Overview

• Terica Pearl, 29, was arrested on August 10 and booked in the Etowah County Jail without bond on a capital murder charge.
• Court filings made public Monday state that the one-year-old girl was strangled with a thick robe string, elevating the case under Alabama’s capital murder statute.
• Forensic teams have secured evidence and an autopsy is underway to establish the exact cause and timing of Blessence’s death.
• Investigators are probing how the child’s body came to rest in the back of an unlocked hearse at West Gadsden Funeral Home.
• Funeral-home staff and local residents held a candlelight vigil and raised funds for the toddler’s burial as the case moves toward its initial court hearing.