Sentenced: Syracuse Mother Charged With Beating 5YO To Death, Hiding Body

[Sugar Cookie]

Posting for @Crazy Cat Lady

Latasha Mott, 29, is accused of causing the death of her 5-year-old daughter and hiding the child's body in the woods.

Court documents alleged that Nefertiti Harris was beaten with a belt back in January.

Prosecutors claimed Harris died as a result of the beating and that Mott “intentionally” hid the child’s body in “a wooded area,” the outlets reported, per the court docs.

Family members called Syracuse police reporting that they had not seen the child.

It is alleged that Mott confessed to killing the child and hiding her body in the woods.

Source Article

N.Y. Woman Charged with Beating 5-Year-Old Daughter to Death and Hiding Her Body

Latasha Mott, 29, of Syracuse, New York was charged on Monday with manslaughter and concealment of a corpse after allegedly beating her daughter, Nefertiti Harris, 5, to death and hiding her body in the woods. She pleaded not guilty in court.

people.com

 

[Crazy Cat Lady]

Thank you for posting this, @Sugar Cookie! I was having "technical difficulties" with my laptop.

Nefertiti was a beautiful little girl. There's nothing she could have done that provoked a beating that killed her.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

What a cutie.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Neffy Harris was born with cocaine in her system and struggled with potty training and completing tasks without getting distracted. T

This enraged her mother Latasha Mott, who was constantly punishing the little girl for wetting her pants — beating the child and singling her out for worse treatment than her five siblings, said Mott's neighbor and friend.

Latasha Mott singled out Neffy for punishment and rage that ended in child’s death, friend says

The child's accused killer showered the girl, 5, with abuse and criticism long before the fatal beating.

www.syracuse.com

The children had been in foster care and were to this woman.

 

[Crazy Cat Lady]

My God, that poor sweet little girl. Her life must have been absolute hell after she was returned to her mother.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

The boyfriend of Latasha Mott, the mother accused of beating her 5-year-old daughter to death, has turned himself in to police.

Corrice Parks is charged with concealment of a human corpse.

He’s accused of hiding the body of 5-year-old Nefertiti Harris, whose remains were found by police Tuesday in an old baseball field behind Salt Springs Road.

Parks was initially issued an appearance ticket for the concealment charge one week ago, returning to court this morning for his arraignment. That charge alone would not allow authorities to hold Parks in jail; however, his prior felony convictions made it necessary for Judge Erica Clarke to place him in custody Friday morning. He is currently held without bail, though he could be eligible for a bail review at a future date.

Parks has a criminal record in Syracuse involving weapons and drugs that dates back nine years. He served three years in state prison for a 2017 conviction on the charge of criminal possession of a weapon. He was released in August of 2020. At the same time, he served a one-year sentence for a 2016 charge of possessing a stolen handgun. He also was convicted of criminal possession of heroin in 2016, according to court records.

https://www.localsyr.com/news/local-news/mom-accused-of-killing-5-year-old-appears-in-court-boyfriend-turns-himself-in/

Boyfriend who allegedly helped mother hide 5-year-old's body now in custody

Corrice Parks, age 27, is the second person accussed of hiding the body of five-year-old Nefertiti Harris, is now in custody based primarily on his prior felony

cnycentral.com

 

[Ellen Brody]

Rip Neffy I’m so very sorry honey.

 

[Rebooto]

So this bitch snorted cocaine while pregnant and beat her up for being a bit disabled because of this. Instead she should be especially kind to her daughter attempting to make it better.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Attorneys for the mother of 5-year-old Nefertiti “Neffy” Harris said Wednesday she wants to accept responsibility for the child’s death but argues she did not intend to kill the child so she cannot plead guilty to murder.

Neffy was beaten to death by her mother, Latasha Mott, with a belt while she was in the shower on Jan. 6, 2024, prosecutors have said. The girl’s body was moved to a wooded area and buried in a shallow grave behind an apartment complex at 818 Salt Springs Rd. in Syracuse.

Judge Matthew Doran offered Mott a sentence of 23 years to life in prison if she pleaded guilty to all the charges she is facing including second-degree murder and concealment of a human corpse. Mott did not accept the offer Wednesday.

This comes just a few months after Mott’s attorney, Don Kelly, told the court they planned to argue at trial Mott’s former boyfriend caused the girl’s death. Her attorneys reversed that argument Wednesday and said she did cause the child’s death but did not intend to kill the child.

Her attorneys said she wants to enter a plea but they feel her conduct was more consistent with a manslaughter charge. They argued they face an ethical dilemma of not wanting their client to admit to something she did not do. Prosecutors have not given any plea offer in Mott’s case and Doran cannot reduce the charges to manslaughter.

Mott is scheduled to go to trial on Jan. 20.

On Wednesday, Corrice Parks, Mott’s former boyfriend, admitted to helping to hide Neffy’s body after her mother allegedly beat her to death.

Parks was not charged with killing Neffy. He was charged with concealment of a human corpse and first-degree hindering prosecution.

Parks said he helped bury the child’s body and assisted Mott to avoid prosecution for the alleged murder.

Parks also previously pleaded guilty to an unrelated gun charge and was promised a sentencing range of 10 to 14 years in prison.

Doran offered Parks a sentence of 14 years for all of his charges if he entered a guilty plea on Wednesday.

Parks openly struggled with the decision in court. He said he wanted to accept responsibility for hindering the prosecution but said the concealment of the corpse was not who he was as a person.

MSN

She refused the plea deal, 2 of her children are going to testify against her.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

The mother of 5-year-old Nefertiti “Neffy” Harris was sentenced to 23 years to life in prison Wednesday for fatally beating the child, burying her in a shallow grave and covering up the murder for months.

“You’re a murderer. You’re a liar,” Neffy’s foster mother, Niosha Smith, said in court Wednesday. “You belong in a cold cell.”

Latasha Mott, 31, beat Neffy to death on Jan. 6, 2024.

She used a belt to hit the child repeatedly, causing dozens of welts from the buckle all over her body, prosecutor Rob Moran told syracuse.com | The Post Standard. Neffy also suffered multiple head wounds that did not come from a belt; it is unclear how exactly she suffered those injuries, Moran said.

After her death, Mott hid Neffy’s body in her mother’s basement, Moran said. Neffy’s grandmother, who was one of the people who discovered the child was missing months later, had no idea the child’s body was briefly hidden in her home, he said.

Police later discovered a phone previously used by Mott had suspicious internet searches, including: “How long does it take for a child’s body to decay?” and “What happened to bodies when they’re burned?”

At the sentencing, Moran read out the searches and Mott began to cry.

Around Jan 10, 2024, Mott and her then boyfriend, Corrice Parks, used a U-Haul truck to move Neffy’s body from Mott’s mother’s house to a shallow grave in a wooded area behind an apartment complex in Syracuse.

For two months, Mott was able to cover up Neffy’s disappearance. She told her other six children and her mother the child was staying with a friend. If the children asked too many questions, they were told to leave it alone, Moran said.

Finally, Mott’s mother connected with Smith, the friend she believed had Neffy. The two women went back and forth over Facebook and realized Neffy was missing. It quickly became clear Mott had lied to several people about Neffy’s whereabouts, Moran said.

At the sentencing, Smith said Mott constantly treated Neffy like a punching bag. She told Mott the rest of her kids would hate her for killing their sister.

“I hope you have a nightmare every night of your life and wake up in the hell you created,” Smith said. “I hope all the pain and disappointment you created disintegrates you to a dust.”

On Tuesday, Parks, 29, was sentenced to 14 years in prison after pleading guilty to concealment of a human corpse and first-degree hindering prosecution.

MSN

Neffy with her "real mother" Niosha Smith. We post horrible stories about foster parents but it is just as important to post about those that love these children and sometimes suffer the heartbreak of losing them to horrible deaths when they are reunited with their birth parent (s). Neffy knew love and Niosha showed that blood is not what makes you mother.

 

[runninfawn]

and a big thumb up for your comment under the pic.... loved it.... most people can be mother or father but it takes a loving person to be a dad or mom.... children of your heart, be they fosters or adopted, are so very very precious..... it would have broken me if i had to return one of my children (fosters) to their abusive parents knowing in my heart it wouldn't end well and that is one of the reasons i never could have fostered little ones but preferred teens......

 

[BuffettGirl]

So wait, this dung heap of a "mother" gave birth to a child with cocaine in her system (which can only ever be the pregnant woman's fault, the sperm donor didn't inject coke into the baby through his penis after all), and then abused that child, eventually TO DEATH, because she had developmental delays, probably due to "mom's" lil' tooter habit?!? I feel homicidal rage, pure rage...

 

[Busy Bee]

The absolute gall! She causes the child’s disability by her direct negligence, she poisoned her prebirth!! Does she apologize! Does she provide therapy and care to assist the baby!!? NO, she beats her to death! Yet she whines “no, I didn’t intend to kill her’!! Well her”intent” was not to comfort or give support and therapy! Her actions were to assault, batter and humiliate! No, she did this with enough force to kill her!! I hope the Judge gives her enough years to shut down her baby making bits! This one is a danger to innocent children!