CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The mother of a 4-year-old girl buried her daughter in the backyard of the family’s north Charlotte home eight months ago, investigators say in a case police called “deeply disturbing.”
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said Migellic “Jelli” Young had not been seen since going to visit her mother, Malikah Bennett, in early September 2020. The remains of a 4-year-old girl, believed to be Migellic’s, were found Friday at the home on Braden Drive, police said.
“It’s very difficult to understand how someone can kill their child, bury them and move on with their life as if nothing has happened,” police Lt. Bryan Crum said at a news conference Monday. “I’ve worked homicide for the last 10 years, and I can tell you that this case is deeply disturbing.”
Bennett, 31, was charged with felony child abuse, inflicting physical injury, felony concealing a death and first-degree murder. She was denied bond at a court hearing Monday.
She also has three pending misdemeanor child abuse charges from February 2020, according to a public records search.
Her boyfriend, who police did not name, also lived at the home. Police did not charge him, and Crum said they “can definitively say that he’s not responsible” for Migellic’s death because he had an alibi.
Migellic lived in an “abusive environment” that ultimately resulted in her death, Crum said. The medical examiner’s office hasn’t disclosed how Migellic died, he said.
Police also said they are checking with the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services to see if the agency knew about possible abuse at the home.
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(Staff writer Gavin Off contributed to this story.)
