Police in Arkansas arrested a woman and her boyfriend after discovering the body of a six-year-old boy buried under a hallway floor in their home in the Moro community, which is west of Marianna.
Police also found the deceased boy’s sister, also six years old, alive, but they transported her to a hospital after they found burns on her scalp along with other signs of abuse.
Police arrested the mother, 28-year-old Ashley Roland, and 33-year-old Nathan Bridges, who they believe to be her boyfriend. They took the duo to the Lee County Jail and charged them with capital murder. In addition to the murder charges, police charged them with abusing a corpse, endangering a child’s life, and tampering with physical evidence.
The discovery was made on Friday night by Lee County authorities.
According to a news release by the Arkansas Department of Public Safety, deputies from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office called special agents of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Arkansas State Police to the home at around 10:45 pm on Friday, December 16.
It is unclear why the authorities went to the home, but they discovered the six-year-old boy’s already decomposing body buried underneath the hallway floorboards. A GoFundMe page created by the family by a friend indicates that the grandmother visited the home and discovered the girl with injuries indicative of physical abuse, and the boy missing.
Authorities believe the boy died three months ago, and the news release states that the police believe he succumbed to injuries inflicted upon him in the home. Authorities took the body to the county coroner, and the medical examiner will determine how the young boy died and the cause of his death.
The grandmother of the two children had been trying to get custody of them for a long time, and she had obtained a court order last week allowing her to see the children during the weekends, which apparently is when the abuse was discovered.
The GoFundMe page started by the friend, Anita Widely, suggested the discovery was made when the grandmother visited the kids on Friday. She related that the children’s mother concocted a story that the boy could not walk and the girl was at a friend’s house. The grandmother discovered the girl with cracked ribs and looking malnourished, according to the friend.