblings had been removed from Baptiste’s home at least once in the past, although he then regained custody.

The family had moved from Phoenix to a rural area of Apache County – about 300 miles north – before Rebekah’s alleged murder.

Baptiste, 32, and Woods, 29, are scheduled to be back in court in January. Their trial is set for June

Her uncle, Damon Hawkins, said Rebekah ‘was black and blue from her head to toe’ and had two black eyes when she died.

Hawkins said he and his wife had alerted Child Services, but his reports – which included allegations of sexual abuse – had been ignored.

‘I made it clear to the investigator and DCS that the system failed her,’ he told AZFamily. ‘We have logs and logs of the times where, over the past years where they’ve been contacted, of the worry that we had.’

Hawkins added: ‘We got word of sexual abuse about a year and a half ago, and they [DCS] turned a blind eye to it.’

Previously, the agency issued a statement after Rebekah’s death, saying that she was ‘a child who was known to the department.’

‘Any time a child in our community is harmed, it deeply affects us all,’ the statement read.

‘Our dedicated staff work tirelessly to ensure the safety of all children. Tragically, those who intend to harm children sometimes evade even the most robust systems designed to protect them.’

The couple is scheduled to be back in court in January, with trial set for June.

The Daily Mail has reached out to the Arizona Department of Child Safety for further comment.