Georgia Father Christopher McNabb Charged With Murder After 2-Week-Old Daughter’s Body Found In Woods
On Saturday morning, 2-week-old Caliyah McNabb seemingly disappeared without a trace from her Newton County, Georgia, home. In an emotional 911 call at 10:38 a.m., the baby’s mother Cortney Bell told a dispatcher that she’d last seen her daughter after tending to her at roughly 5:00 a.m. Bell claimed that she and her boyfriend (and the baby’s father) Christopher McNabb had been woken up by their 2-year-old, who told them that baby Caliyah was missing.
Due to the infant’s age, the Newton County Sheriff’s Department immediately treated her disappearance as a likely abduction or homicide, and responded to the scene with a large team including search dogs to comb the wooded area around the family’s trailer home.
“A 15-day-old child obviously didn’t leave by themselves.”
On Sunday, investigators’ worst fears were confirmed when Caliyah McNabb’s lifeless body was found in a duffel bag in the woods near her home. As the Inquisitr reports, at approximately the same time that his daughter’s remains were discovered, 27-year-old Christopher McNabb jumped out of his girlfriend’s car and fled the scene of the search. The deceased infant’s father was apprehended hours later at a Food Mart convenience store. Surveillance video reportedly shows him walking into the business to tell the clerk he “didn’t do it.” Christopher McNabb was arrested on an unrelated probation violation and booked into the Newton County Jail. Cortney Bell was questioned by investigators and released.
On Sunday afternoon, investigators announced that they lacked sufficient evidence to file any criminal charges in the disappearance and death of little Caliyah McNabb, citing a pending autopsy in the case to determine cause of death. On Tuesday, reports WSB-TV 2, autopsy details were released, indicating that the 2-week-old infant had died of blunt force trauma to the head.
On Wednesday, Christopher McNabb was charged with felony murder, malice murder, aggravated battery, and concealing a death in connection with his daughter’s disappearance and murder. He was served with his arrest warrant while still behind bars for his unrelated probation violation charge. Investigators believe that the murder of Caliyah McNabb wasn’t a case of a frustrated parent violently “snapping.” Instead, they allege that Christopher McNabb planned to murder his daughter and hide her body.
As NY Daily News reports, an arrest warrant alleges that McNabb “did strike the victim…with an unknown object.” The violence of the blows were reportedly enough to disfigure the infant’s skull. After the alleged murder, police claim that Christopher McNabb wrapped Caliyah in a shirt and blanket, placed her in a duffel bag, and hid the bag in the woods. Authorities claim that McNabb covered the duffel bag with debris in attempt to disguise it.
“This action did cause the victim’s skull to be seriously disfigured and damaged beyond repair.”
Christopher McNabb remains incarcerated without bond. He is expected to make his first appearance on Thursday morning from the Newton County Jail.
Caliyah McNabb died of blunt force trauma to the head. Next: Investigators will pursue arrest warrants for Chris McNabb @wsbtv pic.twitter.com/cWQiw1wADz
— Chris Jose (@ChrisJoseTV) October 10, 2017
[Featured Image by Newton County Sheriff’s Department]
