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Mother Brandee Katrice Pierce and son Zemar King
A 41-year-old Detroit mom has been accused of murdering her 9-year-old son, bounding his hands and feet and burying him in a shallow grave in the backyard of her rental home in northwest Detroit.
Brandee Katrice Pierce faces a host of charges including first-degree murder.
The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office alleges that last Oct. 24, Pierce fatally assaulted her son, Zemar King, 9, before burying him in the yard of their home in the 19700 block of Woodingham.
On Nov. 6, she abandoned her home and left the state for Georgia with her three-year-old son.
On Jan. 6 around 1:20 p.m, Detroit police responded to a call from a landlord of the abandoned rental home after he discovered human remains in the shallow grave. The landlord was preparing the home for a new tenant.
Days later, authorities arrested Pierce in Cobb County, Georgia. She is currently awaiting extradition from Georgia to Detroit.
The Wayne County medical examiner ruled the killing a homicide by smothering and compression of the neck.
“I have been a prosecutor for a long time, and I often say that I have seen it all. The horrors of this child abuse case defy that," said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy in a statement. "The alleged actions of this defendant are among the most callous I have seen and hope never to see again,"
Pierce faces charges of first-degree murder, felony murder, first-degree child abuse, tampering with evidence and concealing the death of an individual.
