Authorities in Oklahoma have recovered the body of a child while searching for missing Athena Brownfield.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) has recovered the remains of a child in rural Grady County outside of Rush Springs.
The have not confirmed if the remains are those of Athena Brownfield.
The remains will be transported to the Medical Examiner’s Office in Oklahoma City for positive identification.
Ivon Adams, 36, (left) allegedly beat Athena to death and buried her body, according to his estranged wife Alysia Adams, 31, (right) who told investigators it happened on Christmas
The Oklahoma Bureau of Investigations continues to search for the remains of Athena Brownfield, 4, who was reported missing on January 10, but was allegedly killed on Christmas
Athena Brownfield was allegedly beaten to death on Christmas by one of her caregivers and buried near a fence where they used to live, newly-released court documents revealed on Tuesday.
The week-long search for the four-year-old Oklahoma girl became a ‘recovery operation’ to find her remains after both her caregivers were arrested last week.
Ivon Adams, 36, and his estranged wife Alysia Adams, 31, had been caring for Athena and her sister Adina, 5, for two years at their home at 225 West Nebraska Avenue in Cyril, Oklahoma.
Now, documents have revealed that Ivon allegedly laid the child on the ground and hit her three times. She didn’t move after that, according to the documents.
Alysia, who is related to the girls, reportedly told OSBI investigators that on Christmas around midnight, Ivon beat Athena to death at their Cyril home and then drove to Rush Springs where he buried her body near a fence line on their old property. Her remains have not yet been found.
The alarm was raised on January 10 after a postal carrier found Athena’s older sister Adina wandering alone outside near their home in Cyril.
When investigators interviewed Alysia on January 12, she confessed she knew what happened to Athena.
She said that around midnight on Christmas, Ivon beat the little girl to death and held her up by her arms, the court documents revealed, according to KSWO.
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The child was not moving and her eyes were barely open, according to the document. He then laid her on the ground and punched her at least three more times in the chest, Alysia reportedly told investigators.
Ivon then left the house on West Nebraska Avenue with the child’s body around 1 a.m. on December 26.
When Ivon returned home, he allegedly told Alysia that he buried Athena near a fence line that was next to their old residence in Rush Springs, Oklahoma, court documents revealed. He added that he placed a large broken branch over the grave.
Phone records reportedly showed Ivon leaving the home and traveling to Rush Springs around 4:15 a.m.
Ivon was arrested on Thursday in Arizona and will be extradited back to Oklahoma where he faces a murder charge. Alysia was arrested the same day and faces two counts of child neglect.
The court documents also revealed that Ivon and Alysia never took the girls to the doctor for checkups and never enroll them in school.
When Athena’s sister Adina was interviewed by authorities last week, she had told them she had been home by herself and was ‘tired of being alone.’
Athena’s remains have still not been found.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol were seen searching for Athena in a body of water near her home
The child vanished from this house in Cyril, Oklahoma, a small city 70 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, on January 10
In a statement this week, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said: ‘Special Agents… along with our partners at the Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP), have been searching areas of Caddo County for the toddler’s remains.’
The agency asked the the public not to help in the search, saying that they could end up trespassing or contaminating potential evidence.
The sisters’ biological parents – who have not been named – have been interviewed by authorities and are cooperating with the investigation, the OSBI said. Athena’s sister has been taken into protective custody.
Volunteers and multiple law enforcement agencies have been involved in the search, which included a helicopter, boats, all-terrain vehicles, a specially trained ground team, and a review of surveillance video from around Cyril.
