Report: Jacksonville mother admits to killing 11-year-old, driving with body

The Pocahontas Times in West Virginia is reporting that a Jacksonville mother admitted to killing her 11-year-old daughter before attempting to drive to New York, where the child's father lives.

PHOTOS: Jacksonville girl dies; mother jailed 

Newsome was arrested after her 11-year-old daughter's body was found near the scene of a traffic crash in West Virginia, police said.

According to police, the girl's dead body was inside a car when her mother, Erica Newsome of Jacksonville, lost control of the vehicle and crashed near the Virginia border Sunday morning.

A couple from New York saw Newsome take the child's body out of the car and over the embankment, police said.

Since the crash, investigators have determined the child was killed in Jacksonville and loaded into the car for the trip.

“The child was placed in the vehicle early Saturday morning and she headed toward Buffalo, New York,” Barlow said.

Newsome was headed to New York to see Kay-Lea's father who spoke with Action News Jax reporter Russell Colburn, who said that he spoke with Newsome while she drove and she acted like everything was fine.

The Pocahontas Times stated in an article that Newsome asked to speak to the police and stated that she had killed her daughter and was also abusive to her.

Police said Jacksonville authorities went to Newsome’s residence and found evidence of the crime there.

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office detectives traveled to West Virginia on Monday, police said.

“If it hadn’t been for an older couple from New York City who observed the child being removed from the vehicle, we probably would have just thought it was a minor motor vehicle accident with a driver and nobody else,” State Police Sgt. Fred Barlow said.

The newspaper says Trooper D.R. Dillon recorded a statement from Newsome, in which Newsome said she picked up her daughter, Kaye-lea Plummer, from her bed on Friday and put the little girl in her truck.

According to the newspaper, Newsome also told Dillon Kaye-lea did not move, eat, drink, speak, or use the bathroom for two days.

There is no confirmation on a cause of death, but foul play is suspected. More arrests could be forthcoming in Florida, police said.

“She knew she had vehicle issues and didn’t want to be driving at interstate speeds,” Barlow said. “She decided to stay off major highways and that’s how she wound up in Thornwood.”

Newsome was arrested and charged with concealment of a dead human being.

Action News Jax reporter Beth Rousseau is at the Jacksonville home and has reached out to JSO and is working to learn what evidence was found at the home.

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Cox Media Group