Authorities in Oklahoma said that human remains believed to be missing Athena Brownfield were located in a shallow grave in rural Grady County Tuesday afternoon.
Suspect Alysia Adams, one of the two caregivers of the slain girl, told detectives that the 4-year-old was beaten to death by her husband on Christmas Day.
Alysia said that Ivon Adams “held [Athena] up by her arms” and beat her until she “was not moving and her eyes were barely open.”
“He then laid her on the ground and punched her at least three more times in the chest.”
The woman said that Athena “never moved after that.” Ivon waited until the night, at around 1 a.m., to take the victim's body to an old property in Grady County and bury it “near a fence line” marking the grave with a branch.
Athena was reported missing weeks later when a postal worker found her 5-year-old sister Adina wandering the streets alone and called the police.
Alysia was charged with child abuse for “failing to protect the girl from abuse” while her husband, who was arrested in Maricopa County, is facing first-degree murder charges in addition to child abuse.
