AL - Tuscumbia parents charged with manslaughter in death of disabled daughter - July 2023

[lightofmine99]

Tuscumbia parents charged with manslaughter in death of disabled daughter

Authorities in Colbert County arrested two people on Friday on manslaughter charges in connection with the death of their disabled daughter.

www.waaytv.com

Christopher Malone and Amy Malone where arrested after Colbert County Sheriff Eric Balentine said an autopsy report showed "blatant neglect" in the death of the couple's daughter, Emma Grace Malone. Authorities say she was found dead at their home in July of 2023.

Sheriff Balentine says the case will be presented to a grand jury and that there's a possibility the charges will be upgraded.

Both were booked into the Colbert County Jail and are out on a $50,000 bond each.

Tuscumbia parents facing charges in daughter's death

Christopher Brent Malone and Amy Malone were arrested and charged Friday afternoon with one count of manslaughter each.

www.waff.com

COLBERT CO., Ala. (WAFF) - Parents of a disabled 15-year-old girl who was found dead in their basement in 2023 are now in jail facing manslaughter charges.

According to our news partners at the Times Daily, Christopher Brent Malone and Amy Malone were arrested and charged Friday afternoon with one count of manslaughter each.

Emma Grace Malone was found dead in the basement of her parents’ home in New Bethel on July 19, 2023.

“If you could see photos of her, like feces had been rubbed all over her, it would just make your stomach turn,” Colbert County Sheriff Eric Balentine told our news partners. “She had a disability and had not been to a doctor in years.”

 

[Ksprincess2]

Obituaries

Celebrate the beauty of life by recording your favorite memories or sharing meaningful expressions of support on your loved one's social obituary page.

www.morrisonfuneralhomes.com

 

[Lululemonsleuth]

Tuscumbia parents charged with manslaughter in death of disabled daughter

Authorities in Colbert County arrested two people on Friday on manslaughter charges in connection with the death of their disabled daughter.

www.waaytv.com

Tuscumbia parents facing charges in daughter's death

Christopher Brent Malone and Amy Malone were arrested and charged Friday afternoon with one count of manslaughter each.

www.waff.com

Amy was a close friend of mine growing up. We kept in touch through Facebook some, she actually told me when Emma was a baby that “God gave her a disabled child because she teased others who were disabled when we were in school.” I didn’t know what to say to that… I will say, this doesn’t surprise me at all. Amy has been very withdrawn from her family, a lot of people didn’t even know they had a daughter. When I heard Emma passed last year, I thought it was just from her illness. This breaks my heart & makes me mad. I can’t imagine how this poor girl suffered. It’s really sad to look back at posts and see pics of only her sons & read statuses about her and Brent “finishing the boys a new bedroom” … I got chills thinking of Emma in that basement, with no proper ventilation. I looked back through my social media private messages with Amy & just physically felt sick. Knowing I’ve slept in the same room as someone who neglected their kid to the point of death makes my skin crawl.

 

[Lululemonsleuth]

Obituaries

Celebrate the beauty of life by recording your favorite memories or sharing meaningful expressions of support on your loved one's social obituary page.

www.morrisonfuneralhomes.com

I have been looking at Amy’s Facebook today. Poor Emma Grace.

 

[Ksprincess2]

I have been looking at Amy’s Facebook today. Poor Emma Grace.

Thank you for coming here. What kind of disability did Emma have? Did Amy not ever post any pictures of her?

 

[Dpdan]

I was wondering about the pictures too. The small one in her obituary looks like it might have been cropped from a group photo and she looks very young, maybe 9?

 

[lightofmine99]

https://quadcitiesdaily.com/emma-grace-malone/

Here is another obituary from Quad Cities Daily. I noticed that her father (who is listed as a survivor in both obits) was apparently NOT a pallbearer. If I was reading an obituary or went to a funeral and saw that a father was not a pallbearer, I would think it's a bit odd. But, I would explain it away as a father being too afraid he'd not be able to handle it emotionally, or because he was physically not able to do it. I would forget about it. That said, our hindsight is 20/20 and knowing what we know, maybe the extended family would not allow him to do it because they were very suspicious of the circumstances. MOO.

Archives of the Obituaries: QUAD CITIES / MORRISON FUNERAL HOME / FIND A GRAVE

Archives of News Articles: WAAYY31TV / WAFF48

I am a big proponent of archival. I can't tell you how many decades-old threads I've dug into and half the links don't exist anymore (though I know internet archival wasn't as common in the mid 2000s as now). It's also good to have archives of previous versions of articles. MOO.

 

[lightofmine99]

Knowing I’ve slept in the same room as someone who neglected their kid to the point of death makes my skin crawl.

Thank you for stopping by and sharing your experience. I know this has to be really tough for you. I hope you know that it isn't your fault and there wasn't a way for you to have known. I'm sure you would've done anything possible for her if you knew. MOO.

It's a strange feeling for me learning that something akin to Lacy Fletcher and Kaylea Titford happened in my (our?) neck of the woods, so I can't imagine the feeling of having known this family for a while. I am a native to this general area but was not born or raised in Tuscumbia (which is a lovely little city). MOO.

She died last July and we are just now getting an indictment; there wasn't anything released to the public to indicate the death was anything more than natural back then. I don't think that it took this long for an indictment because of investigative neglect, rather it took long because there was a thorough investigation before presenting it to a grand jury. I suppose some would say it didn't actually take that long. MOO.

Considering the time of death - summer - again, I wonder if she attended school during the year, or if she was "homeschooled." It would be a lot easier to keep your child locked in a basement during summer break when she doesn't have to be anywhere (and therefore is not being observed by mandatory reporters and parents can't get hauled into truancy court when she stops showing at school). MOO.

 

[Lululemonsleuth]

Thank you for coming here. What kind of disability did Emma have? Did Amy not ever post any pictures of her?

Hi. She hasn’t posted pics of her she she was a little girl. They weren’t seen in any family photos since maybe 2012 or so. She didn’t post pics of her. Which makes me wonder why…

 

[Lululemonsleuth]

Hi. She hasn’t posted pics of her she she was a little girl. They weren’t seen in any family photos since maybe 2012 or so. She didn’t post pics of her. Which makes me wonder why…

It was never said what was wrong with her. I was told by Amy that Emma had a very rare heart condition & she had “multiple diagnoses”

 

[GRT]

Hi. She hasn’t posted pics of her she she was a little girl. They weren’t seen in any family photos since maybe 2012 or so. She didn’t post pics of her. Which makes me wonder why…

There are several photos of her on the funeral home's memorial tribute wall and she looks well cared for in those. I wonder what went wrong?

Emma Grace Malone - View Obituary & Service Information

Share Memories and Support the Family.

www.morrisonfuneralhomes.com

 

[Lululemonsleuth]

I was wondering about the pictures too. The small one in her obituary looks like it might have been cropped from a group photo and she looks very young, maybe 9?

She was definitely much younger. I went back & looked, no pics of her on social media since 2014, and that was from her aunt. People that knew them say they had no clue she had a daughter. And the fact they found her in a cage

 

[Lululemonsleuth]

There are several photos of her on the funeral home's memorial tribute wall and she looks well cared for in those. I wonder what went wrong?

Emma Grace Malone - View Obituary & Service Information

Share Memories and Support the Family.

www.morrisonfuneralhomes.com

Idk. That’s before she stopped going around her family after those were taken. I think around age 6 or so she stopped seeing family & basically no one saw her because she was kept in the basement.

 

[lightofmine99]

Parents facing manslaughter charges

TUSCUMBIA — Parents of a 15-year-old disabled daughter who was found dead in 2023 in the basement of their home are in jail facing manslaughter charges.

www.timesdaily.com

May 25th article from the Times Daily. (ARCHIVE)

Bumping. Can't find anything.

 

[lightofmine99]

Colbert County grand jury indicts parents following daughter’s death

Amy and Christopher Malone are facing manslaughter charges after their 15-year-old daughter Emma was found dead inside the basement of their New Bethel home last year.

www.waff.com

ARCHIVE (10/16/24)

They were apparently indicted by a grand jury on August 6, 2024. I saw a post on Facebook from a local independent journalist about an update in the court proceedings but there has yet to be an article from a more mainstream outlet about it. I don't think it would be considered an approved source even if it is generally accurate.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

It sounds like at some point they didn't cherish their daughter and just did the bare minimum for her, until not even that.

You have to have a mindset that a disabled child is a beautiful gift, not a burden. And if you are unable to do that or care for them, there is no shame in finding them a placement who will. No one should judge if you do find them a caring home. But to treat the child as if they don't matter... tragically awful.

 

[Lululemonsleuth]

I know the mom personally. I know a lot about what has NOT went on & been done for the poor child. The neighbor didn’t even know they had a daughter. I feel so bad for the way she suffered. We were told like 13 years ago that she had been put into hospice. There was never any proof of that or posts on Facebook. These were private messages.