A rattled Clayton County community is grappling with questions after police said two parents did the unthinkable: tried to hide the body of their 6-month-old son after one of them killed him and discarded him in a trash bag.
The tragic saga started Sunday morning when baby Nnakai Pratt’s father, Antonio Pearce, 38, allegedly told Clayton police an incredible tale. He said his son was kidnapped by robbers who took drugs from his “stash house” at gunpoint, according to warrants for his arrest.
Credit: Clayton County police
Credit: Clayton County police
From the start, police didn’t buy his story. On Tuesday, investigators found the baby’s body, clothed in a “My First Thanksgiving” shirt and Minnie Mouse pants, along a fence in the backyard of a home. The site, just outside Riverdale, is near the apartment complex where Pearce reported the kidnapping.
Nnakai’s cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, officials said in a Friday morning news conference that left many questions, including a motive for the baby’s killing, still unanswered.
One thing is certain, Detective Chieyenne Reynolds said, “He (Pearce) was found in a lot of lies.” He faces murder and other charges.
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Reynolds confirmed they believe the baby’s mother, Necolette Pratt, 31, aided in the father’s attempted cover-up. She was arrested Wednesday and faces multiple charges: first-degree cruelty to children, concealing the death of another, being a party to the commission of a crime, making false statements and obstructing an officer.
According to a preliminary report from the Clayton County Medical Examiner’s Office, Nnakai was last seen alive arriving at his mother’s apartment just after midnight Sunday. The report does not state with whom the infant arrived or where the mother lives, only that Pearce was seen leaving the home sometime later with two car seats.
Nnakai‘s twin sister is the only child visible in video investigators obtained from outside the apartment.
“There is something over the car seat of the male twin so you cannot see him,” the report states.
It adds: “It is expected the child was killed sometime after the father left the mother’s home.”
What happened between 12:05 a.m. Sunday and when Pearce called police eight hours later is not clear. Warrants say Pearce told police multiple versions of events, ranging from the alleged robbery to running into a “customer” around 7 a.m., whom he said he asked to hold a backpack full of drugs and a gun. Pearce told investigators he didn’t want the bag on him when they arrived to look into his alleged robbery and kidnapping report.
All that police have confirmed publicly is that Pearce did run into a customer between 7 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. and asked him to hold onto the drug bag.
Although police have been tight-lipped about the investigation, clues in online jail records show a gradual build-up to the murder charge.
Pearce was initially arrested Monday on unrelated charges, and a new charge of making false statements was added Tuesday. By Wednesday afternoon, he was facing the murder charge and several others, including concealing the death of another, unlawful disposal of a human body, tampering with evidence, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, first-degree cruelty to children and false report of a crime.
Yet another charge, domestic violence battery, was added Thursday, records show.
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Officials also confirmed Nnakai’s sister is now in the custody of the state’s Division of Family and Children Services.
A memorial to her brother has grown steadily on a patch of pine straw-covered ground off Sun Valley Way, not far from where Nnakai’s body was discovered in a partially opened trash bag.
The apartment complex where the infant was reported kidnapped backs up to the street but is separated by some trees from the neighborhood full of single-story homes.
A short white cross surrounded by stuffed animals honors the young life.
“Baby boy, may your soul rest with God,” reads one note left at the memorial. “May the Lord comfort your twin sister and protect her all the days of her life.”
Both Pearce and Pratt appeared in Clayton County Magistrate Court on Friday morning for a first appearance hearing for some of their charges. Of those that were heard, bond was denied on all but their less severe charges, meaning they will remain in jail.
— Staff writer Taylor Croft contributed to this article.
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