2-Week-Old Beaten To Death By Parents High On Meth

A Georgia couple was convicted, Tuesday, of murdering their 2-week-old daughter and reporting her missing under the influence of drugs.

Courtney Marie Bell and Christopher McNabb from Newton County were found guilty of smoking meth and fatally beating their infant daughter, Caliyah, to death in 2017. They then reported her missing, prompting an investigation. The victim’s body was found in a duffle bag in the woods near the couple’s mobile home, a day after the pair filed a missing report, Fox5 reported. Autopsy report showed the cause of death was blunt force trauma.

McNabb claimed the couple woke up to find the baby missing Oct. 7, 2017, and the door to their trailer ajar. It led them to suspect that their daughter was abducted by someone, who also stole the blue and red Nike drawstring bag in which the body was discovered.

During the trial, the jurors were shown lengthy police body camera videos and they were also taken to the place near the couple’s mobile home where the body was discovered. They also heard from Newton County Sheriff’s deputy Joshua Hicks, who said in his testimony last week that when the deputies responded to the missing child report, they found McNabb wet and muddy. He later told them he was searching the nearby woods for his daughter.

Authorities said the father of the victim admitted to getting physical with Caliyah’s mother but maintained his innocence when it came to killing his daughter. Bell corroborated McNabb’s account. “I am guilty because I did drugs but I ain’t never seen this comin’ that’s my baby. I went to put her to sleep and I woke up and she was gone,” she said during interrogation.

During closing arguments, defense attorney Anthony Carter, who represented McNabb, said the fact that his client was covered in tattoos or that he physically abused Bell did not automatically make him guilty of murdering his daughter. "Probably the worst thing that could happen to Chris is that he loses his child and then he goes to prison for killing his child when he didn't do it,” he said.

Defense attorney Brian Frost, who represented Bell, said: "Nothing my client did caused that death. All of you know what caused that child's death. That's nothing my client did or could've prevented."

However, District Attorney Layla Zon told the court that all evidence pointed to McNabb being the killer, adding that while the state didn’t believe Bell was directly involved in her child’s killing, they believed she was a negligent parent who contributed to Caliyah’s death.

“That child didn't do anything but need love, and her daddy killed her. All this fake crying and fake tears he did during the interviews about how much he loved his children and that he did in the courtroom are a joke,” she said.

The jury found the couple guilty of murder after just an hour of deliberations. McNabb was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 10 years, to be served consecutively. Bell was sentenced to 30 years, with the first 15 to be served in confinement.