A Detroit woman who authorities say killed her 9-year-old son, buried his body in her backyard, and then moved to another state has been charged with murder and related crimes, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Brandee Katrice Pierce, 41, is accused of smothering Zemar King to death last October, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said at a press conference Wednesday when announcing the charges.
According to Worthy, Pierce bound her son “by tying his hands and feet together,” put his dead body in a hole in the backyard of the rental home where she lived at the time, and then “covered him with dirt.”
The remains of the boy were only located earlier this year after the owner of the home contacted police to say that he had “found a shallow grave” in the backyard of the house, which he was preparing for a new tenant.
When investigators arrived at the scene, they saw that “a human foot was sticking out of the ground.” A multi-agency investigation later determined that the foot belonged to Zemar.
Prosecutors allege that after killing her son, Pierce moved to Georgia with her other child, a 3-year-old son. Pierce was arrested in Georgia on Jan. 10 in an unrelated case, court records show.
Worthy said her office has already requested her extradition to Wayne County to face charges of first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree felony murder, first-degree child abuse, tampering with evidence and concealing or interfering in a death.
“I have stood at this podium many, many times and talked about how horrific, tragic and shocking certain cases are, each time thinking there could be future alleged facts that could be worse than what I’m talking about at the time,” Worthy told reporters on Wednesday. “Well, that day has come — again.”
Todd Bettison, Detroit’s interim police chief, echoed Worthy’s sentiments.
“This case is rather shocking,” Bettison said at the briefing. “In my 27-year career, I don’t remember seeing anything like this.”