Malmberg: 'I'm not a monster'

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - The man accused of kneeling on 2-year-old Jozlynn Martinez's chest until she died says he is not a "monster" and that the death was an accident.

"I loved her," Jeffrey Malmberg told 24 Hour News 8 in a jailhouse interview on Saturday. "She was my princess." He said he considered himself her father.

Malmberg, 40, was charged Thursday with second-degree murder, tampering with evidence for tossing Jozlynn's body in a Dumpster and larceny for stealing $2,800 from the girl's mother.

Unshaven and in a jail-green uniform, he spoke to 24 Hour News 8 through thick glass in a visiting room at the Kent County Jail, where he's held on a $1 million bond.

His first question: "Did they find her body?"

Malmberg said he'd heard rumors -- unfounded -- that police had recovered Jozlynn's body.

Grand Rapids police detectives say Malmberg admitted to them that he knelt on Jozlynn's chest until she stopped breathing, then placed her body in a trash bag and carried her two blocks to a commercial Dumpster.

He allegedly told them it happened at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 22, at the girl's home, 915 Nagold St. NW. He said police have it wrong, though he refused to go into details. He previously told Jozlynn's mother that the girl accidentally fell down the stairs.

"It was an accident," he told 24 Hour News 8. Jozlynn's mother, Consuela Martinez, 21, originally told police she checked on her daughter about 11 p.m. that night, though she since has said she may have been confused.

"She did not check on her that night," Malmberg told 24 Hour News 8.

Malmberg said that he and Martinez, Jozlynn and their 7-month-old son, Brian, were a family. He said he and Martinez planned to marry on March 20.

He said he has a newspaper clipping at the jail with photographs of Jozlynn and the mom. "I kiss them every night," he said.

He asked reporters to leave Martinez alone. "She lost her daughter one day, then her fiance, and now she's lost her son."

A hearing is planned this month after state Children's Protective Services filed a neglect petition involving the boy, court officials said.