DETROIT -- A 3-year-old Detroit girl was killed Tuesday during a visit to South Carolina with her family.

Serenity Richardson's uncle, Darryl Thomas, said his sister, Ieshia Richardson, took the girl to visit a friend in Summerville, S.C. Thomas said the girl was left in the care of a friend while her mother was in the process of moving there from Detroit.

Thomas said the family got a phone call from police saying the girl had been beaten and burned to death.

Erica Mae Butts, 23, the woman who was caring for the girl, was arraigned Friday on homicide by child abuse.

Police said Butts beat the girl with a belt after she went to the bathroom on the floor.

Thomas said his sister is in South Carolina and attended Butts' bond hearing. She was denied bond.

Butts apologized to her over a monitor from the Charleston County jail.

"It's terrible. I just don't know how anyone could do that to a baby," Thomas said.

The girl's grandmother, Anna Richardson, said the last time she saw her granddaughter they put together a little pink spider and spelled her name in sparkles. She said she can't conceptualize why someone would hurt her granddaughter.

"I can't explain the words or hurt a mother feels making that unwise choice ... it was at Serenity's expense. She didn't deserve it," Anna Richardson said.

The family is asking for financial help to bring the girl's body back to Michigan.

Anyone interested in donating can do so to the Serenity Richardson Memorial Fund at any Bank of America branch.