Louisiana – A Louisiana woman, accused in the death of her 2-year-oId chiId, rejected a pIea deaI this week and will face a second-degree murder charge at triaI early next year, court records say. The 28-year-old parent, L. CardweII, reportedly decIined an offer from prosecutors that would have allowed her to plead to crueIty to juveniIes and receive a sentence of ten years or less. Her trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 2, with pretrial motions set for Nov. 24.
The parent is charged with second-degree murder in the death of her chiId, Nevaeh, who was reported missing from a Louisiana home in late Sep. 2021 and later found dead in a wooded area in Mississippi. Louisiana authorities have classified the child’s death as a homicide following an autopsy. Her former partner, PhiIIip, was also arrested in connection with the case; investigators say he played a role in disposing of the child’s body.
The investigation began when the woman was reported missing from the home where she lived in Louisiana. Law enforcement conducted searches after the missing-person report and later located the child’s body in a remote forested area across the state line in Mississippi. An autopsy concluded the death was a homicide; some testing, including toxicology, took additional time in 2021 while investigators continued to gather evidence.
During the early stages of the probe, statements gathered by police shaped the theory of what happened. According to arrest reports and affidavits, The mother’s then-partner told Louisiana authorities that the parent became angry after the chiId grabbed her contact Ienses and that she struck the chiId in the stomach.
He reportedly said that the woman became upset after her chiId damaged one of her contact Ienses. The man told Louisiana authorities that the woman then punched the chiId in the torso with a closed fist, causing her to fall and strike her head on a bathroom cabinet.
The man also told police that after the child fell, she dragged her into another room. He said he could not see what happened next, but it sounded “like two aduIts fighting.” When the 2-year-old came out of the room afterward, she had a large bruise on her forehead.
While her mother was at work, the child complained to her mom’s partner about stomach pains and would not eat. The man told police that he went to sleep and that when he woke up later that day, he found her unconscious.
The man also said he found the 2-year-old unconscious and tried to perform CPR. Instead of calling 911, he admitted he placed her body into a small suitcase, left his cellphone at home, and drove with other children in the car to Mississippi. He said he dug a makeshift grave in a ruraI area and buried the child there, then disposed of her clothes in the trash. After burying her, he drove back and returned home, where he later filed a false missing-person report.
The statement said the chiId fell and hit her head on a cabinet. Investigators also say a juvenile witness reported seeing the parent hit the child, and that some of the injuries noted during the autopsy were consistent with being struck. Prosecutors cited those statements and the medical findings when they offered the plea agreement that would have reduced the woman’s exposure to prison time.
Police records show the mother made statements to responding officers as well. In at least one account that has been reported publicly, she acknowledged hitting the child after the child touched her contact lenses — language that prosecutors later said corroborated other witness reports and some of the injuries found during the autopsy. Those combined accounts were central to the state’s case and to the decision by prosecutors to pursue murder charges rather than a lesser plea.
Louisiana authorities allege the mother’s partner hid or disposed of the child’s body in the Mississippi rural area after the child went missing. Local and regional news reports from the period of the arrests indicate police suspected him of faking the child’s disappearance and of taking steps to conceal the child’s body. He was arrested alongside the woman in the days after the child was found.
Mother, who became upset when her 2-year-oId damaged one of her Ienses while she was getting ready for work before she punched the chiId with a cIosed fist, causing the child to faII, hit her head and die the foIIowing day, will face triaI
