Remains found last week during the search for a missing 4-year-old Oklahoma girl have been confirmed as Athena Brownfield.

The little girl was reported missing on January 10 when a mail carrier found her 5-year-old sister alone outside her caregivers’ home in Cyril, as CrimeOnline previously reported. The caregivers — Alysia and Ivon Adams — were subsequently arrested, Alysia in Oklahoma and Ivon in Arizona.

According to Alysia Adams’ arrest affidavit, she told investigators that her husband beat Athena to death on Christmas Day and then took her body and buried it on property he once owned — and where investigators found the remains on January 17. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation was unable to positively identify the body at the time and sent it to the medical examiner’s office, which made the announcement late Thursday, KOCO reported.

Both caregivers were charged with child neglect, and Ivon Adams was also charged with “child homicide.”

After Ivon Adams was extradited to Oklahoma to stand trial, a judge issued a gag order in the case, barring law enforcement and attorneys from speaking publicly about it.

Officials have said that the two sisters were related to the Adamses but have not described the exact nature of the relationship. They said the children’s biological mother left the girls with the Adamses nearly two years ago.

For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.

[Featured image: Athena Brownfield/Handout]