VIRGINIA — A Hibbing man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of his ex-girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter.

Prosecutors said 27-year-old Russell Shannon Johnson admitted he caused the March 22, 2012, death of Caroline Shenze Marie Medicine-Chavez while he was committing malicious punishment.

Johnson will be sentenced on July 9. Prosecutors in St. Louis County plan to seek the maximum under sentencing guidelines, which will be determined after a pre-sentence investigation.

Prosecutors had been investigating for over two years when they got a break in the case in last July. A woman told police that Johnson told her the girl was “cranky” the night before she died and he pushed her, sending her flying into a wall where she hit her head.

An autopsy showed the girl died from closed head trauma.