An Ohio woman told law enforcement from a hospital bed that she suffocated a 5-year-old boy and dumped his body in a “manhole” because she caught him sneaking candy into bed, according to body cam footage obtained by local outlets such as Cincinnati NBC affiliate WLWT and Columbus CBS affiliate WBNS.
Pammy Maye, 48, characterized herself as the disciplinarian between her and her husband, who are Darnell Taylor’s legal guardians.
“[Darnell] was intimidated by me a lot of times because I was that alpha parent instead of my husband,” she added, suddenly losing her words in mid-sentence during a body cam video from February 16.
Ohio officials issued an Amber Alert for Darnell and Maye after the defendant’s husband reported them missing in unsettling circumstances.
“The caller stated that his wife, 48-year-old Pammy Maye, woke him up and made statements that led him to believe that their foster child, Darnell, had been hurt,” police in Columbus, Ohio, wrote on February 14. “The caller reported that Mrs. Maye abruptly left her home in a 2015 Jeep Cherokee. The automobile was discovered in Brooklyn, Ohio soon before 6 a.m., but Mrs. Maye and Darnell have not been found.”
Maye showed on the night of February 15 at Cenveo, an envelope company in the Cleveland suburb of Brooklyn. An employee contacted 911 after Maye emerged barefoot and agitated, begging for her spouse.
“Can you call my husband?” She exclaimed, her voice filled with emotion, once the employee handed her the phone.
She soon found herself in a hospital bed, being questioned by law enforcement. According to video, Maye told detectives she killed the boy because he snuck chocolates into his bed. She stated that she did not act instantly, but that she had planned the killing, which she described as “premeditated.”
She claimed that following the suffocation, she dumped the body in a “manhole.” Despite the fact that the data were vague for detectives, they were able to locate Darnell the same day in a sewage drain in Franklin County.
During the video, a nurse entered the room and informed everyone that CT scans had been requested. Law enforcement requested a little more time. Maye emphatically agreed.
“This is more important,” she explained. “It’s not about my concerns. This is about me ending someone’s life.”
She has pleaded not guilty to murder, body abuse, and evidence tampering. Her defense has indicated a desire to mount an insanity defense.
“We do not consider her post-arrest comments to be indicative of her mental state at the time of the offense,” her attorney, Sam Shamansky, said in a statement obtained by WBNS.