A depraved mother allegedly dumped her 1-year-old baby girl’s strangled body into the back of a hearse parked outside an Alabama funeral home and is now facing murder charges, according to authorities.
Terica Pearl was arrested after her daughter Blessence’s body was discovered Saturday by an employee at West Gadsden Funeral Home after someone reported seeing what they thought was a doll inside a hearse, according to WSAW.
When the funeral home employee went to retrieve the doll, they made the horrifying discovery that it was a dead human child, according to the funeral home’s owner, Dantez Robinson.
Little Blessence’s remains were discovered strangled with a “thick robe string,” according to court records obtained by WBRC.
Pearl was arrested by Gadsden police on Sunday and charged with capital murder, court records show.
Robinson has since organized a vigil for the child, who was just a few months away from turning two.
“My heart fell to my feet,” the funeral owner told WVTM.
“I have young ones. I have two kids at the age of 4 and 7. To get the phone call, my heart was shattered, shattered into a million pieces.”
Ekra Tolbert, a friend of Blessence’s grandmother, told the outlet that the grandmother was utterly heartbroken over the tot’s troubling death.
“Her heart is completely torn up.” I couldn’t sleep last night, and I know she couldn’t because she’s the grandmother.”
Gadsden Mayor Craig Ford called Blessence’s death a “tough case for everyone involved.”
“I’m proud of how our police department pursued the truth and got it done. “An arrest does not alleviate the pain, but it does bring us one step closer to justice for this child,” he told the outlet.
Pearl is being held in the Etowah County Jail without bond.
The incident is still under investigation, and cops are urging the public to come forward with any information.
