A caregiver of a 4-year-old girl found dead and buried on a rural property rejected a plea deal that would have spared her the death penalty.

Alysia Adams was due in court for a plea hearing on Wednesday. She is charged with first degree murder in the death of Athena Brownfield in December 2022 and turned down the deal, KWTV reported.

Adams will now go on trial for murder, child neglect, and obstructing an officer and will face the death penalty if she is convicted, KOCO said.

Adams reportedly tore up the deal papers. Her attorney had no comment on why she rejected the deal. Her next court date is in March.

As CrimeOnline reported, the story began in January 2023 when Athena’s 5-year-old sister was found wandering alone near the home of Alysia and Ivon Adams, the pair’s caregivers but not their parents. After her arrest, Alysia Adams told investigators that her husband beat the girl to death and then buried her body on property he used to own.

Ivon Adams was charged with murder and Alysia Adams with neglect until an autopsy determined that the little girl died not from a beating but from pneumonia complicated by starvation. Athena weighed just 23 pounds at the time of death. Alysia Adams, investigators said, put the girl “in a closet and depriv[ed] the child of proper nutrition.”

She was charged with murder.

According to KWTV, Alysia Adams got her hair done and attended a New Year’s Eve party with her husband after the little girl was murdered and her body hid away, then ran off with her new boyfriend.

Ivon Adams is expected to go on trial in April 2025.

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[Featured image: Athena Brownfield, left/police handout and Alysia Adams/Caddo County Sheriff’s Office]