The Michigan parents who killed their three-year-old daughter while potty training her and then buried her body will face up to 40 years in prison.
Erika Finley, 29, and Khairy Simon, 27, murdered their daughter Kimora, stuffed her body in a backpack, and buried her beside railroad tracks near their home in Flint.
Finley was sentenced to 15 to 40 years in prison for Kimora’s 2015 death. She was also sentenced five to 10 years in prison for second-degree child abuse, which will run concurrent to the murder sentence.
Simon was sentenced to 12 to 40 years in prison. He received a lighter sentence because he tried to help authorities locate Kimora’s body.
The young girl’s remains were never found. Police believe they may have been taken by animals.
Erika Finley, 29, (pictured during her sentencing on Wednesday) was sentenced to 15 to 40 years in prison after she killed her three-year-old daughter while potty training her in 2015
Khairy Simon, 27, (pictured Wednesday) will also face up to 40 years in prison for his daughter’s death. He confessed to burying Kimora’s near their Flint, Michigan home
Simon revealed in June that Finley repeatedly punched Kimora and hit her with an extension cord while they were trying to potty train her.
He said he tried to stop Finley, but that she was ‘much bigger’ than him and ‘at the time, she felt like she had to get her point across’.
Simon revealed in June that Finley repeatedly punched Kimora (pictured) and hit her with an extension cord while they were trying to potty train her
Simon told the judge that Finley put Kimora’s body in a garbage bag before stuffing it into a backpack. He then buried his daughter by their home.
Authorities have said they believe both Finley and Simon killed Kimora together.
Genesee Circuit Judge Geoffrey L Neithercut did not hold back as he delivered the sentences on Wednesday, calling the parents ‘selfish’.
‘Ms Finley, you have a stain on your soul,’ he said in the courtroom.
‘The heinous act that you did causes every mother in this community to wonder why. Every parent in this community is appalled.’
Finley previously pleaded no contest to charges including second-degree murder, first-degree child abuse in the presence of another child, tampering with evidence, lying to a police officer, and welfare fraud.
Simon previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and removing a dead body without permission of the medical examiner.
Simon told the judge that Finley put Kimora’s body in a garbage bag before stuffing it into a backpack. He then buried his daughter by their home
Finley must also pay $7,386 in restitution after cashing welfare checks for Kimora for more than a year-and-a-half after murdering her daughter. She is pictured here hiding her face before her sentencing on Wednesday
Neithercut said both would have received life sentences if the case had gone to trial and a jury found them guilty.
Instead both Finley and Simon chose to accept plea agreements this summer.
Finley must also pay $7,386 in restitution after cashing welfare checks for Kimora for more than a year-and-a-half after murdering her daughter, according to The Flint Journal.
An investigation into the parents began after someone reported to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services that they could be abusing their son.
When an employee from the department asked where Kimora was, Finley said she was in Detroit with Simon.
But Simon provided a conflicting story about Kimora, raising red flags.
An investigation into the parents began after someone reported to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services that they could be abusing their son
Relatives then revealed that they had not seen Kimora in more than a year and Simon’s girlfriend of eight months said she had never even met his daughter.
Both Finley and Simon read apologies during their sentencing on Wednesday.
‘I can’t tell how you much I miss Kimora,’ Finley wrote. ‘I can’t tell you how sorry I am.’
‘I realize I have to be punished. I know that no matter how much time I do, it’s not going to bring my daughter back.’
Neithercut was not impressed with Finley’s letter and said she ‘tried to shift some of the blame’ to Simon.
Genesee Circuit Judge Geoffrey L Neithercut (pictured on Wednesday) did not hold back as he delivered the sentences on Wednesday, calling the parents ‘selfish’
‘You could have stopped what happened,’ he said. ‘Then I find out you had the audacity to collect welfare for more than a year after this child’s death.’
‘What a fraud on this town.’
Simon asked for forgiveness in his letter, adding: ‘I want to apologize to everyone that this situation affected’.
Neithercut called Simon’s ‘participation’ in the murder ‘selfish and cruel and sad’.
Both Finley and Simon will be eligible for parole in 15 years or less.
Kimora’s two brothers are now living with a foster family that plans to permanently adopt them.