The Daily News Top Stories of 2022 #5: Kimrey pleads guilty to the murder of Mariah Woods
The Daily News is taking a look back at the top stories of 2022.
Adolphus Earl Kimrey II pled guilty to the 2017 murder of three-year-old Mariah Woods on Dec. 12 of this year.
Onslow County residents have been awaiting Kimrey's trial for over five years and finally received some semblance of closure when he pled guilty to Woods' murder in Onslow County Superior Court just weeks ago.
This story received over 8,000 online page views and is the 5th biggest story to hit The Jacksonville Daily News in 2022. Check out the full story, reported by Morgan Starling, below.
BREAKING: Kimrey pleads guilty to the murder of Mariah Woods (published Dec. 12, 2022)
Adolphus Earl Kimrey II pled guilty to the 2017 first-degree murder and felony intentional child abuse of three-year-old Mariah Woods on the afternoon of Dec. 12 in Onslow County Superior Court.
Kimrey was sentenced to life without parole. He was charged on Jan. 24, 2018, with first-degree murder and felony intentional child abuse, his arrest warrant stating the defendant “intentionally” inflicted serious bodily injury on Mariah Kay Woods using chloroform.
Woods was found dead on Dec. 2, 2017, in Shelter Creek in Pender County ending a six-day search by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Marine Corps, the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office and volunteers.
Kimrey's trial has been moved multiple times and the DA's office had previously stated they'd be seeking the death penalty. However, District Attorney Ernie Lee told the media following Kimrey's plea that he had to look to see if there were aggravating circumstances in order to move forward. In North Carolina, the death penalty can only be sought if there are one of 11 aggravating circumstances and he said he could not find any cases that involved chloroform as one of these circumstances.
"I was going to argue it because of it being a three-year-old child," Lee said. "But I decided, after reviewing all the evidence, and certainly once I had gotten some inmate statements, I knew he was going to move forth with a defense of accident. I had to take that into consideration."
Lee said he felt this plea was best for the family and the state of North Carolina. There hasn't been anyone executed in North Carolina since 2006, Lee said, and no one in Onslow County since 1939.
Lee presented the evidence found during the investigation of Woods' death in court on Dec. 12.
Lee said Woods' mother Kristy Woods took multiple polygraph tests and passed and detectives have no credible evidence that Woods was involved in her daughter's murder. Kimrey also took several polygraph tests and failed, including an FBI-issued test.
Detectives also investigated for any signs of sexual assault but did not find any. The official cause of death was chloroform toxicity and Kimrey admitted to two fellow inmates that he had accidentally given her too much because he wanted her to go to sleep while he got high.
Lee said Kimrey had purchased a flashlight, bleach, nail polish remover, a headlamp, zip ties, a padlock and a nerf gun at a local Family Dollar store prior to Mariah's death. The bleach and nail polish remover were used to make the chloroform. During this time, Kimrey was addicted to methamphetamine.
Describing the events after Woods died, Lee stated Kimrey admitted to placing the 3-year-old in three trash bags with a 50-pound block and eventually told detectives where to find her on a map but refused to take police there himself. The distance from the house to where detectives found Woods was 22.4 miles.
Per the autopsy report, Woods was found with scrapes, bruises and abrasions that she likely suffered from being taken to the area Kimrey told police they would find her.
Kimrey's defense attorney Walter H. Paramore III, turned to Woods' family who was in attendance at the courthouse and apologized on behalf of Kimrey.
Paramore stated Kimrey's judgment was impaired by drugs he had taken and that there was no evidence of premeditation or deliberation, adding this was not a traditional first-degree murder. Paramore went on to say the district attorney's office used the chloroform situation as a shortcut to charging Kimrey with first-degree murder and that Woods' death was an accident.
Although the defense argued against there being premeditation in this case, Lee said he would have argued that putting chloroform over Mariah's face in the first place could be considered premeditation. However, Lee added Kimrey made that statement to fellow inmates, not law enforcement, which could have complicated things further.
Kimrey spoke briefly to the court and to Woods' family.
Visibly taken back by emotion, Kimrey said, "I am deeply sorry for the pain and grief I've caused. I am so very sorry for the family, and everyone involved."
Woods' mother, emotional as well, followed behind Kimrey saying, "I stand before you a broken, destroyed person. My family and I will never be the same. Something will always be missing and that is my baby girl. We have been tortured, harassed and beaten. We have not been able to grieve. My sons have been tortured, taken away and to this day, still can't understand why she was the one taken away from us. All of those milestones that we should be experiencing with her, we'll never experience."
Woods went on to say, "She (Mariah) will be honored forever and remembered. I want to know why but I know we never will know. She was the light of everybody's life. She had a smile that would brighten up your day. I had her name picked out even before I had a little girl. She was like my best friend."
Lee also spoke on the reasoning for Kimrey's trial having been moved back so many times. He said there are currently 42 first-degree murders pending in his district right now and that number has been consistent for several years. He said there have been four in Duplin County in just the last five weeks (at time of publication) which makes it difficult to get through them all.
The COVID-19 pandemic also halted jury trials for more than a year, Lee added. There are also few defense attorneys in the area that handle these cases, so Lee said there were several scheduling conflicts.
"Every murder case is important to this district attorney because as I often tell my assistant DA's, it could be our family out there and I'd hope the DA or the ADA in that case, would show compassion and work hard on their cases," Lee said.
This case was emotional for many, and Onslow County Sheriff Chris Thomas said this case took a toll on all of his detectives and staff. He said it's a bitter ending to a sad story.
Had Kimrey's case actually gone to trial, Lee said it was planned for the spring.
"This is just such a tragedy, not only for the victim's family, but also for society that something this horrific, this senseless would happen," Lee said. "It just kind of really shocks the conscious. We've got this three-year-old little girl, she's never going to grow up, attend school, she's never going to get married or have children of her own. It's very sad."
Top Story Honorable Mention
Onslow County teacher involved in verbal altercation with student 'no longer employed' (published March 21)
An Onslow County high school teacher is no longer employed by Onslow County Schools after what the school system called "an inappropriate verbal outburst."
Onslow County Schools Chief Communications Officer Brent Anderson said in a press release that district staff were notified by administrators at Southwest High School about a situation which occurred in one of their classrooms on March 17, involving an inappropriate verbal outburst by a staff member.
"School administrators took prompt action to address the situation," Anderson said. "A call was made that evening to the parents of students in the class to let them know the school was aware of the situation and it was being addressed."
The next day, the staff member submitted their resignation and is no longer employed by Onslow County Schools, Anderson said.
A video of the incident has since gone viral on social media. The video allows for audio of the teacher repeatedly yelling and cussing at the student, hitting a desk, and telling the student they do not care what they do with their life.
"In the Onslow County School system, we expect only the highest standards of behavior from our students and staff, and that we treat every member of our school family with dignity and respect," Anderson said. "The type of behavior exhibited in this situation will not be tolerated and is certainly not representative of the employees of Southwest High School, or any other employees who work in our district."
This article originally appeared on The Daily News: The Daily News Top Stories of 2022 #5: Kimrey pleads guilty to the murder of Mariah Woods
