A 72-year-old North Carolina woman has been accused of beating her eight-year-old granddaughter to death, authorities said.
The Nash County Sheriff’s office was first notified of the incident on Tuesday, February 7, at around 4 pm when they received a call from a hospital claiming that a minor had been brought into the ER with serious bodily injuries and was pronounced dead on arrival.
Officers and detectives from the Sheriff’s office quickly responded to the call and arrived at the Nash UNC Healthcare facility in Rocky Mount to further investigate and find out the cause of her death.
Investigators learned that the eight-year-old lived several miles from the hospital, on Dutchman Road. They questioned her 72-year-old grandmother, Patricia Ricks.
The Sheriff’s office posted a statement on Facebook on Wednesday, February 8, announcing the girl’s death saying they sent several officers to the hospital to investigate the death.
In the statement, detectives determined that the eight-year-old girl was physically assaulted so badly by Ricks that she died.
Police said that the girl had sustained severe injuries on her head and all over her body.
Ricks was arrested and charged with murder in the first degree and child abuse with serious injury, a felony.
The eight-year-old lived at the Dutchman Road home with her grandmother, who had been granted custody of the child as her legal guardian, along with the girl’s other siblings who lived in the home.
Police took Ricks into custody and placed her in the Nash County Detention Center, where she is being held without bond, police said.
Authorities said they are still trying to figure out a motive for the brutal beating of the young girl, adding that Ricks refused to talk to them and has made no comment about her granddaughter’s injuries.
The Nash County Social Services Department has taken custody of the other siblings.
Rick’s first court appearance was Thursday, February 9.
Anyone convicted of first-degree murder in North Carolina can get life in prison or the death penalty.
In 2020, 1,750 children died from either abuse or neglect, according to the Children’s Bureau of the US Health and Human Services Department. The Bureau said that the perpetrators in over 80% of the fatalities were parents, with other family members at 5.3% and legal guardians at less than 1% of the cases.
