A New Jersey mother has been found guilty of killing and dismembering her son, who she had reported as being abducted.
According to Law & Crime, a Cumberland County jury found Nakira M. Griner guilty of the death and dismemberment of her 23-month-old child, Daniel Griner Jr. The crime took place in 2019.
She was convicted of all charges filed against her: first-degree murder, second-degree desecration of human remains, second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, fourth-degree tampering with evidence, and second-degree false public alarm.
CBS News reported that in February 2019, police officials stated that Griner told them that she was attacked on the street and her son had been abducted. The police looked for the boy but ended up discovering his burnt remains the next day in Griner’s yard.
An autopsy determined that he had been beaten to death.
The Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office, NJ posted a release on its Facebook account.
“As part of the deliberations, the jury also found the child victim was less than 14 years of age, an aggravating factor that would require the defendant face a sentence of mandatory life imprisonment without eligibility for parole,” prosecutors stated.
Prosecutors also said that Griner then told police officers that Daniel accidentally fell down a flight of stairs. But, in phone calls she made while in jail, she admitted that she “did what she did to him” to cover up the bruising that appeared on his body.
CBS Philadelphia reported back then that Griner eventually revealed to police officers that she hit her son because he wouldn’t “eat nor listen to her,” according to the criminal complaint. She confessed that she hit Daniel so hard that she left bruises on his face and she admitted that he also fell down a flight of stairs.
During the trial, Griner’s attorney Jill Cohen stated that her client dismembered and burned his body but said that prosecutors couldn’t prove that she was directly responsible for his death. And based on that theory, Griner could only be convicted of manslaughter. Cohen stated that there are plans to appeal the verdict.
The sentencing is slated to take place on Feb. 21 at 1:30 p.m.