A woman has been charged with murder after the body of a two-year-old girl was discovered inside a house in Sydney's south-west this week.
Detectives launched an investigation into the girl's death and, on Tuesday evening, went to a hospital in the Blue Mountains where they arrested the woman.
The woman was taken to Katoomba Police Station where she was charged with one count of murder. She was refused police bail and appeared in Penrith Local Court on Wednesday.
Police say the girl was murdered some time between 6am on Saturday and 12.30pm Monday [September 13], according to court documents.
The body of the toddler was found inside the bathroom of the weatherboard home in Miller just after midday on Tuesday, after a family friend became concerned after she had not seen the child or her mother for several days.
The friend initially asked a neighbour for a ladder to scale a fence, before she was able to get into the house and discovered the child's body.
A NSW Police statement said detectives "will speak with the child's relatives and neighbours in an effort to determine the chain of events leading to the child's death".
The mother did not apply for bail, and it was formally refused, at Penrith Court on Tuesday. She appeared via video link from the Amber Laurel Correctional Centre this morning.
Neighbour Patricia Ingram said a woman who claimed to be the family's next of kin had knocked on her door on Tuesday morning asking if she had seen the family.
"She said [the girl's mother] had a [car] accident ... up at the Mountains ... I presume it must have been on Sunday ... she said [the mother and the boyfriend] had a big fight and broke up on Friday."
The house remained a crime scene on Wednesday morning, as forensic police continued to examine the scene.
A post-mortem examination will determine how the girl died, police say.
The case was adjourned to Campbelltown Local Court on November 9.