A woman in Missouri has been sentenced after she pleaded guilty to the 2018 murder of her ex-boyfriend’s young son, whom she was babysitting at the time of his killing.
On October 25, 2018, 4-year-old Darnell Gray vanished in the middle of the night from his family’s home in Jefferson City. Officials and members of the community set out on search efforts until his remains were found five days later.
Nearly eight years after the boy died, Cole County Prosecutor Wm. Locke Thompson announced on Friday, May 29, that Quatavia Givens was sentenced to life in prison plus 15 years for second-degree murder, abuse of a child and abandonment of a corpse.
The investigation began after Givens told police that the child disappeared from the home at night. She was watching Gray while his father, whom she was dating at the time, was at work, according to People.
Not only was Givens dating the child’s father, but a GoFundMe page also stated that she was the boy’s babysitter when he went missing.
A search was launched amid Gray’s disappearance, and Givens was reportedly heavily involved in the process, according to 13 KRCG.
“Looking back, knowing that she was the one that hurt this baby, it just lets you know that this is a master manipulator that she was out there,” Missouri Missing volunteer Mary Williams Coley told the outlet. “She could’ve been on the soap operas, because she put on a show.”
Givens reported that several items from the house were missing amid Gray’s disappearance, including a backpack, coat, hat, gloves, two juice boxes and some cookies, per the outlet.
In light of the claims, a handful of the search volunteers grew suspicious of Givens amid her seemingly odd behavior during the search.
“She had her story, like, planned out, details that — if it was our child — who counts juice boxes?” fellow search volunteer Kathy Mueller told 13 KRCG. “Who checks their cabinet? When their child or someone they’re caring for is gone?”
While the women said they had their concerns about Givens, they told the outlet that they continued the search alongside her until authorities found Gray’s body.
While speaking to the outlet, the volunteers admitted they never understood why Givens would kill the boy.
“I just want to know why? What led her up to this? Why would she do this? And if she was so angry, what led her up to this point to hurt this baby?” Coley said. “The trauma she put on this baby, not only the baby, but the family, the birth mother.”
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