Insets, top to bottom: Genesis Reid (Enterprise Police Department), Adrienne Reid (Coffee County Jail). Background: Cops search for Genesis Reid in Enterprise, Alabama (WTVY).
A 33-year-old mother in Alabama, already accused of lying to police about her missing 2-year-old daughter, is now being charged with killing the toddler, whose body she allegedly stuffed into a bag and tossed in the garbage. Adrienne Reid, who was initially arrested in February, is now charged with one count each of capital murder and abuse of a corpse in the slaying of Genesis Reid, authorities announced.
Enterprise Police Chief Michael Moore announced the latest formal charges against Reid during a Monday news conference.
"Today is an especially heartbreaking day for our community. The loss of a child, the most precious and innocent members of our society, is something that cannot be ignored and will never be forgotten," the chief said. "Through the careful and methodical work of investigators, we have reached the heartbreaking and horrific conclusion that her mother, her caretaker, the one that should have been there to keep her safe, willfully murdered Genesis and placed her in a duffel bag and discarded her in a dumpster."
Authorities previously charged Reid with false reporting to law enforcement after calling police in the early morning hours of Feb. 16 and claiming she had found the front door to her apartment open and her daughter missing.
Investigators looking into the child's whereabouts said they soon identified "inconsistencies in the information Reid provided, prompting a more intensive investigation."
Aided by the FBI, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, and other law enforcement entities, police launched a frantic search for Genesis. Investigators noted that while other family members had been "very cooperative," Reid had been elusive and evasive.
Police soon revealed that Genesis had not been seen alive for "several weeks."
"We are confident that Adrienne made a false report that Genesis walked out of the apartment at 3 a.m.," Moore told reporters during a February news conference.
In a statement on Monday, police said it was "clear" that Genesis had not been seen since Christmas Day.
Detectives obtained footage from a neighbor's surveillance camera that they say showed Reid walking toward the apartment complex dumpster with a rolling duffel bag at approximately 11:30 p.m. on Dec. 25, 2025. Two days later, the same camera allegedly recorded Reid returning to the dumpster and disposing of several toys and other items believed to belong to Genesis.
While searchers have not recovered Genesis' body, the search is now focused on the Coffee County Landfill. Coffee County Sheriff Scott Byrd, who is managing the landfill search, told reporters Tuesday that investigators had mapped out the landfill and used truck schedules and GPS data to narrow the search to a 200-foot-by-100-foot area that is about "8 to 10 feet deep in refuse."
Byrd explained that it "will not be an easy or fast search," saying they must systematically probe the region in a manner he believes may take up to three months.
Coffee County District Attorney James Tarbox said Reid will make her initial appearance before District Judge Josh Wilson on the new felony charges later this week. The prosecutor also shared that his office was seeking the death penalty against Reid.
"The evidence shows that Adrienne Reid killed her daughter, literally threw her in the trash, and then engaged in a 53-day campaign of deceit, lies, manipulation, and destruction of evidence, before she finally reported her missing on Feb. 16," Tarbox said. "Her conduct speaks for itself, and I believe this preliminary decision to seek the death penalty conforms to our community's beliefs about this case and our shared values about how we value and seek to protect the most innocent among us, our children."
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