Police: Mother admits to starving daughter, dumping body

SILVER SPRING, Md. — A Maryland woman accused of starving her 15-month-old daughter for more than three weeks has been charged with first-degree murder in the toddler’s death, police said Thursday.

Kiearra Tolson, 23, of Silver Spring, told investigators that she placed her daughter’s body in a plillowcase and trash bags after she died last month and discarded the chlld’s body in a dumpster at her apartment complex, the Montgomery County Police Department said in a news release.

Tolson also told investigators that she had starved her daughter, Blair Niles, for approximately three-and-a-half weeks, police said.

The child’s body hasn’t been recovered, but police said investigators found evidence in Tolson’s apartment corroborating her account. A court filing says police found a pillow without a pillowcase in Tolson’s apartment.

Tolson was arrested Wednesday after an acquaintance called 911 to report that Tolson had told her that she killed her child, according to police.

The child’s father told investigators that he last saw his daughter on April 17 and hadn’t had any contact with Tolson since then.

State District Court Judge John Moffett ordered Tolson held without bond at a hearing Thursday, according to Ramon Korionoff, a spokesman for Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy. Korionoff said a public defender represented Tolson at the hearing. A message left with the public defender’s office wasn’t immediately returned. Tolson is due back in court on July 16 for a bond review hearing.

The Associated Press