Photo: Wythe County Sheriff’s Office
Just after 1 a.m. on Wednesday, authorities pulled the lifeless body ofJosie Burleson out of the New River in Wythe County, the Wythe County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
The toddler’s mother, Kimberly Dawn Moore, 45, and her boyfriend, Adrian Neil Puckett, also 45, were arrested and charged with felony child neglect with reckless disregard for life and felony child endangerment, the sheriff’s office says.
Kimberly Dawn Moore, 45, of Virginia.New River Valley Jail
Both tested positive for methamphetamine and may face additional charges, Sheriff Keith Dunagan tells PEOPLE.
“They are both meth users,” he says.
The child’s untimely death is tragic, he says.
“Wythe County is a rural community,” he says. “It’s a close-knit group and this is going to affect a large part of the community.”
The ordeal began on Tuesday at 7:28 p.m. when the Wythe County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call about a missing 3-year-old child on Rocky Hollow Road, a rental property the family was visiting that’s 150 yards from the New River, the statement says.
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Moore and Puckett, who live on the same street as the rental house, told police that the child was playing outside near the New River Trail and wandered off, the statement says.
Adrian Neil Puckett, 45, of Virginia.
Within minutes of arriving at the home, the sheriff’s office led a massive search for the child.
Nearly six hours later, searchers found the girl’s body in the river.
Moore and Puckett are being held in the Wythe County Jail.
They have not yet entered pleas.
It is unclear whether they have retained attorneys who can speak on their behalf.
source: people.com
