Adolphus Earl Kimrey II, the live-in boyfriend of Mariah’s mother, Kristy Woods, is in jail and has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges that include first-degree murder and felonious child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury,according to news station WCTI.
Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty against Kimrey if he is convicted.
His attorney, Walter Paramore, did not immediately return a call seeking comment on Thursday.
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Mariah’s mom has not been charged, and authorities have said she has been cooperating in the investigation.
The autopsy found no evidence the girl had been sexually assaulted and no apparent traumatic injuries apart from scrapes on her face and a bruise near her left eye,reports local station WRAL.
• Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage?Click hereto get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.
At the same time, authorities announced the murder charge against Kimrey — nearly two months after Mariah was reported missing in Jacksonville on Nov. 27. Her mother said she had vanished after she’d put her to bed the night before.
Onslow County Sheriff’s Office
When authorities arrived at the home, they found no sign of forced entry. According to a police report, Kristy Woods told authorities “the last time she saw her daughter was around 11:00 p.m. [Nov. 26] when she went to check on her.”
Woods also told authorities that “her live-in boyfriend [Kimrey] checked on the toddler again when she woke up, and told her to go back to sleep. Woods went to check on her the following morning, but alerted authorities at around 6 a.m. when she couldn’t find her.”
“My last memory of her was feeding her and putting her to bed,” Woods toldlocal station WCTIat the time. “I told her I loved her and she loved me.”
The warrant also alleged that Kimrey “failed to notify a law enforcement authority of the death of Mariah Woods and secretly disposed of the dead child’s body knowing and having reason to know the body and human remains of Mariah Woods are of a person that did not die of natural causes.”
source: people.com
