Remains of missing 4-year-old from Oklahoma identified
By Mallika Kallingal, Paradise Afshar and Andy Rose, CNN
The remains of a child found by Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agents in Rush Springs last week have been positively identified as those of a missing 4-year-old girl.
The Oklahoma Chief Medical Examiner’s office says the remains are those of Athena Brownfield, who was first discovered missing on January 10.
“Due to a gag order filed in Caddo County District Court, there is no additional comment on the investigation from the OSBI,” the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.
Ivon Adams, one of the caretakers for Athena when she disappeared, allegedly beat her to death and buried her near their old house, according to court documents in the case against him.
Ivon Adams is facing one count of murder in the first degree and felony child neglect, according to online records for Caddo County, Oklahoma, District Court. And his wife, Alysia Adams, is facing two counts of felony child neglect, according to the charging document.
A not guilty plea has been entered on Alysia Adams’ behalf during a court hearing.
Authorities first discovered Athena was missing after her 5-year-old sister was seen by a mail carrier wandering unattended outside a home in the town of Cyril, Oklahoma.
The affidavit for Adams’ arrest alleges that his wife, Alysia Adams, confessed to authorities in a January 12 interview that her husband beat Athena on Christmas night multiple times until she stopped moving.
Ivon Adams allegedly then took Athena’s body and “buried her near a fence line” close to their old home in Rush Springs, according to the court document. He also allegedly told his wife he placed a “large broken branch” over the site.
According to an affidavit in her case, the children’s biological mother left the girls in the couple’s care about two years earlier, but the pair didn’t take them to the doctor for check-ups and didn’t enroll Athena’s older sister in school.
Ivon and Alysia Adams have remained in custody since their arrests.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
CNN’s Amanda Watts contributed to this report
