A North Carolina mother who allegedly made her four-year-old daughter stand for three days as punishment for soiling her pants has been charged with child abuse and first-degree murder after the body of the minor was found buried in the backyard of her home.
According to PEOPLE, a social worker who had not seen little Majelic Young in many months and wanted to know how she was faring, got in touch with the police in May to request for a welfare check to be performed on the minor at her mother’s Charlotte home. And when the police paid the accused mother, Malikah Bennett, a visit, they discovered the remains of the juvenile buried in the backyard of the residence.
The body of Majelic was reportedly decomposed at the time of discovery and recent search warrants disclose chilling details of the circumstances surrounding the minor’s death. Per WSOC-TV, the warrant states that Majelic’s body had been buried in the backyard of the home since last year – meaning she passed away several months ago but Bennett did not inform authorities about it.
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Majelic’s 13-year-old sister also told investigators that for three days in August 2020, their mother forced the deceased minor to stand as punishment for soiling her pants. She added that her little sister was prevented from either sitting or leaving the room during the punishment. The severity of the punishment ultimately took a toll on the minor and she later collapsed and hit her head on the ground.
The warrant also states that Bennett tried reviving Majelic by performing CPR on her but the minor died, PEOPLE reported. And following her death, Bennett allegedly cleaned Majelic’s body and put it in trash bags before leaving it in a car for a number of days. She later buried the body in the backyard. Majelic’s sister also told authorities she was made to help bury the minor.
“I’ve worked homicide most of the last 10 years and I can tell you this case is deeply disturbing,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Lieutenant Bryan Crum said during a press conference. “It’s disturbing to everyone who’s worked it. Crime scene investigators, detectives, everyone involved in this case – many of us are parents, and it’s very difficult to understand how someone could do this to their child, kill their child and bury them and move on with their life as if nothing happened.”
FOX 46 reported that Bennett tried covering her daughter’s death by lying about the minor’s whereabouts anytime people asked about her. Among her lies included claiming Majelic was with other family members.
Bennett’s mother, Tammy Taylor Moffett, has also been implicated in the death of her granddaughter. Moffett has been charged with concealing a death and accessory after the fact to murder. Bennett has also since been denied bond following her arrest in connection with little Majelic’s death.
