RIPLEY — An April trial date has been set for a Jackson County man accused of sexually assaulting and killing 10-month-old Emmaleigh Elizabeth Barringer.

Benjamin Ryan Taylor, 32, currently in custody at the South Central Regional Jail in Charleston, was indicted last week by a Jackson County Grand Jury on two counts of first-degree murder, one count of death of a child by child abuse, one count of first-degree sexual assault and one count of sexual abuse by a guardian, custodian or person in a position of trust to a child.

One of the murder counts includes a specification that the victim was killed during the commission of another felony, in this case sexual assault in the first degree. Taylor could only be convicted of one or the other.

Taylor, of 119 Rondis Hollow Road, Cottageville, was arrested on Oct. 3, the day Jackson County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the 8 Meadowlark Lane apartment of Emmaleigh’s mother, Amanda Adkins. Adkins had called 911 after finding her daughter, bruised and bleeding extensively, with Taylor, her boyfriend, in the basement. According to investigators, no one but Taylor had been with the child since the previous night.

Having suffered severe injuries doctors said were consistent with a violent sexual assault, Emmaleigh was hospitalized and died on Oct. 5.

Taylor admitted to smoking marijuana the night before and drinking some beers, though a responding deputy said he appeared only mildly intoxicated when interviewed. The deputy testified at a preliminary hearing that Taylor said he’d seen the baby was bleeding then claimed not to know what had happened, later saying he had blacked out.

A pre-trial hearing has been scheduled for Jan. 13, with the trial slated to start April 4.