Mother 'murdered one-year-old baby girl then dumped her body in hearse'
Blessence Pearl was discovered by an employee of West Gadsden Funeral Home in Alabama when he opened the hearse about 11.45am on Saturday.
The little girl's mother Terica Pearl, 29, was arrested that evening and booked into the Etowah County Jail without bond at 1.48am, charged with murder.
Gadsden Police Lieutenant Dusty Ford initially said Blessence's death was being investigated as a homicide 'until we can prove otherwise'.
'In under 12 hours, the investigation moved from uncertainty to an arrest,' he said.
How the child died and how she ended up in the hearse is unclear, but funeral director Dantez Robinson said it was usually left unlocked.
Pearl lost her four-week-old daughter Janaiha in a house fire in February 2011 when she was just 15.
Reports at the time indicated the blaze began in the room where the baby slept and spread throughout the home.
Carlos Blount explained how he found Blessence's body as he spoke at a vigil for the girl on Sunday.
'I got four girls of my own and I know how it feels. I couldn't even work yesterday, because that could have been one of mine, or anybody else's kids,' he said.
Other members of Blessence's family mourned her at the vigil, but did not speak publicly.
Robinson, who is also the Etowah County chief deputy coroner, explained the series of events that led to the body's discovery.
He explained in a video on his social media pages that he returned from the scene of a death about 8pm on Friday and left the hearse unlocked.
'We've never had a problem with people going into our cars at the office. I laid the keys down where the keys go and out the door I went,' he said.
Blount arrived about 11.30am and noticed what he thought was a doll in the back of the hearse as he was about to move it into the shed.
When he opened the hearse and took a closer look, he discovered to his horror that it was the toddler's body.
'To see that and to see my employee in disbelief, I was lost for words when I put the call out to the police department,' Robinson said.
'It's pathetic. Whoever done this, whoever is behind it, turn yourselves in... We want justice for this baby. Babies do not ask to be here.
'To do this... you're sick in the head.
'I've walked into homes every day, I've walked up to car wreck every day, I walk into suicides throughout the year, I walk into homicides throughout the year, I have seen kids pass away.
'But to see something like this really sent me into another level of shock.'
Robinson said he would make sure Blessence got a proper burial.
'Whoever this family is, whoever done this, we're going to bury this baby,' he said.
'We're going to give this baby the proper burial. To have life taken so early, we're going to stand up and bury this baby.'
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