In Alabama, a woman charged with murder appeared in court on Friday. Prosecutors highlighted that security footage allegedly captured her approaching a funeral home in Gadsden, carrying a child.
The woman, Terrica Pearl, aged 29, is accused of murdering her daughter, 21-month-old Blessence Pearl, last August. She faces a capital murder charge due to her daughter’s young age.
During the preliminary hearing, it was revealed that the defendant, residing about a block from the West Gadsden Funeral Home, appeared on security video at approximately 2:30 a.m., walking toward the funeral home with a child believed to be Blessence.
Prosecutors reported that roughly two hours later, the footage showed Pearl leaving the funeral home, but this time she wasn’t carrying the child, as relayed by WBRC.
As previously reported by CrimeOnline, Pearl was arrested when the child’s body was discovered in an unlocked hearse at the funeral home on Forrest Avenue.
The funeral home’s manager, Dantez O. Robinson, mentioned that the toddler’s body, initially mistaken for a doll by the employees, was found when the groundskeeper attempted to move the hearse.
Later that morning, Pearl allegedly arrived at a Huntsville hotel, where she appeared to be on drugs. Police interviewed her at the hotel before her arrest.
Police noticed something white in her hair, and Pearl allegedly claimed that Bleesence had gotten into some Wite-Out, a liquid correction fluid. Someone who lived with the defendant corroborated the incident.
During the interview, Pearl became upset and started screaming,“oh my god, what have I done?”
She also claimed that while feeling “compelled” to walk to the funeral home, she asked her daughter if she felt safe.
Court documents indicated that Blessence had been strangled with a “thick robe string,” believed to from the defendant’s blue robe.
Police found the robe inside Pearl’s vehicle.
“You can see where the string was ripped from the garment,” Gadsden Police Sgt. Nick Keener, the lead investigator in the case, said.
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Defense attorney Shaun Malone argued that the state lacked evidence in the case. He requested records from the Alabama Department of Human Resources, to get more information on the defendant and victim.
“Those records would be illuminous to how we all got here today,” he said.
Meanwhile, Robinson, who said he has two daughters, said he’s hoping for justice.
“To see something like this really sent me into another level of shock.” he said last month.
“We’ve never had a problem with people going into our cars at the office. I laid the keys down where the keys go and out the door I went.
“To see that and to see my employee in disbelief, I was lost for words when I put the call out to the police department.
“We want justice for this baby. Babies do not ask to be here.”
Pearl is being held without bond in the Etowah County Jail.
[Feature Photo: Blessence Pearl/West Gadsden Funeral Home]
