An autopsy for the 2-week-old baby girl found dead in a wooded area in Covington, Georgia, is scheduled for Monday morning, the Newton County Sheriff’s Office (NCSO) confirmed.
NCSO Captain Keith Crum told CrimeOnline that the body of an infant found deceased on Sunday afternoon, is likely of Caliyah McNabb, who disappeared from her family home on Saturday. The baby’s parents, Chris McNabb and Cortney Bell, allegedly said that they fed the baby at around 5:00 a.m. on Saturday. They claimed when they checked on her at around 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., she was gone.
On Sunday afternoon, volunteer searches found the body of a tiny baby wrapped in a blue blanket, inside a duffle bag and hidden under a log. She was found in an area that authorities previously searched, but according to Crum, they didn’t find her the first time because someone carefully hid her in a depression, then placed the log over her.
We were supposed to interview Caliyah McNabb’s mother & father today. When volunteers found her body, Chris McNabb bailed. Mom showed up. pic.twitter.com/nTGDAXQmNh
— Chris Jose (@ChrisJoseWSB) October 8, 2017
A family friend spoke exclusively to CrimeOnline and said that she was in the process of driving the parents, along with Bell’s mother, to an interview with a local station when they caught wind that searchers located a baby. According to the friend, McNabb immediately jumped out of her car at a red light and fled.
“I personally drove Cortney to her home in the trailer park off 36. The father left my car at a red light a few miles away from the trailer park they live in. Cortney, me, her mother, and a family friend were brought to the county jail for questioning. Chris was found in a timely manner not far from where he left my car.”
McNabb didn’t make it far before authorities caught up to him. Store clerk, Julie Hannah, told FOX 5 Atlanta that she witnessed the police detaining McNabb after customers inside the convenience store the suspect stopped at called 911.
“He started hollering and talking about ‘they are going to get me. They are going to get me. I’ve been running all day. I have been in the woods all day.'”
A customer inside the store at the time, Debra Devereux, said that the suspect shouted that he didn’t harm his baby.
“He said, ‘I want the world to know I didn’t do that to my baby.”
Posted by Cortneyy Lovee on Friday, September 2, 2016
McNabb is not charged in connection with the infant’s death. Police arrested him on an unrelated probation violation, in connection with a burglary incident, according to Crum. Bell drove to NCSO after the baby was found. After authorities questioned here, they let her go.
Additional charges may follow depending on the results of the autopsy. Check back with CrimeOnline as additional details become available.
[Feature Photo: NCSO/Handout]
