Body of missing 5-year-old South Carolina girl Nevaeh Adams found in landfill two months after mom's murder
The body of a five-year-old girl, who had been missing for months, was found in a South Carolina landfill site after a suspect, who confessed to killing her and her mother, told the authorities that he had tossed her in a dumpster.
A rescue mission was launched for Nevaeh Lashy Adams, 5, after a family friend found her mother, 29-year-old Sharee Bradley, dead in her apartment in August. The child was nowhere to be found. Bradley reportedly had signs of "blunt force sharp injuries to the head and to neck."
The police arrested the suspect in the case, 28-year-old Daunte Maurice Johnson, who was spotted running from the scene at Lantana Apartments on Gamecock Village Court in Sumter. He eventually confessed to murdering both Bradley and her daughter, leading to a launch of Nevaeh's recovery operation.
Johnson reportedly told officers that he had thrown the child's corpse in a dumpster, which was emptied to landfill by the time police could retrieve her body. Police eventually found her remains on Friday through DNA identification. They reportedly had to sift through nearly 230 tons of trash at the garbage tip to recover the little girl's body.
Authorities have revealed that Bradley and Johnson were "acquaintances," however, the extent of their relationship has not been disclosed. Sumter Police spokeswoman Tonyia McGirt released a statement saying the officers arrested Johnson after he was seen running away from Bradley's house.
Shortly before it was announced that the child was presumed dead, her father, Dupray Adams, made a plea for her safe return, saying: "I haven't slept, I can't eat, that's my baby, this is my last baby. I would never think that this would happen to me", he told ABC10.
Adams, in a separate interview with WIS-TV, described the little girl as a "wonderful child" who was a tap dancer and aspired to become a gymnast.
"She’s just an excellent daughter", he said of the five-year-old. "When she was born, she never cried. She was just so precious."