Plea Deal For Father of Child Found Dead Along Minnesota Highway

Austin, MN (KROC-AM News) - A man serving a life sentence for the murder of his daughter's mother is scheduled to enter a guilty plea tomorrow to a murder charge for the death of the child 5 years ago.

40-year-old Dariaz Higgins has submitted a petition to enter a guilty plea in Mower County Court. The document says he has agreed to plead guilty to a second-degree murder charge in exchange for an expedited sentencing process.

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Higgins was transferred from prison to the Mower County Jail last week to face prosecution for the March 2019 death of 2-year-old Noelani Robinson. The body of the toddler was discovered in the ditch along Highway 218 near Blooming Prairie and an autopsy determined her death was caused by non-accidental blunt force trauma injuries.

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The criminal complaint says Higgins told investigators the girl died after she fell off a toilet in an Austin motel room and struck her head, but the autopsy found her injuries were inconsistent with her father's version of the event. Higgins later gave a statement to investigators and stated he left the child's remains in the ditch while driving to the Twin Cities in a snowstorm.

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At the time, little Noelani was the subject of an Amber alert issued by police in Milwaukee Wisconsin. The alert went out shortly after the child's mother was murdered and a four-year-old girl was wounded in the attack by Higgins in the Wisconsin city.

He was convicted of a first-degree murder charge in Wisconsin in 2021 for the shooting death of 24-year-old Sierra Robinson. He also entered a guilty plea to an attempted murder charge for wounding the other child. Prosecutors say the girl had accompanied Robinson while she traveled to Milwaukee from Las Vegas in hopes of obtaining custody of Noelani from Higgins.

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