In May, police were informed by a concerned social worker that 4-year-old Majelic Young had not been seen in several months.
According to PEOPLE, the social worker asked authorities to visit Young’s house in Charlotte, North Carolina to check on the child’s whereabouts.
When the police arrived at her home, they discovered Young’s decomposing remains in the backyard.
The arrest warrant for Young’s mother Malikah Bennett, obtained by WSOC-TV, states that Young died in August of 2020, almost a year before her body was found.
Authorities believe Bennett killed her daughter and tried to hide it.
In the warrant, Young’s 13-year-old sister gave an interview with police sharing what happened to her sibling.
Young’s sister told detectives that Bennett sought to punish Majelic for soiling herself. In doing so, she made Majelic stand in the laundry room. She was not allowed to sit or leave.
Majelic allegedly stood in the laundry room for three days. Eventually, she collapsed and hit her head on the ground, documents read.
The warrant states Bennett attempted to perform CPR on her daughter but the child died.
Afterward, Bennett washed Majelic’s body and placed it in two trash bags. She kept her child’s remains in her car for a few days before she buried them.
A Lieutenant assigned to the case, Bryan Crum said during a press conference that the whole case is deeply disturbing.
“It’s disturbing to everyone who’s worked it,” Crum said. “Crime scene investigators, detectives, everyone involved in this case – many of us are parents, and it’s very difficult to understand how someone could do this to their child, kill their child and bury them and move on with their life as if nothing happened.”
Bennett has subsequently been charged with first-degree murder and is being held without bond. She has not yet entered a plea and court records do not indicate that an attorney has been assigned to her case.