By Jerald Jimenez
Dec 27, 2023, 1:20 PM EST
A mother from Phoenix, Arizona, was arrested after her daughter’s body was found dead in a dumpster during the crime committed on Christmas Eve Sunday.
. The minor’s mother, Sophia Simmons, 38, was arrested as the main suspect in the crime, which she would have committed on Christmas Eve.
According to Phoenix police, on Sunday around 8:00 pm they received a call from a security guard at a storage container, who informed them that they had found the body of a girl in a dumpster.
The guard claimed to have been alerted by another witness, who entered the container in search of firewood and saw the girl’s body.
The agents went to the scene and confirmed the discovery of the girl, who was between 5 and 7 years old and had multiple wounds all over her body. Investigators determined that the injuries were of different ages and that the girl had scars from previous abuse, ABC 15 noted.
Police also received a tip from another witness, who lives in New York, who claimed to have received a call from the suspect, Sophia Simmons, 38, on Christmas Day. The witness testified that Simmons had confessed to him that she had “hit her daughter and gone too far.” He also reported that the suspect told him that she left her body in the container when she saw that she was already dead.
Police obtained a search warrant for Simmons’ home, where they found evidence that someone had attempted to clean up the crime scene.
Police did not find Simmons at the home, but tracked her cell phone and located her in California, where she was headed back to Arizona. Police detained her on the outskirts of Phoenix and took her to police headquarters.
The woman was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, child abuse and tampering with evidence. Police continue to investigate the case and the circumstances that led to the girl’s brutal murder.
Phone records also showed that Simmons’ phone was near the dumpster on Sunday around 10:30 a.m. Police estimated the body had been in the dumpster for five days, starting Dec. 24.
With information from ABC 15