Police say girl, 5, is dead hours after her mother was found murdered in their apartment and a man ‘confessed to killing them both’
- Sharee Bradley, 29, was found dead inside her Sumter, South Carolina, apartment Monday evening
- Bradley’s five-year-old daughter, Nevaeh Lashy Adams, had gone missing
- Police arrested Daunte Johnson, 28, after he was seen running away from Bradley’s home and charged him with murder
- During questioning, Johnson allegedly confessed to killing both Bradley and her daughter at the same time
- Police are searching for Nevaeh’s body based on information provided by her suspected killer
- Johnson has prior criminal record and is a suspect in a Missouri homicide
A five-year-old girl who went missing in South Carolina on Monday evening after her mother was found murdered inside their home is presumed dead after authorities say a suspect was arrested and confessed to killing both the woman and child.
The Sumter Police Department on Tuesday afternoon released a statement saying the search for Nevaeh Lashy Adams has turned into a recovery mission.
The girl was nowhere to be found when a relative discovered the body of her mother, 29-year-old Sharee Bradley, inside her unit at Lantana Apartments on Gamecock Village Court in Sumter at around 6pm on Monday.
Daunte Johnson, 28 (left), is accused of killing five-year-old Nevaeh Adams (right) and the girl’s mother in Sumter, South Carolina, on Monday
Sharee Bradley’s body was found by a relative inside her apartment, but her daughter (right) was nowhere to be found
An autopsy was scheduled to be performed on Bradely sometime today to determine her cause of death.
Sumter Police spokeswoman Tonyia McGirt said officers arrested 28-year-old Daunte Maurice Johnson, described as a transient, after he was seen running away from Bradley’s home.
Jail records show Johnson has been charged with murder.
Under questioning, police said Johnson confessed to killing Bradley, with whom he was acquainted, and her daughter, and also provided information that could lead to Nevaeh’s body.
‘Finding this little girl is first and foremost and we have and will continue to use every resource available to make that happen,’ Sumter Police Chief Russell Roark said. ‘Our prayers are with the family and we will continue to assist them throughout this tragic ordeal.’
A preliminary investigation by the Sumter County Coroner’s Office determined Bradley had been dead for several hours before her body was found. Her daughter was likely killed at the same time as her mother.
Before police announced that Nevaeh was presumed dead, her father, Dupray Adams, made a plea for her safe return.
‘I haven’t slept, I can’t eat, that’s my baby, this is my last baby,’ Adams told ABC10.’I would never think that this would happen to me.’
In a separate interview with WIS-TV, Adams described Nevaeh as a ‘wonderful child’ who was a tap dancer and aspired to become a gymnast.
‘She’s just an excellent daughter,’ he said of the girl. ‘When she was born, she never cried. She was just so precious.’
According to police, Johnson has criminal records in other states and is a suspect in a Missouri murder, but they did not go into details.
In 2015, he was arrested in Charlotte, North Carolina, on a misdemeanor count of assault on a female.
Johnson was picked up again in March 2018 for allegedly violating a protective order.