A woman has been charged with murdering her boyfriend’s 1-year-old daughter.
ABC 6 reports Alina Barnes’ body was found buried in a Philadelphia park earlier this week, and the prime suspect, 33-year-old Nyishia Corbitt, led authorities straight to it.
Philadelphia Police Capt. John Ryan discussed integral parts of the crime in detail during a press conference with the media:
“We recovered surveillance video that shows [Corbitt] exiting the apartment complex…carrying the child, who we believe to already be deceased, in a child carrier. Ms. Corbitt then takes the child across the street into the park area… and returns to the apartment complex.”
She was staying right across the street from the park where she allegedly buried the child.
The baby’s cause of death was suffocation, and Corbitt has since been charged with homicide and homicide by suffocation.
Authorities had been searching for the toddler for a week before her body was found. Her whereabouts were finally discovered after Corbitt told her mother the young child had been missing.
Her mother then called the police and they started the search.
Corbitt led investigators to Kemble Park, where the young child’s body was found buried in a shallow grave.
Police have not released any motives behind the alleged murder, however Ryan said Corbitt was “very distraught” during the investigation:
“It’s a terrible tragedy.”
Corbitt and Barnes’ father have a four and five year old, however she was not Barnes’ biological mother. According to police, she had been looking after Barnes for a few weeks.
Barnes’ mother is in the Montgomery County prison on retail theft charges and her father was not present during the week she went missing.
As of yet, no criminal charges have been placed amongst anyone else, but Ryan said it is possible.
The other two children are now temporarily staying with Corbitt’s mother.
At this time information on whether or not Barnes was abused cannot be released, according to Ryan. However, he did say that the Department of Human Services was involved.
Ryan said even though Corbitt was previously arrested five times in Philadelphia and twice in the county, this is her first violent offense.