This Monday, a 72-year-old grandmother was detained in North Carolina on suspicion of fatally assaulting her 8-year-old granddaughter.
The daughter and “many additional siblings” resided at the mother’s home in the town of Nashville, according to a news release from the Nash County Sheriff’s Office, who named the lady as Patricia Ann Ricks as the child’s legal guardian. Although Ricks’ granddaughter’s name has not been made public, the sheriff’s office reports that she was 8 years old.
After being apprehended by authorities on Tuesday, Ricks is now accused of first-degree murder and felony child abuse that resulted in significant injury. She is presently detained without bond at the Nash County Detention Facility and is scheduled to make her initial appearance in the county’s district court on Thursday, according to the sheriff’s office.
The county sheriff’s office deputies and detectives started an inquiry into the circumstances of Ricks’ granddaughter’s death on Tuesday.
Just after 4 p.m. that afternoon, the sheriff’s office received a call reporting a dead child at one of the nearby emergency rooms. The girl had perished by the time Nash UNC Healthcare’s ER received word of her “serious injuries” to her head and torso.
Ricks was the girl’s primary carer, so the inquiry immediately brought police and investigators to her Nashville home, where “it was established that the 8-year-old child was so severely beaten by the Grandmother that she died from the injuries,” according to the sheriff’s office.
When Ricks was detained, she did not provide a statement to the sheriff’s office, and according to the authorities, it is still unclear what the possible reason for the alleged crime would have been. In addition to living at their grandmother’s house, the siblings of Ricks’ granddaughter have been given into the care of Nash County social services.
