A California mother is accused of a despicable crime after her daughter’s decomposing body was found in a bathtub Friday.
Khadiyjah Pendergraph, 32, was arrested at an Aliso Viejo grocery store hours after her 9-year-old daughter’s remains were found in a bathtub inside their shared Westminster apartment.
Investigators believe the victim suffered cerebral palsy and couldn’t scream to seek help as she was being drowned. They determined the murder occurred on Nov. 19.
Her father, who is divorced from Pendergraph, called 911 after he got no answer from his ex-wife when he showed up at her apartment on Thanksgiving to pick up the girl.
“Words simply do not exist to express the utter heartbreak knowing this little girl could not even scream for help as her mother pushed her underwater and cut her life so tragically and so unnecessarily short,” said District Attorney Todd Spitzer.
