Adolphus Kimrey II: North Carolina man gets life in prison for killing his GF's daughter, 3, with chloroform
WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA: A man who admitted to killing his then-girlfriend's three-year-old daughter and disposing of her body in a North Carolina lake was given life in prison without the possibility of parole. Adolphus Kimrey II was sentenced on Monday, December 12, in Onslow County Superior Court after entering a guilty plea to the murder of Mariah Woods in 2017 and the disposal of her remains in a lake in North Carolina.
The murderer of Mariah would likely face the death penalty, according to district attorney Ernie Lee. Lee stated that this was the right choice because circumstances had changed in the five years following Woods' death. “I had to look at all the evidence and look at all the facts, the statements that were made, everything and then make the decision based upon my experience as to what would be the best resolution for this case,” said Lee, as per WECT.
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In open court, Lee went over multiple pages of documentation outlining what happened to the three-year-old girl in 2017. Kimrey was Kristy Woods' live-in boyfriend at the time of the child's murder. At their residence in Onslow County, Kristy Woods claimed to have put Mariah to bed on November 26; nevertheless, the next day, Mariah reportedly vanished. Days of investigation later, Kristy Woods passed the FBI's polygraph tests but Kimrey failed them.
On December 1, Kimrey disclosed to the Onslow County Sheriff's Office that he had covered up Mariah Woods' death and dumped her body down a bridge on Shaw Highway close to NC 53 in Pender County. At this point, the OCSO acquired arrest warrants for Kimrey on charges of hiding a murder, felony obstruction of justice, second-degree burglary, felony larceny, and possession of the stolen property.
The following day, detectives started looking at Holly Shelter Creek, where Kimrey claimed to have dumped Woods's body. The bones of Mariah Woods were reportedly found that evening at a depth of 18 feet. She and a sizable chunk of concrete were hidden within the cushion cover of a couch. A white trash bag that had been tied off was covering her body. “It took a toll on [investigators,]” said Onslow County Sheriff Christopher Thomas. “We got started early Monday morning and a lot of them didn’t sleep the entire week. It’s a bitter end to a sad story.”
Chloroform poisoning was declared to be Woods' cause of death by a forensic pathologist in late January 2018. According to the prosecution, Kimrey overdosed Mariah after giving her chloroform in an effort to persuade her to sleep. Lee claimed that Kimrey prepared the chloroform using nail polish remover and bleach. Additionally, he claimed that Kimrie admitted to two other prisoners that he gave Maria too much so that she would sleep while he used drugs, per reports from The U.S. Sun.
“My client accepts full responsibility,” said Kimrey’s lawyer, Walter Paramore. “He’s wept about it. He has expressed remorse. He cared for the child. He did not mean to kill the child.” The lawyer added that at the time of Mariah's death, Kimrey was "consumed and dominated by need for drugs."
Family members of Mariah read emotional impact statements in court detailing their feelings over never getting to see the young girl graduate, attend a dance, or even go to school. While Mariah's mother Kristy said that her daughter "had a smile and a laugh that could brighten anyone's day."