A 31-year-old Maryland mother called police in Delaware last week saying her 3-year-old daughter was the victim of an armed kidnapping.
Darrian Randle of North East initially told police she was driving along the 500 block of Gender Road in Newark around 7 p.m. June 10 when her daughter — Nola Dinkins — became upset, so she pulled over and tried to comfort her, WCAU-TV reported. North East is about a half-hour southwest of Newark.
‘We just can’t fathom how a human being can do this to another human being.’
Randle claimed a white man approached and held her at gunpoint before kidnapping her daughter, the station said.
Randle described the man as about 40 years old, bald with peach fuzz on his head, and wearing a black hoodie and gray basketball shorts, WCAU reported, citing investigators. Randle also claimed the man was in a vehicle driven by a blonde, white woman, officials told the station.
More from WCAU:
When the Amber Alert was issued Tuesday night, officials released a description of the man as well as a vehicle they believed he was driving, a dark-colored SUV, likely a Ford or Chevy, with rust or dirt on the exterior.
Wednesday morning, however, Andrea Botterbusch of the New Castle County Police Department, said that the Amber Alert was canceled after investigators determined that Randle’s initial statement to police was a lie.
“Detectives determined that the initial account of the incident given by the mother was false,” Botterbusch said, according to the station.
New Castle, Delaware, police asked Maryland State Police to check out Randle’s last known address — part of a standard procedure in missing-children investigations — to make sure the girl wasn’t mistakenly left there and to corroborate Randle’s claims, WBAL-TV reported.
Maryland State Police said troopers went to the house of Randle’s boyfriend, 44-year-old Cedrick Antoine Britten, on Elk Nest Drive in North East, WBAL reported.
Britten told police the child was not home and had left with her mother, Randle, WBAL said.
Troopers asked to view video from several cameras outside the house, WBAL said, adding that charging documents say video shows only Randle leaving the house — and that the child was “never observed on camera.”
Britten also let troopers search his house, WBAL said, adding that charging documents state that while they didn’t find the girl, they did notice an odor of cleaning products — specifically bleach.
Britten also let authorities search his vehicle, WBAL said, adding that police said troopers found a child’s blanket with a reddish-brown smear consistent with blood. Britten said the blanket didn’t belong to him and that a stranger in a park gave it to him last summer, WBAL added.
Delaware authorities interviewed Randle, who initially made a number of false and misleading statements before admitting after some time that her kidnapping claim wasn’t true, WBAL said, citing charging documents.
Authorities said Randle then told them she struck her child at Britten’s house in North East, WBAL reported.
“Randle confessed to physically striking [the child] with a belt approximately 15-20 times about her body during the daytime hours on Monday [June 9],” the charging documents state, according to WBAL.
The child fell to the ground, and she wasn’t moving and was unresponsive, WBAL said, citing the charging documents, adding that Randle told authorities she picked up the child, realized her daughter was no longer breathing, and called for Britten.
More from WBAL:
Randle said she and Britten tried CPR but realized the child was dead. At that point, the charging documents state, Randle and Britten put the child in Britten’s vehicle and drove around for a while before returning home and putting the child inside a suitcase.
The charging documents state that Randle put the suitcase in the basement overnight before asking Britten to take it somewhere.
Charging documents state investigators went to an area on Dune Drive in North East, where a suitcase containing remains was found, WBAL said, adding that Britten’s house backs up to the vacant lot where he’s accused of dumping the girl’s body.
WCAU in a separate story, citing court documents, said the remains were consistent with an emaciated child and completely wrapped in plastic wrap.
Maryland State Police said identification of the remains is pending the medical examiner’s autopsy results, WCAU noted, adding that the medical examiner also will determine the cause and manner of death.
Maryland State Police on June 11 said Randle was taken into custody on charges of first- and second-degree murder, first-degree child abuse resulting in death of a minor under 13, and other charges, WBAL reported.
Randle remained in Delaware police custody and was awaiting extradition to Maryland on a $1 million bond, WBAL said, adding that Britten was in Maryland and was charged as an accessory to first- and second-degree murder and other charges.
Prosecutors wanted Britten held without bond, WBAL said, but the judge released him on a $75,000 bond and home detention.
An employee of business located near the scene of the crime told Blaze News on Wednesday that “we were all shocked and saddened” by the murder — and “even more sad” after learning the girl’s body was left within “walking distance” of the business. But the employee added to Blaze News that “some of us” attended Monday night’s vigil for Nola, and that it was “very nice” to see so many people there.
Chad Marshall, a resident of the Elk Nest neighborhood in North East, told WBAL that “we just can’t fathom how a human being can do this to another human being.”
An unnamed neighbor added to WBAL, “Having a mother that’s supposed to love their child and make sure they’re doing right by them, hearing she was abused and eventually killed, that’s a horrible thing. Hearing that this happened so close to where we live, it’s very unfortunate for the little girl, and it just makes us watch our kids even more.”
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