According to recently made public court documents, a young girl was strangled when she was discovered dead in the rear of an unlocked hearse at a funeral house in Gadsden.
At West Gadsden Funeral Home, the body of 1-year-old Blessence Pearl was found inside the hearse on Saturday morning.
Terica Pearl, 29, her mother, is accused of capital murder.
The baby child was strangled with a thick robe string, according to charging docs against Pearl that were made public on Monday.
Because Blessence was younger than 14, the charge is capital.
Pearl is being held at the Etowah County Jail without bond.
According to the director of the funeral house where the girl was discovered dead in the rear of a hearse, he was completely taken aback by the finding.
As your assistant coroner, according to Dantez Robinson, funeral director of West Gadsden Funeral Home and the chief deputy coroner for Etowah County, “I’ve walked into homes every day, I’ve walked up to car wrecks every day, I’ve walked into suicides throughout the year, I’ve walked into homicides throughout the year, and I’ve seen kids pass away.”
However, seeing anything like this truly shocked me to a new level.
After Blessence was slain, authorities think someone put her inside the car.
Robinson documented the girl’s body’s discovery in a Facebook Live video over the weekend.
He reported that he left the funeral home at around 7 p.m. on Friday night and returned at around 8 p.m.
According to Robinson, it is standard practice to leave the unlocked hearse sitting on the lot.
“People getting into our cars at the office has never been an issue for us,” he said. I put the keys in the designated spot and left through the door.
By 8:15 p.m., Robinson had left the workplace.
The funeral home’s groundskeeper/custodian showed there at around 11:30 a.m. on Saturday and got ready to take the hearse back beneath the shed.
Robinson claimed, “I just noticed something, a deceased toddler,” noting that the minor victim was a girl.
Then the worker dialed Robinson. He stated he was simply surprised.
Robinson went to the funeral home in a hurry.
I was at a loss for words when I called the police department after witnessing it and seeing my employee in shock, Robinson added. It was a tragedy.
The father of two young daughters, Robinson, stated, “We want justice for this baby.” Infants don’t request to be here.
You’re mentally ill to do this, he said.
A vigil for Blessence was held at the funeral on Sunday night, with about 100 individuals in attendance.
Behind a podium, the child’s great-grandmother and grandmother were crowded together.
Renay Reeves knows the family, having attended the same school as the child’s great-grandmother, even though they did not speak to the media.
According to Reeves, there was no sign that there was a problem in the family.
“These folks are really nice,” she said.
Funeral arrangements for the youngster have not yet been decided, according to Robinson.
Alongside the child’s toys, participants placed the money they had raised for the burial on the table.
The vigil demonstrated the community’s shock at the loss, according to Gadsden City Councilwoman Tonya Latham.
It’s a baby. And everyone feels sorry since, according to Latham, children are constantly in the care of others. People’s prayers to learn the truth and get to the bottom of the matter as soon as possible were audible and visible.
Although a judge has been appointed to the case, no date for the first court appearance has been set.
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