Police found Anthony Lamar Bailey walking on a freeway overpass Wednesday. He was named in a warrant charging him first-degree murder, arson and assault with intent to commit murder. An arraignment was scheduled for Thursday.
Police believe Bailey, 37, shot the children and set the house on fire to cover up the crime before fleeing on a bicycle.
Antonia Bailey, 9, was in critical condition at Detroit's Sinai-Grace Hospital with a gunshot wound in the stomach. Police said the child told an emergency medical technician ``My daddy killed me,'' and ``My daddy killed my whole family.''
``One of the medics working on her told me to go tell the police what the little girl said to him,'' firefighter Lamont Gilbert told The Detroit News. ``Those were her exact words he told me she said: 'My daddy killed me.'''
Her teachers say Antonia is a bookworm who will read anything, from textbooks to local newspapers.
``She was like a sponge,'' said Judith Bryant, who taught the girl in fourth grade last year. ``She wanted to soak up as much as she could.''
Antonia was found late Tuesday with the bodies of three siblings: 11-year-old Sharnice, 3-year-old Ayana, and 1-year-old Lamar. All had been shot and died at the scene, Deputy Police Chief Tara Dunlop said.
If convicted of first-degree murder, Bailey faces mandatory life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Court records show Bailey already was serving six months probation after pleading guilty in March to domestic violence for punching his wife and the children's mother in the face and stomach and choking her. He also was ordered to attend a domestic violence program.
Cole said neighbors reported Bailey had been raising the children and that he was in the middle of a divorce with the children's mother, who has not been seen for about one month.
Homicide Inspector Marilyn Hall-Beard alleges Bailey called his wife about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and told her to watch the news that night. Investigators believe the children were shot about an hour later.
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