Inset left to right: Susan Robinson, Tonya McKnight, and Tery'n McKnight (Mecklenburg County Sheriff Office). Background: The North Carolina home where 6-year-old Dominique Moody was severely abused and killed (Google Maps).
A third suspect has been identified in a chilling and fatal child abuse case out of North Carolina, Tar Heel State authorities announced.
Late last week, Susan Robinson, 61, was arrested and charged with one count of intentional child abuse resulting in serious physical injury and four counts of misdemeanor child abuse.
On Monday, Tonya McKnight, 51, was arrested on those same five combined counts, Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office records show.
Now, a third woman, Tery'n McKnight, 22, who was arrested on Christmas Eve, faces the same suite of charges – and prosecutors are signaling they are not done charging the trio over the alleged abuse.
On Friday, during a hearing, a judge ruled the younger McKnight will remain in jail without bond pending trial, according to a courtroom report by Charlotte-based NBC affiliate WCNC.
Prosecutors also said they were considering murder charges.
On the morning of Dec. 16, 6-year-old Dominique Moody died. Police received a call earlier that day saying the girl was not breathing, according to an affidavit for criminal charges obtained by Law&Crime.
"The victim's hair, nails, and body were dirty," police wrote in the charging document. "She had open wounds and scarring in various stages of healing covering most of her body."
Officers say Tonya McKnight is responsible for duct-taping and wrapping the child in plastic wrap – abuse allegedly captured on cellphone images. The woman allegedly starved the little girl for over a year as "punishment for many things," including eating food in the house, according to law enforcement.
Many allegations are sourced to Robinson.
The charging document reads, at length:
She suggested that Dominique Moody is forced to watch them eat, and Tonya McKnight does not feed her every day, even though the house has plenty of food. She also advised that Dominique Moody is forced to sit in her soiled, urine and feces-filled diaper for days and days. This caused the extreme rash on Dominique's genitals and buttocks. This abuse/neglect was reported to have occurred for approximately 1.5 years.
At the time of her death, Dominique only weighed 27 pounds.
The girl had also been "forced to stay in a dog crate in the living room" before staying on "the feces-filled bathroom floor," police said.
The oldest defendant, along with the youngest – who is Tonya McKnight's daughter – are both accused of "failure to take any action to remedy the problems caused by Tonya McKnight." All three woman lived in the house on Gwynne Hill Road in Charlotte along with four other children between the ages of 5, 4, 2, and 1, authorities say. The placement and condition of the other children is not yet a matter of public record.
"The unkempt and inhospitable state of the residence, the children residing amongst rats and cockroaches, the children being bitten by rats, the residence's daily lack of heat, and the duct taping are well known to all three individuals," the affidavit alleges.
And it was also cold.
According to police, the oven in the kitchen, a space heater in the living room and a space heater in a bedroom were the only sources of heat for the children. The space heater in the living room sat on a concrete block on the floor, pointed toward a cot in front of a couch.
"The low temperature during overnight hours was 20 degrees," the affidavit reads.
Robinson and Tonya McKnight also allegedly exchanged messages after Dominique's death, acknowledging they were "in trouble" and needed to clean up the house, according to another affidavit filed in the case and obtained by WCNC.
"The victim was extremely small," the earlier affidavit reads. "She had a healed ligature mark going all the way around her right ankle and linear healed scars on top of her right arm. On top of her right foot and outer right leg were healed circular scars. The victim had an open circular wound on the outer left ankle, which appeared to be a burn. She had various minor open wounds on her knees, face, arms, and legs."
An examination of Dominique's body showed a "fracture to the right pinky toe, which was older and healed," according to police. She also had multiple lower rib fractures on both sides of her body.
Robinson is next slated to appear in court on Jan. 9.
Chris Perez contributed to this report.
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