Three women have been charged in connection with the death of a 6-year-old North Carolina girl who weighed just 27 pounds at death earlier this month.
Court records also show that the girl, Dominique Moody, had multiple injuries and scarring at the time of her death, the Charlotte Observer reported.
According to the records, she had burn scars, rib fractures, and wounds from “prolonged sitting in urine/feces-soiled items, such as a diaper, for extensive periods of time.”
Other children at the home told investigators that the girl’s legal guardian — her aunt, Tonya McKnight — made the girl stay in a dog crate.
McKnight called 911 on December 16, and responding officers found the home in a state of disarray with a “strong odor of feces and urine.” The home was rat-infested and cluttered with both human and animal feces, an affidavit said.
McKnight, Moody’s adopted sister, Tery’n McKnight, and another woman who lived at the home, Susan Robinson, were charge with five child abuse counts and are being held without bail.
According to WSOC, prosecutors are awaiting lab results, which could lead to murder by torture charges.
The Observer also reported that police had been called to the home five times since 2022.
Tonya McKnight filed for custody of Moody and her sibling in 2020, writing in her filing that the children’s mother “is unstable and not equipped to care for the children.” The mother signed “permanent custody agreements” with McKnight that same year, giving her sister power of attorney over the children.
A court order was issued to that effect the following year.
According to WBTW, Tonya McKnight, 51, is the grandmother to three other children – ages 1 to 4 — living at the home. The status of those children is unclear.
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