According to the court documents, the 29-year-old stepfather, later identified as Malcolm, was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison after he reportedly beat his 5-year-old stepdaughter to death before he dumped the child’s body in river. Prosecutors said the defendant pleaded guilty to second-degree murder was sentenced on Monday.
The fatal incident occurred in September 2019. The 5-year-old child, Renezme, was reported missing by her mother. The unfortunate mother told investigators that the child was in care of her husband, Malcolm. During an interview with investigators, the stepdad reportedly said that he noticed Renezme missing the day before and spent an hour outside looking for her. He also told investigators that he didn’t found her, so went back inside and resumed drinking.
The 29-year-old stepdad also refused to let investigators search his phone, but denied any involvement in Renezme’s disappearance. The child’s body was recovered 3 days after she was reported missing. According to the L&C, ‘authorities believe that the 29-year-old man beat the child to death because he was upset that he had to care for the girl despite her not being his biological daughter.’
Malcolm’s 1-year-old son was also present in the home on the fatal day, but the boy was not injured. The medical examiner told authorities that Renezme suffered blunt force trauma to the head and had a fractured left wrist. The child also suffered other injuries throughout her body, an autopsy revealed. During the investigation, Malcolm reportedly agreed with the medical examiner’s findings but also said that he was too drunk to remember what he did to his stepdaughter.
