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A jealous dad beat to death his toddler daughter with a baseball bat because he couldn't stand the amount of attention she received after beating cancer.

Ryan Lawrence, 25, murdered little Maddox in February after alluding to being jealous of the attention showered on her as she bravely battled eye cancer .

The sick killer kidnapped the girl and took her to a "remote, secluded location" in Onondaga County, New York, "then placed her body and the baseball bat in a prepared fire pit" before disposing of the remains, a judge said.

Desperate family members and police put out a missing persons appeal for the pair. Lawrence was found a day later, and his daughter's body recovered some 12 hours after that.

(Image: Youtube/syracuse.com) (Image: Syracuse.com)

(Image: SYRACUSE POLICE DEPARTMENT)

The county's top lawyer, Bill Fitzpatrick, said Maddox, 22 months, had battled and beaten cancer before she was murdered, and that Lawrence had alluded to jealousy over the attention she received as a possible motive, WJLA reported .

According to a detective, Lawrence had asked God for a sign that he should not kill the toddler. He is said to have thought: "God, if I'm not meant to kill her, make her stumble."

(Image: Syracuse.com) (Image: Syracuse.com)

After the plea hearing on Thursday, prosecutor Jeremy Cali told Syracuse.com : "I think there is a sense of closure in him doing this today and him being willing to come in and plead guilty.

And I think it's certainly a benefit to begin to put this behind them and move on as much as anyone can."

Lawrence now faces between 25 years and life in prison. He will be sentenced next month.

Maddox's mum Morgan had wanted her husband to plead guilty in order to avoid the trauma of a public trial, it was reported.