3-year-old Mariah Woods was sexually abused by mom’s boyfriend, CPS documents allege

FBI investigators recovered the remains of missing 3-year-old Jacksonville girl Mariah Kay Woods on Saturday, and her mother’s boyfriend has been charged in connection with her death. Now Child Protective Services documents allege that the boyfriend, Earl Kimrey, sexually abused the girl.

The remains were found on Dec. 2 – nearly a week after Mariah disappeared from her Jacksonville home. The Fayetteville Police Department dive team discovered the remains and they were sent to the state medical examiner for positive identification. The Onslow County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that the remains are Mariah on Wednesday afternoon.

Kimrey, 32, the live-in boyfriend of missing 3-year-old Mariah’s mother, Kristy Woods, was arrested Dec. 1 in connection with her death and charged with concealing a death, obstruction of justice, second-degree burglary, felony larceny and possession of stolen property, according to arrest records. He appeared in court Monday, where his bond was upheld at $1.01 million.

So far, no one has been charged with killing Mariah as of Wednesday afternoon.

In the unverified CPS documents, Mariah’s biological father, Alex Woods, outlined the reasons he is pursuing custody of Mariah’s two brothers, who are also his sons, according to multiple reports and first reported by The Jacksonville Daily News, which obtained photographs of the documents from Alex Woods.

Woods alleges that Kimrey sexually abused Mariah and physically abused the two boys, hitting them with a belt – one of them in the face, causing a nosebleed.

The documents indicate that there may be a reason to believe the brothers were exposed to “a substantial risk of physical injury or sexual abuse because of the parent, guardian, custodian, or caretaker has created conditions likely to cause injury or abuse or has failed to provide, or is unable to provide, adequate supervision or protection. The respondent parents have a history of exposing the juveniles to adult situations and conversation during their ongoing custody battle.”

One of the brothers said their mother knew that Kimrey allegedly was sexually abusing Mariah, according to the documents, which say Kristy Woods “failed to protect juveniles from exposure to sexual abuse” and that Kimrey allegedly used illegal drugs. The two boys are now in the care of their maternal grandmother, the documenets said.

Kristy Woods was charged with misdemeanor simple assault and misdemeanor communicating threats in May 2016, but the charges were dismissed a month later.

The documents are a juvenile summons and notice of hearing and notes that the two boys have been placed in Department of Social Services custody temporarily, according to The Daily News. Woods and his ex-wife, Kristy, were scheduled to be in court over the custody of the boys Friday morning, where the court will decide if the allegations of abuse are accurate. If the court rules that the allegations are true, there will be another hearing to determine the fate of the brothers.

Officials have not said what led them to arrest Kimrey.

Kimrey is being held in the Onslow County Detention Center. He made his first court appearance Monday morning.

State arrest records show that Kimrey previously had been charged with larceny, assault, and drunk and disorderly conduct. Kimrey is originally from Mebane, his Facebook page says. He attended Orange High School in Hillsborough and Alamance Community College, according to the Facebook page.

Kristy Woods and Kimrey have a history with the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office, including: Kimrey’s arrest in 2012; an assault of a juvenile at the home in 2016; property damage at the home in 2016; and communicated threats, neighborhood disputes and a “suspicious incident” involving Kimrey two days after Mariah was reported missing, according to county records.

Mariah was presumed dead based on evidence gathered throughout the weeklong investigation into her disappearance, according to the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office. In a news conference on Saturday, FBI officials called the search for Mariah “a homicide investigation.”

Mariah allegedly was abducted from a home in the 2400 block of Dawson Cabin Road in Jacksonville, according to an Amber Alert issued Monday, Nov. 27. She was last seen alive when her mother put her to bed about 11 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 26, according to the Charlotte Division of the FBI.

More than 225 members of 14 local, state and federal agencies have conducted nearly 100 interviews in the case and followed more than 140 leads. Among them are the FBI’s Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team and Team Adam from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Officials said 730 volunteers participated in a search for Mariah on Friday. The search expanded from Onslow to Pender County after Kimrey was arrested. Investigators also sorted through 95,000 pounds of trash by hand, searching for items of interest, the sheriff’s office said.

Several items of interest were sent to FBI experts in Quantico, Va., for testing shortly before Kimrey was arrested and the remains were found.

This story was originally published December 5, 2017 at 2:31 PM with the headline "3-year-old Mariah Woods was sexually abused by mom’s boyfriend, CPS documents allege."