A Detroit mom has been charged with murder after “smothering” and choking her 9-year-old son to death, burying him in a backyard grave and then skipping town, according to prosecutors.
Brandee Katrice Pierce, 41, faces charges of first-degree murder, felony murder, first-degree child abuse, evidence tampering and concealing the death of an individual, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced on Wednesday, Feb. 5.
Pierce could face life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of the top count.
Worthy said a set of human remains were found in a shallow grave behind a Woodingham Drive home on Jan. 6, as the landlord was staging the property in preparation for a new tenant. The landlord called police, who discovered the shallow grave with a foot believed to belong to a small child sticking out.
The remains would be identified as those of 9-year-old Zemar King III, whom authorities believe was killed in October 2024. King’s cause of death was identified as “smothering and neck compression,” Worthy said at a press conference on Wednesday.
She alleged Pierce then bound her son’s hands and feet together and placed his body in the shallow backyard grave she had dug. By Nov. 6, she had abandoned the Detroit rental home with her other son, a 3-year-old toddler, and decamped to Cobb County, Ga., Worthy alleged.
“I have been a prosecutor for a long time, and I often say that I have seen it all. The horrors of this child abuse case defy that,” Worthy said in a statement. “The alleged actions of this defendant are among the most callous I have seen and hope never to see again.”
Pierce would later come to the attention of the Brookhaven Police Department in Georgia on Dec. 20 on unrelated allegations, authorities say.
Police in Brookhaven later notified their counterparts in Detroit, and on Jan. 10, she was taken into custody in Georgia in connection with Zemar’s death. The Wayne County Prosecutor’s office is seeking to have her extradited back to Michigan, Worthy said.
Information on an attorney for Pierce, who is listed as homeless in Georgia court records, was not immediately available.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.