According to court records in the case against him, Ivon Adams, one of the carers for 4-year-old Athena Brownfield when she vanished, reportedly beat her to death and buried her close to their former home.
On January 10, when her 5-year-old sister was observed by a mailman wandering alone outside a house in the Oklahoma town of Cyril, authorities first learned that Athena was missing. Last week, Adams and his wife were both detained and charged in the case. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation reported on Tuesday that it had found a child’s remains and would be transporting them to a medical examiner’s office for positive identification.
Adams’ wife, Alysia Adams, allegedly confessed to authorities during a January 12 interview that her husband beat Athena on Christmas night and “held her up by her arms.” This is according to the affidavit for Adams’ arrest.
The affidavit stated that Athena was “not moving and her eyes were barely open.”The child did not move after Ivon Adams “laid her on the ground and punched her at least three more times in the chest,” according to what Alysia Adams allegedly told police.
The state’s bureau of inquiry stated in a statement on Tuesday that the child’s bones were found “outside of Rush Springs” in rural Grady County.
Ivon Adams, who was detained on Thursday in Arizona, is accused of criminal child negligence and first-degree murder, according to online court records for Caddo County, Oklahoma. Online records show that he is still being held without bond in Maricopa County, Arizona. On Tuesday, he had not yet entered a plea, and CNN was unable to locate a lawyer for him.
Alysia Adams, his wife, is charged with two felonies for child neglect. She is charged with neglecting the kids and failing to “protect (Athena) from physical abuse” by her husband, according to the complaint.
An affidavit in her case states that the kids’ biological mother abandoned them in the couple’s care about two years prior, but the couple neglected to enrol Athena’s older sister in school or take the girls for checkups at the doctor.
Alysia Adams entered a not guilty plea during a court proceeding.
