A 41-year-old woman is currently in custody, awaiting her extradition to Michigan, following allegations of murdering her 9-year-old son and burying him in a shallow grave. She is also accused of fleeing the state with her other son. The investigation was initiated on January 6 when Detroit police were alerted to a shallow grave in a backyard of a house on the 19700 block of Woodingham. The landlord had made the grim discovery.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy shared with the media that upon their arrival, the police were shown the grave where a human foot was visible above the ground. The child’s hands and feet were also bound, she added. The victim was identified as 9-year-old Zamar King III. Further investigation led detectives to conclude that the boy’s mother, Brandee Katrice Pierce, was responsible for his death on October 24.
The Michigan medical examiner ruled the cause of death as smothering and compression to the neck. Approximately two weeks after the alleged murder, Pierce left Michigan and relocated to Georgia. She was later arrested on unrelated charges on December 20.
The Detroit Free Press obtained a police report from Pierce’s December arrest. The report stated that a concerned citizen in Brookhaven, a suburb of Atlanta, had alerted the police after noticing a 3-year-old boy alone in a car. Responding officers found the boy, who was cold but unharmed. The backseat of the car contained human feces and a deflated air mattress. Pierce admitted to living in the car with the boy and making money by donating plasma. She was subsequently arrested for second-degree child cruelty, and the boy was placed in foster care.
Pierce was released on bail, but was later arrested by Georgia authorities in connection with the murder case on January 10, as per Detroit police. She now faces charges of first-degree murder, felony murder, first-degree child abuse, tampering with evidence, and concealing the death of an individual. She is currently being held at the Cobb County Jail, awaiting extradition to Michigan.
Prosecutor Worthy refrained from speculating on a potential motive for the alleged crimes. She expressed her shock at the case, stating, “I have been a prosecutor for a long time, and I often say that I have seen it all. The horrors of this child abuse case defy that. The alleged actions of the defendant are among the most callous I have seen and hope never to see again.”