A local man who is charged in the death of his three-year-old niece at her family’s home in early December has been indicted for murder by a Clinton County Grand Jury.

Emmanuel Flutur was indicted for murder, a Class A felony, as the grand jury charged that on or about December 8, the defendant “slit the throat…of a minor child; and in so doing, caused the death of minor child, intentionally, or he was wantonly engaged in conduct which created a grave risk of death to another….under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.”

Flutur was also indicted with second degree assault, a Class C felony, “when he intentionally caused physical injury to Benjamin Bulubenchi (the child’s father) when he cut his hand.”

According to former Clinton County Sheriff Jim Guffey, whose office investigated the incident, “screams came across the baby monitor at the residence of Benjamin and Simona Bulubenchi on Beaty Creek Road in Clinton County.

Apparently the father awoke to the screams and went into the room and tried to disarm the suspect.

According to reports, there were several other children present in the room where the three year old victim, Josephine Bulubenchi, was.

The child was taken to the emergency room by the family with Flutur apparently riding with them to the hospital, where the child was later airlifted to another hospital in very critical condition where she passed away soon afterwards.

On December 18, during a preliminary hearing, Clinton District Judge Mike Lawson found evidence to bound the case to the grand jury, which returned the true bills against Flutur, age 33, last Thursday, January 10.

Flutur remains incarcerated under a $1 million bond.