The remains found Jan. 17 in rural Grady County were determined to be those of Athena Brownfield, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said Thursday.
Authorities said Thursday that the body of a 4-year-old Oklahoma girl who had been missing since last week was found last week.
At first, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation couldn’t confirm that the remains found in rural Grady County on January 17 were those of Athena Brownfield. They said that a medical examiner would make the confirmation.
The Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said Thursday that the body parts were definitely those of Athena.
The bureau didn’t say anything else because of a gag order filed in Caddo County District Court. This order says that law enforcement agencies can’t talk about the investigation in public.
Since January 10, when a postal worker saw Athena’s 5-year-old sister alone near the girls’ home in Cyril, authorities and volunteers have been looking for her. Brook Arbeitman, a spokesman for the agency, said that’s when they realised another child was missing.
On January 16, police said they had changed their search to a “recovery operation” to find her body.
The state bureau said the remains were found outside of Rush Springs, which is about 16 miles southeast of Cyril in the nearby county of Caddo. The authorities haven’t said more about where and how they were found.
On January 12, police arrested Ivon Adams and his wife, Alysia Adams, in connection with the case.
Ivon Adams, who is 36 years old, was arrested in Phoenix and is being charged with first-degree murder and child neglect, according to the state bureau.
Alysia Adams, who is 31 years old, was picked up at the Grady County Sheriff’s Office and is being charged with two counts of child neglect. Officials say that she is being held in the Caddo County Jail.
Ivon Adams refused to be sent to another country, so he is now in jail in Oklahoma, according to online court and jail records and the NBC station in Oklahoma City, KFOR. Thursday night, lawyers for both sides did not respond right away to requests for comment.
Alysia Adams told a state bureau special agent that her husband killed Athena on Christmas by beating her, according to their arrest papers. The affidavit said that she said he told her he buried her body near their old home in Rush Springs.
The State Bureau of Investigation says that Alysia Adams is related to the two girls and has been taking care of them for at least a year.
Arbeitman said that Athena’s sister was taken into state custody for her own safety.
The state bureau said that agents have talked to the girls’ real parents and that they are helping with the investigation.
After her 5-year-old sister was found, the police looked all over for Athena, who was said to have trouble speaking.
KFOR says that the search was expanded to the county next door, Grady County, and that ponds and other bodies of water in the area were searched.
Cyril is a town in Caddo County that is about 65 miles south of Oklahoma City.