Arizona woman charged with killing daughter, placing body in trash can on Christmas Eve
An Arizona mother is suspected of killing her young daughter and placing her body in a large trash can on Christmas Eve, police said.
Phoenix police said officers received a call about a body found in a trash can near a business northwest of downtown Phoenix at about 8 p.m. on Sunday, according to a Phoenix Police Department news release. They found the body of a young girl, who appeared to be between the ages of 5 and 7 inside a small plastic storage tote, according to court records.
On Monday, police officers received a call from someone in New York who said Sophia Simmons, 38, had told them she'd beaten her daughter and "it went too far," according to court records. Simmons reportedly told the caller that she'd left her house after beating the girl and that she was not breathing when Simmons returned, documents state.
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The caller, who has known Simmons since the early 2000s, told police that Simmons said she placed the girl's body in a trash can five days after the fatal beating, according to court records.
Detectives searched the home and found evidence that suggested someone had attempted to clean up a crime scene, police said.
The home appeared to have been emptied, court documents state. The couch was on the patio with cushions missing. There was water on the floor, on cabinets and in the smoke detectors on the ceiling, according to court documents.
Court documents also showed Simmons' phone was in the area where the body was found at about 10 a.m. on Sunday.
Video from a neighbor's home taken shortly after showed Simmons washing the outside of her vehicle, court records state. She was also seen carrying a large white trash bag over her shoulder and placing it in the backseat of the vehicle.
Phone records showed that Simmons was in California and was traveling eastbound back to Arizona, court documents state. She was detained by officers in Tonopah.
Simmons was booked into a Maricopa County Jail, where records show she's held on a $1 billion bail. She was charged with first-degree murder, two counts of child abuse, abandoning a body and tampering with physical evidence, according to court records.
It's unclear if Simmons has an attorney who can comment on her behalf. She's set to appear in court on Jan. 2.
The investigation was ongoing and the medical examiner's office was doing an examination, police said.
Contributing: Eduardo Cuevas, USA Today