Quatavia Givens the caretaker of missing Jefferson City, Missouri four year old boy, Darnell Gray confesses to hitting boy- leads police to his body.
***Update: Cole County prosecutors on Wednesday charged Quatavia L. Givens, 26, the caretaker of missing boy, Darnell Gray– with first-degree child abuse resulting in death. Police say Givens was the caregiver of the boy the night he disappeared from a public housing complex apartment he shared with his father.
Givens’ arrest follows news of the body of missing 4 year old Jefferson City, Missouri boy being found a day earlier. The discovery came six days after the child’s mother reported her son missing.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch cited Jefferson City police Lt. David Williams saying Darnell Gray‘s body being discovered Tuesday, noon in Jefferson City. During a press conference at the time- Williams emphasized the missing child ‘did not’ die of his own accord.
Williams stressed it was too early to tell how Darnell died and that the medical examiner had been called in. Of note, Williams declined discussing the condition of the boy’s body.
When asked if the case was now a homicide investigation, Williams would say only that investigators are working to determine how the boy died.
Come Wednesday the case took a drastic turn. With released court documents indicating Darnell’s caretaker confessed to hitting the child and knowing where his body was located before crews discovered it.
Darnell was last seen Wednesday night at a Jefferson City public housing complex apartment where he lived with his father. Of question was the relationship of the boy’s father (who was estranged from Darnell’s mother) and the caretaker.
Reports indicated Givens either dating or having previously dated Gray’s father. KOMU reported that she described herself as a mother figure to the child.
A previous report via KRCG13 cited Jefferson City Police saying foul play was not suspected in Darnell Gray’s disappearance after Givens claimed observing the boy being in bed Wednesday, 11pm- only to be nowhere in sight the following morning.
Following news of Givens being booked with child abuse leading to death, Jefferson City Police Lt. David Williams revealed more arrests could be forthcoming.
“We now know that there was some assistance with him going missing,’ Williams asserted. ‘He did not walk out that door by himself.’
Williams did not indicate who else may be involved in the death of four year old Darnell.
#Missing #Child from #Missouri
Darnell Gray disappeared from his home between 11pm, October 24 and 7am, October 25, 2018, in Jefferson City, Missouri. pic.twitter.com/Vi2gvOjPjB
— Case Warriors (@CaseWarriors) October 27, 2018
