North Carolina Woman Accused of Beating Granddaughter to Death

A North Carolina woman has been accused of beating her young granddaughter so brutally that the girl later died in the hospital on Tuesday.

Around 4:00 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, “the Nash County Sheriff’s Office was notified of a juvenile that was brought into the Emergency Room at Nash UNC Healthcare with severe injuries and was deceased upon arrival,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post.

Deputies said they were originally informed the child was 13 years old, later learning that she was only eight, ABC 11 reported.
A subsequent investigation revealed that the child resided in Nashville in Dutchman Road’s 5000 block, per the sheriff’s office. Detectives learned that the girl had lived with her grandmother, Patricia Ann Ricks, 72, who was her legal guardian.

The sheriff’s office said the investigation indicated that the child had been “beaten so severe[ly] by the Grandmother that she died from the injuries.”

The Facebook post explains that after Ricks was taken to the sheriff’s office, she “made no statement” to detectives, who “do not know any motive for this crime.” 

Ricks has been charged with First Degree Murder and Felony Child Abuse with Serious Injury, according to the sheriff’s office. She is being held without bond at the Nash County Detention Center, where she awaits her first court appearance at the Nash County District Court on Thursday. 

The sheriff’s office noted that the girl’s siblings, who also resided with Ricks, have been placed in the custody of the Nash County Department of Social Services. 

In an unrelated incident in April, a Louisiana woman, Roxanne Record, 53, was arrested on a first-degree murder charge after she allegedly forced her four-year-old granddaughter to drink whiskey from a bottle leading to the child’s death, as Breitbart News reported. 

The child’s mother, Kadjah Record, 28, allegedly watched but failed to intervene, and was also booked on a first-degree murder charge.