CYRIL, OK — New court documents released Tuesday say the caregiver of 4-year-old Athena Brownfield beat her to death on Christmas Day.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation announced they'd found the remains of a child in rural Grady County on Tuesday afternoon outside of Rush Springs. OSBI couldn't confirm the remains belong to Athena as they wait for a medical examiner to identify them.
Authorities shifted to a recovery effort after concluding she'd been killed by her caregiver Ivon Adams who was arrested in Phoenix. Adams is in custody in Maricopa County and facing one count of first-degree murder and one count of child neglect.
Athena and her five-year-old sister are related to Alysia Adams. The girls were in Adams's care for at least a year when a postal worker found the older girl outside the home with no supervision on Jan. 10. The postal worker called police and that's when they started looking for Athena.
An arrest warrant affidavit officials say caregivers Ivon and Alysia Adams never took the children to the doctor for check-ups and did not enroll the 5-year-old in school. Alysia Adams is facing two charges of child neglect.
According to the affidavit, Alysia Adams admitted she knew Athena was dead. She told investigators that Ivon Adams beat Athena and held her up by her arms.
"[Ivon Adams] then laid her on the ground and punched her at least three more times in the chest. [Athena] never moved after that," Alysia Adams told investigators according to the affidavit.
The document says Ivon Adams told Alysia Adams that he buried Athena’s body near a fence line near their old property in Grady County.
Investigators interviewed the biological parents of the girls and said they are cooperating with the investigation. OSBI is asking the public not to self-deploy to search for Athena, they warn they could be trespassing or could be contaminating evidence.
