Inset: Terica Pearl (Etowah County Jail). Background: The hearse at the West Gadsden Funeral Home in Gadsden, Ala., where Terica Pearl allegedly discarded a dead baby (WBRC).
An Alabama funeral director experienced a “level of shock” that he has never felt before on Saturday — allegedly finding a dead baby girl inside of a hearse that was sneakily placed there by a 29-year-old woman, who is accused of murdering the child, cops say.
Terica Pearl, of Gadsden, is accused of discarding the child at the West Gadsden Funeral Home sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning, according to local reports.
Police were first called on Saturday morning after a groundskeeper went to move a hearse and located the child”s body in the back, NBC affiliate WVTM reported.
City officials and the funeral home director, Dantez Robinson, spoke to AL.com and other outlets about the disturbing discovery before Pearl was arrested on Sunday. They all urged whoever was allegedly responsible to be brought to justice and for the girl to be properly laid to rest, which Robinson has vowed to do.
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“To do this,” Robinson said, “you’re sick in the head.”
Robinson reportedly said the hearse was locked and empty when he parked it the night before the child’s body was discovered inside.
“It’s pathetic,” he told AL.com. “Whoever this family is, whoever done this, we’re going to bury this baby. We’re going to give this baby the proper burial. To have life taken so early, we’re going to stand up and bury this baby.”
The Gadsden Police Department says Pearl allegedly killed the child and then placed the infant’s body inside the hearse, with it being exposed and not in a casket.
Robinson told AL.com that a groundskeeper initially thought the baby was a doll of some sort.
“He just noticed something,” Robinson recalled.
“He was just shocked,” the funeral director reportedly added. “To see that and to see my employee in disbelief, I was lost for words when I put the call out to the police department.”
The Etowah County Coroner’s Office reportedly confirmed the child was 21 months old.
Gadsden Mayor Craig Ford told local outlets in a statement that the case has been “tough” for everybody involved, including cops. “An arrest doesn’t take away the hurt, but it does mean we’re one step closer to justice for this child,” Ford said.
Robinson, who is also the area’s assistant coroner, told AL.com that he has seen a lot of macabre and disturbing things over the years, but this rivals all of it.
“To see something like this really sent me into another level of shock,” he said. “We want this baby to have justice.”
Pearl, who is charged with murder, was behind bars Sunday without bond.
