2-year-old’s body found buried after cops were asked to do welfare check, CA deputies say
A mother and father accused of killing their 2-year-old daughter, then burying her in a rural area have been arrested, California deputies say.
The girl’s parents, Riley Royal, 28, and Amanda Royal, 24, were each arrested on a murder and child abuse resulting in death charge on Oct. 29, the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
An investigation into the girl’s case began 10 months earlier when deputies were called to do a welfare check at the girl’s home in Redding, according to deputies.
Unable to reach anyone on Jan. 7, deputies said they called the girl’s parents, who said they were not home.
However, deputies said the pair were inside but trying to “elude law enforcement.”
After deputies could not find the 2-year-old at the home, they interviewed the parents, according to deputies.
In doing so, they learned the girl died three months earlier “and had been unlawfully buried,” deputies said.
As detectives investigated, they found another child at the home, deputies said, adding the Shasta County Children’s Services took over caring for them.
Again, detectives interviewed the couple, deputies said.
They told deputies their daughter died in October 2023, according to the sheriff’s office.
Detectives said they also learned the girl “had been physically abused and had been buried west of Redding near the Whiskeytown Recreation area.”
The next day, detectives and coroner investigators exhumed the girl’s body, according to the sheriff’s office.
The coroner’s office did an autopsy and ruled the girl’s death a homicide, deputies said.
Detectives filed charges with the county’s district attorney, which issued a warrant for the parents’ arrest, deputies said.
The couple, who are each being held without bail, is expected to appear in court on Thursday, Oct 31, deputies said.
Redding is about 160-mile drive northwest from Sacramento.
This story was originally published October 30, 2024 at 1:56 PM with the headline "2-year-old’s body found buried after cops were asked to do welfare check, CA deputies say."
