MELBOURNE, Fla. -- A 27-year-old man remains under observation in a special cell today after being charged in the death of his ex-girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter last week.

Joseph C. Wente of Melbourne was charged with first-degree premeditated murder of Kataryn Johnson on Friday and was ordered held without bail during a Saturday court appearance at the Brevard County Detention Center, Local 6 news partner Florida Today reported.

Kataryn, who investigators said suffered traumatic head injuries, died Friday at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and Women in Orlando, hours after her mother returned home from work about 3 a.m. Friday to find the unconscious child lying on a couch, officials said.

“We found out about what happened during a traffic stop,” said Tod Goodyear of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.

“The mother had swooped the child up and was speeding through Melbourne to get to the hospital when Melbourne police pulled her over.”

The officers saw the unresponsive child and alerted medical authorities.

Kataryn was then airlifted to Arnold Palmer Hospital.

Wente was not Kataryn’s father, investigators said. However, sheriff’s investigators said he does have a 1-year-old son with Kataryn’s mother, an exotic dancer at a Cocoa Beach adult club.

Investigators said Kataryn was in Wente’s care at the time.

Wente, an ex-boyfriend of the mother, had recently moved back into her Melbourne home on Rockway Drive.

Sheriff’s investigators said Wente appeared to have been disciplining the 3-year-old when the injuries happened.

“Something happened; the child possibly broke a plate, we don’t know, but something happened and it went way overboard,” Goodyear said. “He never admitted what happened.”