A Newton County, Georgia, jury are taking a 6-mile trip with deputies on Wednesday, on the second day of the murder trial against the parents of a newborn, who are accused of killing the infant and hiding her body.
The jury, according to AJC, will travel to the Eagle Pointe mobile home park in Covington, where 15-day-old Caliyah lived with her parents, Christopher McNabb and Courtney Bell. Both parents are currently on trial for the baby’s murder.
Jurors will also see the secluded, wooded area where Caliyah was ultimately buried. In October 2017, a day after Bell reported Caliyah missing, a volunteer search team found the baby around 900 yards from her family home. Caliyah, just five pounds, was wrapped inside a Nike drawstring bag that prosecutors said belonged to McNabb.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Caliyah McNabb disappeared in October 2017. Bell contacted police and said she woke up to find Caliyah missing and her toddler daughter crying. The woman claimed she had no idea what happened to Caliyah.
When police arrived to Bell’s residence, they rummaged through piled up clothes and boxes in a tiny trailer home, searching for signs of Caliyah. The baby’s father, Christopher McNabb, told police he searched throughout the wooded area surrounding their home but had no luck finding her.
A video shown in court Tuesday offered a more detailed glimpse into what happened the morning Caliyah was reported missing.
During testimony on Tuesday, Bell’s cousin, Megan Sorrells, said Bell was being abused at home during the time Caliyah vanished. She also testified that McNabb and Bell were constantly fighting. Sorrells said Bell never told her about the abuse, but as a domestic abuse victim herself, she could already tell.
“She always had bruises on her,” Sorrells said of Bell. “I didn’t really have to ask many questions. I could tell.”
According to court testimony, baby Caliyah stayed several days with her grandfather, Tim, after her birth. Tim testified that he returned the child home with milk and clean diapers in early October, and told his daughter, Bell, to clean up her filthy trailer home.
The next day, on October 6, Cortney Bell called 911 and reported the baby missing.
The warrant against McNabb states that baby Caliyah suffered a blow so severe to her head that her skull was “seriously disfigured and damaged beyond repair.”
After causing fatal injuries to the infant, McNabb wrapped her in a blanket and one of his t-shirts, then put her into his duffel bag, according to the warrant. He then reportedly took Caliyah into the woods and buried her in a depressed area under a log.
Captain Crum with the Newton County Police Department said that along with evidence found at the crime scene, McNabb made incriminating statements when first interviewed on October 6.
“I think we know and can prove in a court what happened and that’s the next step,” Crum said in 2018. “He had made a couple of initial statements then he indicated to investigators he did not wish to talk anymore.”
Detectives working the case said last year that the crime was planned. They indicated there would be evidence to prove that McNabb “planned her murder,” before hiding the baby in the woods.
A family friend who spoke exclusively to CrimeOnline in October 2018, said she was in the process of driving McNabb, Bell, and 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 to a nearby store.
“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,’” Hannah said last year.
Police arrested McNabb around four hours later. He was soaking wet after hiding out in pouring rain.
“I didn’t do it. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t the baby’s mama, y’all going to look crazy when you figure this out,” McNabb reportedly said to Hannah, according to FOX 5.
McNabb is facing charges of aggravated battery, felony murder, malice murder, and concealing the death of another. The Newton County Medical Examiner’s Office reported that the baby died from blunt force trauma.
In January 2018, after months of investigation, authorities arrested Bell in connection with Caliyah’s death. She’s facing charges of murder in the second degree, cruelty to children, and the deprivation of a minor.
The trial continues. Check back with CrimeOnline for updates.
[Feature Photo: Caliyah McNabb/Handout]
