Police arrested one of the caretakers of four-year-old Athena Brownfield, who was reported missing in Oklahoma last week, and charged him with her murder.
Court documents show that Oklahoma police arrested Ivon Adams, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and child neglect after he allegedly beat the child to death and buried her body near their old home.
Police first discovered that the four-year-old was missing on Tuesday, January 10, after a postal carrier saw her five-year-old sister wandering outside their home in Cyril, Oklahoma, unattended.
The postal worker called 911, and when the police could not locate the second child, they arrested Adams and his wife, Alysia Adams, 35, and charged them with child neglect.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations announced on Tuesday, January 17, that they had recovered a child’s remains and had taken them to a medical examiner’s office who would help with her identification.
According to an arrest affidavit for Adams, his wife Alysia confessed to investigators during an interview on Thursday, January 12, that her husband had killed little Athena a couple of weeks before she was reported missing.
A probable cause affidavit written by Special Agent Brenna Alvarez with the Oklahoma State Bureau said that Alysia told officers that on the night of December 25, 2022, at around midnight, Adams mercilessly beat Athena to death.
The alleged fatal abuse took place at their home in Cyril.
Adams then took the toddler’s body and left home. He later told his wife that he buried her in their old home in Rush Springs, Oklahoma, and placed a large broken branch over the burial site.
During its Tuesday announcement, the agency said they recovered the child’s remains outside Rush Springs.
After burying the child, Adams, fled to Arizona. He was arrested on Thursday, January 12, after his wife’s chilling confession.
Online court records show that Adams will face one count each of first-degree murder and child neglect. He is held in an Arizona County jail without bond and has not yet entered a plea.
Alysia Adams is charged with two counts of child neglect for failing to care for the children left under her care and failing to protect Athena from abuse.
According to court documents, the girl’s biological mother left them in the care of the Adams couple about two years ago, but the two never took the children to the hospital for checkups and did not enroll the girls in school.
Mrs. Adams entered a not-guilty plea during a Tuesday hearing where the judge set her bond at $500,000.
