A 5-year-old South Carolina girl has gone missing after her mother was found dead, authorities said.
Nevaeh Lashy Adams disappeared sometime around the time her mother was murdered inside their apartment in Sumter, the Sumter Police Department said.
Police officers were called around 6 p.m. Aug. 5 by a relative who found the body of Nevaeh’s mother, 29-year-old Sharee Bradley, inside her apartment in the Lantana Apartments. When officers arrived, the girl was gone.
An Amber Alert has not been issued as of Tuesday morning.
Girl, 5, missing after Sumter mother found dead at Lantana Apartments https://t.co/9uAHHItOa1
— Kimberly Nance (@KymberlyNance) August 6, 2019
@sumterscpolice still on the scene at Lantana Apartments and still need help to find the missing 5 year old Nevada Adams https://t.co/8qnuXzkwse pic.twitter.com/IhQgeYhBjp
— The Great Avery (@AveryLedwell) August 6, 2019
BREAKING: MISSING 5-year-old girl whose mother was found killed inside their Sumter apartment. pic.twitter.com/gycRQ3y7lm
— Josh Berry (@_joshberry) August 6, 2019
Police have taken down the tape and are pulling away from the scene @wis10 pic.twitter.com/y9tt1zB1PR
— Miranda Parnell WIS (@miranda_parnell) August 6, 2019
Police said they arrested a suspect and identified him as Daunte Maurice Johnson, 28. He was spotted fleeing the residence, police said.
“It is unclear what, if any, role he might have with the missing girl,” the department stated.
Nevaeh was described as standing 4 foot 3 inches and weighing around 50 pounds, with braided black hair with colored beads.
Anyone with information was asked to call 911 immediately, the Sumter Police Department at (803) 436-2700, or their nearest law enforcement agency.
Information can also be given anonymously by calling Crime Stoppers at (803) 436-2718 or 1-888-CRIME-SC.
Tips can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers by visiting www.P3tips.com and clicking on the “Submit a New Tip” ta,b or by downloading the new P3 Tips app for Apple and Android devices. A Spanish language option is available.
Missing Children
There were 424,066 missing children reported in the FBI’s National Crime Information Center in 2018, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Under federal law, when a child is reported missing to law enforcement they must be entered into the database. In 2017, there were 464,324 entries.
“This number represents reports of missing children. That means if a child runs away multiple times in a year, each instance would be entered into NCIC separately and counted in the yearly total. Likewise, if an entry is withdrawn and amended or updated, that would also be reflected in the total,” the center noted.
The center said it assisted officers and families with the cases of more than 25,00 missing children. In those cases, 92 percent were endangered runaways, 4 percent were family abductions, 3 percent were critically missing young adults between the ages of 17 and 21, 1 percent were lost, injured, or otherwise missing children, and less than one percent were nonfamily abductions.
The center was founded by John and Revé Walsh and other child advocates in 1984 as a private, non-profit organization to serve as the national clearinghouse and resource center for information about missing and exploited children.
