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Inset: Jessica M. Motes (Hall County Sheriff’s Office). Background: Police responding to reports of a child’s body being found in Motes’ trunk (WXIA).
A Georgia woman, aged 36, is now facing multiple serious charges after the discovery of a young girl’s remains in her vehicle. Authorities reported that the woman, Jessica Maria Motes, allegedly confessed to her father that she had harmed the 4-year-old girl, leading her to believe the child was dead.
Motes has been charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, and first-degree child cruelty, as announced by the authorities. Initially, following her arrest late last month, she was only charged with concealing the death of a child.
The escalation in charges came after a comprehensive investigation conducted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), in collaboration with the Oakwood Police Department and the Hall County Sheriff’s Office, according to a news release by the GBI on Wednesday.
Previously, as reported by Law&Crime, Motes’ father informed police that he saw his daughter arriving in a Nissan sedan at a shopping center on Mundy Mill Road in Oakwood around 5 p.m. on Sunday, October 26.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Motes’ father told police that he spotted his daughter driving her Nissan sedan into the parking lot of a shopping center in the 3000 block of Mundy Mill Road in Oakwood at about 5 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 26.
The address belongs to a Sam’s Club that is about 45 miles northeast of Atlanta.
Motes’ father told police that when he spoke to his daughter, she made several incriminating statements, according to a probable cause affidavit. Such statements allegedly included Motes saying that she “hurt” the victim and then telling her father, “I think she is dead.”
The warrant states that Motes’ father then drove her away from the parking lot and that they “later encountered law enforcement.”
After Motes’ father spoke with authorities, police responded to the parking lot. There, officers said they found “the remains” of the 4-year-old victim “in the trunk of the Nissan sedan,” which is allegedly registered to Motes.
Authorities did not disclose the relationship between Motes and the unidentified 4-year-old victim.
Atlanta NBC affiliate WXIA reported that the Oakwood Police Department was the initial agency investigating the victim’s death. Police then requested assistance from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and the Hall County Sheriff’s Office.
According to the GBI, upon the completion of the investigation, the case file will be turned over to the Northeastern Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.
Motes has remained in custody at the Hall County Detention Center since her initial arrest.