UPDATE (Jan. 7, 8 a.m.): Cortney Marie Bell has been booked into the Newton County Jail and will have her first appearance Monday morning in the jail's courtroom in front of Judge Melanie Bell.
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COVINGTON, Ga. – The mother and father of a 15-day-old baby found dead in October were indicted in her death by a Newton County grand jury Friday.
According to a statement from District Attorney Layla Zon, Caliyah McNabb’s father, Christopher Michael McNabb, was indicted by the grand jury on eight counts including malice murder, two counts felony murder, murder in the second degree and aggravated battery, cruelty to children in the first degree, cruelty to children in the second degree and concealing death of another.
Caliyah’s mother, Cortney Marie Bell, was charged with murder in the second degree, cruelty to children and deprivation of a minor.
Christopher McNabb has been held at the Newton County Jail since his October arrest for his daughter’s murder.
Bell had previously not been charged. Newton County Sheriff’s Office and Rockdale County Sheriff's Office deputies conducted a search for her arrest Friday and Saturday. She was taken into custody Saturday afternoon in the Home Depot parking lot in Conyers.
McNabb is also charged with cruelty to children in the first degree, cruelty to children in the second degree and concealing the death of another.
Bell reported her daughter missing Oct. 7. The baby’s body was found the next day wrapped in a T-shirt, blanket and drawstring bag in the woods behind the Highway 36 trailer park where she was last seen.
McNabb was arrested and held on an outstanding warrant from Bartow County Oct. 8 at a Highway 36 gas station after an intense search by NCSO deputies.
He was charged with his daughter’s murder after an autopsy revealed she died from blunt force head trauma and her death was ruled a homicide.
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The Covington News will continue to update this story as information becomes available.
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Managing Editor Jackie Gutknecht contributed to this report.
