Oklahoma Investigators Identify Remains as That of Missing 4-Year-Old Girl, Athena Brownfield

The missing 4-year-old girl from Oklahoma has now been found.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation found the remains of a child on January 17, and after the appropriate examinations, the remains were identified as those of Athena Brownfield.

Police officers found the remains in rural Grady County. Athena Brownfield made headlines a few weeks ago as the missing 4-year-old girl from Oklahoma.

However, as the investigation was ongoing, the young girl had been dead for some time.

Remains of Athena Brownfield

The skeletal remains were unmistakably determined to have belonged to the 4-year-old child by the Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

The bureau declined to speak more, invoking a gag order issued by the Caddo County District Court that forbids law enforcement authorities from publicly discussing the investigation.

CNN reported that one of Athena's caregivers, Ivon Adams, is suspected of murdering the young child and burying her body close to the location of their previous home.

According to the affidavit, Adams' wife, Alysia Adams, confessed to investigators in a January 12 interrogation that her husband beat Athena numerous times on Christmas night until she completely stopped moving. 

Ivon Adams reportedly moved Athena's body and buried her behind a fence near their former Rush Springs house. He allegedly informed his wife that he had thrown a huge broken branch over the scene.

According to online court documents for Caddo County, Oklahoma, District Court, Ivon Adams is charged with first-degree murder and felony child neglect.

Ivon Adams was not the only one arrested in this case; his wife, Aysia Adams, was also taken into custody. The couple is the caretaker of the Brownfield sisters.

According to the charging documents, Alysia Adams now faces two counts of felony child neglect. During a hearing in court, Alyssa Adams' attorney presented the court with a not-guilty plea on her behalf.

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A missing 4-year-old girl in Oklahoma

According to Today, Oklahoma law enforcement authorities have been alerted about a missing young child. When the officers responded to the scene, they realized the report was meant for two missing kids, the 5-year-old and the 4-year-old Brownfields.

A postal worker reported seeing Athena's younger sister, who is five years old, playing by herself on January 10, which prompted authorities and volunteers to begin looking for Athena.

The girl's elder sister was discovered roaming close to where the sisters lived in Cyril, a town located around 65 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.

As per NBC News, since January 10, the authorities and several volunteers in the community have been looking for the missing 4-year-old girl. The State Bureau of Investigation has stated that Alysia Adams is linked to the two children and has been caring for the sisters for at least a year.

The missing 4-year-old girl has also been identified as having limited verbal skills. The state presently has custody of Brownfield's younger sister, who is just five years old.

According to an affidavit filed in her case, the biological mother of the children left the girls in the couple's care around two years ago. However, the couple did not take the kids to the doctor for checkups and did not enroll Athena's older sister in school.

The investigators have spoken with the girls' biological parents and confirmed that they are helping with the inquiry.

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