http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2016/aug/14/they-never-stopped-searching-a-story-of/
The Investigation
Lee and Taylor suspected early on that Malik had not really just walked out of his home.
When a specialist at the White County Child Safety Center spoke to Clifton's and Marcotte's children, the officers learned that Marcotte sometimes put a sock in Malik's mouth and wrapped duct tape around his head to keep him quiet or to teach him a lesson.
Marcotte denied taping a sock in Malik's mouth. There wasn't even tape in the house, she said in a video interview:
Taylor tells her that investigators found three rolls of tape and child-sized socks with blood on them in her home.
Marcotte says she had taped the sock in Malik's mouth only once.
She would never hurt a child, she says.
Marcotte crosses and uncrosses her legs nervously. She says people in the neighborhood had blamed her for the disappearance.
"I told them, 'When they find him, and they prove I had nothing to do with it, everybody in here is going to kiss my feet.'"
An Awesome, gut wrenching article about truly dedicated officers ...RIP baby Malik
Thanks so much for the link, sad as it is. OMG - I guess that helps explain Marcotte's 10-year sentence.
Two disgusting people using up the air I breathe! I hope the officers who helped solve this case receive counseling if they need it. Thank you LE! From the article:
In April 2015, Lee spoke to a friend of Clifton's who said she remembered Marcotte saying that "she could not handle the twins and that, if it was just one of them, that she could handle it."
Officers often tailed Clifton or Marcotte and studied the family's phone, Facebook and email records. Marcotte's email handle was "iluvmykids07."
In August and September, when Malik would have been preparing for his first day of preschool, the officers again interviewed witnesses from the beginning of the investigation. Some people painted a happy picture of Clifton and Marcotte; others reported abuse and yelling in the home.
In early November, Lee reviewed videos of old interviews with Marcotte. She wrote about it in her investigator's notes.
"I watched more Lesley videos this morning. I saw the part again where it was mentioned that Malik could have fallen and bumped his head, brain swelled, and died. She said 'Malik is clumsy. He fell 2 or 3 times that day. He fell off the toilet that day, toward the bathtub.'"
Ugh. And this - the story of Malik's last day.
Warning, there's a graphic description!
Three days before he reported Malik's disappearance to police, Clifton disciplined his son because he wouldn't eat his dinner, Marcotte wrote in her confession.
When Malik drank another child's drink, Clifton disciplined him again.
Malik's breath became ragged. Marcotte begged Clifton to take Malik to the hospital, but he wouldn't.
"He was scared to because of how bruised Malik was."
Malik slept with them that night. His legs grew cold, and his stomach began to swell.
"Malik was biting his finger, and I knew he felt no pain because his finger was bleeding."
Marcotte wrote that when Malik began to choke, she performed CPR. But it didn't help.
Clifton wrapped Malik in Marcotte's purple robe and went outside to take him to the hospital.
But Malik died before they got there.
He died in the arms of his father. In the arms of his killer, Marcotte said.
Clifton decided to conceal Malik's death, waiting three days to borrow his brother's Dodge Durango and leaving in the middle of the night, she said.
She had to stick to the story that the 2-year-old had wandered away, or Clifton "would bring me down with him or he would get rid of me. So I did as he told me."
Marcotte agreed to record a phone conversation with Clifton for police.
Clifton tells her the police have nothing on them.
"They can't come after you with nothing. Period," he says. "All you got to remember is to keep saying you don't know."
