On Wednesday, officials in Alabama confirmed the body that was discovered in a dumpster on Tuesday afternoon belongs to a toddler girl who had been missing for 10 days.
In a press release issued to CrimeOnline, Jefferson County Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates said the body found on Tuesday is Kamille McKinney. Though her cause of death remains a mystery, Yates disclosed that her death is being investigated as a homicide.
McKinney was last seen alive on October 12 at birthday party that was being held at the Tom Brown Village public housing community. Children who were also attended the party reportedly said that a man was handing out candy before he put the barefoot toddler in a Toyota Sequoia and drove off.
Though the toddler was discarded in a dumpster at the Woodside Condominiums in Center Point, the statement explained that her body was discovered at the Santek Waste Services Landfill in Gardendale on Tuesday at 5:16 p.m. Hours later, Birmingham Police Chief Patrick Smith told reporters that they sifted through 12 tons of garbage that was picked up around the city and sent to the landfill, resulting in the grisly discovery.
According to Smith, capital murder charges are forthcoming for Patrick Stallworth, 39, and his girlfriend, Derick Brown, 29, the two persons of interest they apprehended at the condos a day after McKinney’s disappearance. Police said the pair have no connection to the slain toddler or her family.
“We believe this was something they thought about and acted upon. They saw an opportunity to take a young child, and they did,” the police said of Stallworth and Brown during Tuesday’s press conference.
While in custody, Stallworth was charged with multiple counts of child pornography after investigators reportedly found photos of young girls on his phone. They said the images did not show the missing toddler.
Stallworth bailed himself out of jail on October 16. Birmingham police rearrested him following the discovery of McKinney’s body on Tuesday afternoon.
Brown has remained in custody since October 13. Authorities had filed a motion to revoke her bond in an unrelated 2018 abduction case involving her three children and the Department of Human Resources.
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[Featured image: Kamille McKinney/Facebook]