The man accused of withholding information from North Carolina law enforcement about the death of missing toddler, Mariah Woods, has his bond kept at $1 million.
Earl Kimrey, 32, the live-in boyfriend of Mariah’s mother, Kristy Woods, made his first appearance Monday at a hearing in Jacksonville, where a judge ordered his bond remain at $1 million.
Kimrey is charged with hiding three-year-old Mariah’s body, knowing she did not die of natural causes and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors disclosed no new details about the case, and Kimrey’s lawyer Walter Paramore said nothing in his defense.
Earl Kimrey (pictured in court on Monday), 32, the man accused of withholding information from North Carolina officers about the death of missing toddler, Mariah Woods, has his bond kept at $1 million
Kimrey, the live-in boyfriend of Mariah’s mother, Kristy Woods, made his first appearance Monday at a hearing in Jacksonville, where a judge ordered his bond remain at $1 million
Mariah was reported missing on November 27. Onslow County Hans Miller said dive teams found Mariah’s body around 5.30pm on Saturday
Mariah was reported missing on November 27. Onslow County Hans Miller said dive teams found Mariah’s body around 5.30pm on Saturday.
FBI spokeswoman Shelley Lynch said in a statement that the body was in Holly Shelter Creek along Shaw Highway in Pender County creek about 25 miles from the child’s home in Jacksonville.
The medical examiner still needs to identify the body, but investigators are confident it is Mariah, Lynch said.
Kimrey was arrested in the early hours of Saturday morning and deputies charged him in the death. Arrest warrants said Kimrey moved Mariah’s body from where she died, knowing her death was not natural.
Authorities have divulged few specifics of the case, including how the girl died.
Kimrey was brought before a magistrate to be charged with concealing a death, obstruction of justice, burglary, larceny and possession of stolen property.
‘It was too late to save Mariah the moment the 911 call came in,’ FBI agent Stanley Meador said of the call the girl’s mother made last Monday to report her missing.
Kimrey (left) was arrested in the early hours of Saturday morning and deputies charged him in the death of Mariah (right). Arrest warrants said Kimrey moved Mariah’s body from where she died, knowing her death was not natural
FBI Special Agent Stanley Meador (left) and Onslow County Sheriff Hans Miller (right) Saturday
Mariah’s body was found in Holly Shelter Creek (pictured) in Pender County creek about 25 miles from the child’s home
A boat is pictured at one of the search locations. Mariah’s body was found by divers Saturday
Law enforcement search near the Southwest Creek Bridge for Mariah
‘The arrest warrants are public record and the records speaks for themselves. We will not discuss any details related to the homicide investigation.’
One arrest warrant also charges Kimrey with larceny, breaking and entering and possession of stolen goods, according to News Channel 12.
He is accused of stealing two dressers after breaking into a home in Jacksonville between 11pm on Sunday and 3.30am on November 27.
Kimrey has a long criminal history which includes charges for larceny, assault, threats to government and being drunk and disorderly.
The charges date back to 2002. They stretch over several counties and two states.
Police and volunteers turned out in their hundreds on Friday to search for Mariah who, at that time, was still hoped to have been alive
An organizer for the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children speaks to volunteers on Friday before they went out to look for the girl
Social services would not confirm on Friday whether they had ever investigated Kimrey or the home where Mariah was living.
A spokesman refused when asked by DailyMail.com if there had ever been reported concerns about the family and said the information was confidential.
On Saturday, Meador urged people with surveillance footage near where the girl disappeared to call police and share the video as they investigate her death.
He asked businesses or residents who live on US Highway 17 or state Highway 53 in Onslow and Pender counties to call police if they have surveillance cameras.
The toddler had been missing since 6am on November 27. Kimrey and her mother Kristy Woods told police he was the last to have seen her at around midnight on Sunday.
They said he told her to go back to bed and that when they went to her bedroom the next day, she was gone.
Mariah’s biological father Alex Woods said he did not believe Kimrey’s story that Mariah was abducted by a stranger.
Woods, who has not seen her for a year despite claiming to have visitation rights, said he had been trying to get Mariah out of the home but that he could not afford a lawyer.
The toddler had been missing since 6am on November 27. Kimrey and her mother Kristy Woods (pictured with Mariah) told police he was the last to have seen her at around midnight on Sunday
They said he told Mariah to go back to bed and that when they went to her bedroom the next day, she was gone. Kristy Woods pictured with Kimrey
‘Someone just walked right up in there, grabbed the 3-year-old out of the bed and she didn’t cry, she didn’t scream?
‘Nobody heard anything? Four people in the house, two adults and two kids, someone just comes up and snatches the baby and walks out?’ Alex Woods said.
Kristy, who last week disabled her Facebook account after posting the missing person’s appeal for her daughter, claimed that Mariah was taken by a stranger.
In a tearful television appearance on November 28, she said: ‘Please, bring her back.
‘I love her. I’ll do anything that I can, whatever you want.
‘Please just bring her back safe and sound – she’s my baby, she’s my everything.’
Suspicious: Mariah’s biological father Alex, who has not seen her for more than a year, said he did not believe Kimrey’s story that his daughter was abducted by a stranger. He is pictured with his wife Heather earlier this week
Kristy made a tearful appeal to her daughter’s abductor earlier in the week and begged for her to be brought back
Mariah is pictured with her mother, mother’s boyfriend, and her two older brothers. Her biological father says he has been trying to get sole custody of the children for years
On Friday, 700 local volunteers turned out to join in the search for Mariah. At the time, they were still hoping to find the girl alive.
‘Items of interest’ which the FBI sent to its lab in Quantico earlier last week have still not been revealed.
They were sent straight to the FBI’s base in Virginia for testing on November 29.
Earlier that day, agents were seen searching the trailer where Mariah lived with her 29-year-old mother Kristy, her older brothers and Kimrey.