Inset: Jessica M. Motes (Hall County Sheriff's Office). Background: Police responding to reports of a child's body being found in Motes' trunk (WXIA).
A 36-year-old woman in Georgia is facing a spate of new charges after authorities said they found the remains of a 4-year-old girl hidden in her car trunk after she told her father she had "hurt" the child and believed she was dead.
Jessica Maria Motes is now facing charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, and first-degree cruelty to children, authorities announced.
Motes was arrested late last month and initially charged with only one count of concealing the death of a child.
The additional charges resulted from a joint investigation spearheaded by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) with assistance from the Oakwood Police Department and the Hall County Sheriff's Office, the GBI said in a Wednesday news release.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Motes' father told police that he spotted his daughter driving her Nissan sedan into the parking lot of a shopping center in the 3000 block of Mundy Mill Road in Oakwood at about 5 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 26.
The address belongs to a Sam's Club that is about 45 miles northeast of Atlanta.
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Motes' father told police that when he spoke to his daughter, she made several incriminating statements, according to a probable cause affidavit. Such statements allegedly included Motes saying that she "hurt" the victim and then telling her father, "I think she is dead."
The warrant states that Motes' father then drove her away from the parking lot and that they "later encountered law enforcement."
After Motes' father spoke with authorities, police responded to the parking lot. There, officers said they found "the remains" of the 4-year-old victim "in the trunk of the Nissan sedan," which is allegedly registered to Motes.
Authorities did not disclose the relationship between Motes and the unidentified 4-year-old victim.
Atlanta NBC affiliate WXIA reported that the Oakwood Police Department was the initial agency investigating the victim's death. Police then requested assistance from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and the Hall County Sheriff's Office.
According to the GBI, upon the completion of the investigation, the case file will be turned over to the Northeastern Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office for prosecution.
Motes has remained in custody at the Hall County Detention Center since her initial arrest.