CROWN POINT | Jada Justice's 18-year-old baby sitter and the young woman's boyfriend took drugs and schemed a desperate cover story after killing her and trying to get rid of her body, prosecutors allege.

Engelica Castillo, 18, and her boyfriend, 24-year-old Timothy Tkachik , both of Hobart, were charged Friday with murdering the 2-year-old Portage toddler. They also were charged with two counts of neglect of a dependent, battery and false informing.

"This tragic ending is not the outcome we were all hoping for," prosecutor Bernard Carter said Friday in a statement. "The relentless efforts by all involved shows that Northwest Indiana has a big heart."

Prosecutors accuse the two of abusing heroin and marijuana in the hours leading up to the girl's death, only to try more than once to dispose of her body and concoct a story about her disappearance.

In his testimony to police, Tkachik blamed the girl's death on Castillo, saying the girl died hours after Castillo beat her in the head with her knuckles and after the girl struck her head against a table.

Tkachik said Castillo spanked Jada in an attempt to potty train the girl, but that it escalated June 13 into harsher beating that he claimed to have tried to stop Castillo.

That night, the couple realized Jada wasn't breathing in a car seat in the back of Tkachik's car, on the way to Porter County to buy heroin, Tkachik told investigators.

The two stopped the car, tried administering CPR to the girl, but realized she was dead, court documents state.

"I told you to stop," Tkachik told investigators he told Castillo. "I told you enough is enough."

They returned to Hobart where they left Jada covered in the back seat of Tkachik's car for hours while driving Castillo's car back to Porter County, then to Chicago, and back to Hobart, records state. Back in Hobart, Tkachik placed Jada -- covered in bumps and bruises -- in garbage bags in the home's basement before he and Castillo went to sleep, court records state.

The next day, in the couple's attempt to burn Jada's body in a hole in the ground in rural Westville, Tkachik badly burned himself trying to ignite the fire, he told police. The couple drove back to Hobart, leaving Jada's body exposed in the burned-out hole, he said.

The next day, after purchasing materials from a Merrillville hardware store, the couple drove back to Westville where Tkachik placed Jada into a blue plastic tub, poured concrete in and waited for it to harden, records state. After it had dried, he chipped away the tub, dropping her concrete-encased body into a nearby swamp, records state.

He later directed police to the spot, records state.

A Lake County coroner's spokesman said Friday that Jada's death was a homicide by blunt force trauma. Numerous skull fractures were revealed during the girl's autopsy, charging documents state.

She was positively identified Friday by a family member by a photograph, LaPorte County Coroner John Sullivan said. Sullivan said he wanted to spare the family from seeing Jada's body in person.

Sullivan said he could not determine when the girl had died, based on the autopsy.

Castillo's lawyer, T. Edward Page, said Castillo planned to plead not guilty to the charges.

"We believe that once all of the evidence is presented to a fair and impartial jury at trial, she will be cleared of responsibility for her cousin's death," Page said. "She is distraught over her cousin's death and distraught that she has been accused of it."

It was unclear Friday if Tkachik has retained a lawyer.

Both Castillo and Tkachik each could face up to 65 years in prison if convicted. Castillo and Tkachik both are being held in Lake County Jail without bond.

They are expected to appear in court Monday.