Action News Jax is hearing from the father of an 11-year-old girl who police said was killed, stuffed into a trunk and driven through several states by her own mother.
“(Kaye-Lea Plummer) just meant the world,” her father, Donath Plummer, said. “She was everything to me, so my heart is gone now.”
Investigators found the 11-year-old’s body Sunday after her mother crashed her car near the West Virginia-Virginia state line.
Father of 11-year-old killed tells me he isn't ruling out that suspect, Erica Newsome, staged crash to look like an accident @ActionNewsJax https://t.co/Hul3y7gtyk
— Russell Colburn (@RussellANjax) August 8, 2017
According to state police, a couple from New York City saw Newsome take Kaye-Lea's body out of the car and over an embankment.
Since the crash, investigators have determined Kaye-Lea was killed in Jacksonville Saturday then loaded into the car.
Police said Newsome admitted to killing Kaye-Lea. Jacksonville authorities went to Newsome's residence and found evidence of the crime there.
Donath Plummer, who lives in Buffalo, New York, said he was expecting to see Kaye-Lea and his estranged wife, Erica Newsome, for a visit.
Plummer said Newsome sent him several texts saying they were coming to visit him.
Text message one: "Hey Donny. Me and the big girl is headed to see you. You both really need it."
Text message two: "We are already packed and on the road. See you when we get there."
Text message three: "I had to stop and rest. It was raining this morning and it's sunny now."
Text message four: "This stupid tire is wobbly. I will be on my way as soon as I sleep some first."
He said he didn't know anything was wrong until he was notified of the crash.
He said detectives gave him the news at work.
“They had said that they found them at the scene of an accident, but they didn't believe my daughter had died in the accident,” Plummer said “(It was the) worst news that anyone could ever bring you.”
Plummer said Kaye-Lea was his only child.
“She was just the sweetest little thing,” Plummer said. “She liked reading. She loved talking to me. All different things.”
“She just always brought a smile to my face no matter how I was feeling,” Plummer said.
Police have not released Kaye-Lea’s cause of death.
Plummer: "I don't know how [Erica Newsome] could've been texting me & telling me that [everything was OK] & she knew the whole time." https://t.co/5xYLbTai4p
— Russell Colburn (@RussellANjax) August 8, 2017
Texts #Jacksonville mom sent to estranged husband before crash in W.Va. She admitted to killing daughter, putting body in trunk, police say pic.twitter.com/MvrRyIy7N2
— Brittney Donovan (@brittneyANjax) August 8, 2017
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