The decomposing body of a 6-year-old boy was found by sheriff's deputies in an Arkansas home, authorities said.
The decomposing body of a 6-year-old boy was found under the floorboards of an Arkansas home, where a 6-year-old badly injured girl was also discovered, authorities said.
The boy's remains were pulled from under a hallway and "it’s believed the boy died from injuries sustained in the home, possibly three months ago," the Arkansas Department of Public Safety said in a statement. The girl, who suffered burns, was transported to a Memphis hospital, where she is in stable condition, authorities said.
Lee County Sheriff's deputies called in state police special agents after finding the little boy's body Friday night, the statement said. The children's mother, Ashley Roland, 28, was arrested along with her boyfriend, Nathan Bridges, 33, authorities said.
Both have been charged with capital murder, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and endangering the welfare of a minor, the statement said. They are being held without bail at the Lee County Jail, authorities said.
A friend of the children's grandmother established a GoFundMe account to help pay for the boy's burial.
The grandmother had been trying to gain custody of the two children for more than a year and had recently obtained a court order granting her weekend visitation rights, the friend wrote.
The little girl's hair had been "chopped off, she is malnourished, cracked ribs, and many many burns on her body in various stages of healing," the post said.
Related Stories
