South Carolina caregiver jailed for life over murder of 11-year-old A'Kyri Bell
Camisha McGaskey, 32, was convicted of murdering A'Kyri Bell after weeks of abuse in a Horry County home. A judge sentenced her to life in prison.
Life sentence handed down in murder of abused 11-year-old in Horry County
Camisha McGaskey, 32, has been sentenced to life in prison after a jury found her guilty of murdering 11-year-old A'Kyri Bell at a Carolina Forest home in Horry County, South Carolina, postandcourier.com reports. The jury returned its verdict in less than an hour following a week-long trial that began on 19 October 2026.
A'Kyri died on 11 June 2025 from multiple blunt force injuries to her head. Prosecutors established that McGaskey had physically abused the child for more than two months before the killing. Circuit Court Judge David Caraker handed down the life sentence after the guilty verdicts on murder and obstruction of justice were delivered.
"Nobody should be treated like that," said Vernon Bell, A'Kyri's father, outside court. "She got what she deserved because A'Kyri did not deserve this at all."
Prosecution: 'the most prolific abuse we have ever seen'
Senior Assistant Solicitor Leigh Ann Waller and Solicitor Jimmy Richardson described the case as "the most prolific abuse" they had ever encountered. Waller's closing argument opened with two photographs: one showing Bell smiling in a dress on 4 April 2025, and a second showing her lying unconscious in a hospital bed with visible head trauma on the day she died.
Prosecutors presented a timeline tracing Bell's arrival at the Sago Palms Drive home in December 2024 through to her death. Photographs and videos shown to the jury documented a clear deterioration in the child's condition — struck so repeatedly, prosecutors said, that she stopped reacting to the pain.
"This is not just severe physical abuse. It's not a parent getting upset and taking it too far. That happens, but it's not what happened here," Waller told the jury. "Camisha controlled and dominated A'Kyri for weeks before she died. It's oppression."
A video played in court showed McGaskey tearing a wig and mask off Bell inside a car, revealing a swollen lip, a black eye and further injuries. Audible gasps and weeping were heard in the courtroom. Vernon Bell left the room in tears during the screening of a separate video showing McGaskey striking the half-dressed, bloodied child in late May.
Horry County Police had found a ripped-off blue shower curtain, a black belt in the bathtub, trash bags containing soiled linens and towels, and cleaning supplies in the upstairs bathroom of the home — evidence, the prosecution argued, that McGaskey attempted to conceal what had happened. She was also convicted of obstruction of justice for those efforts.
"What makes it murder is the malice," Waller said in her closing.
Defence argued overreach and unreliable witnesses
McGaskey pleaded not guilty, did not take the stand, and the defence rested without calling any witnesses. Her attorney, Ralph Wilson Sr., challenged the credibility of prosecution witnesses and the scope of the indictments throughout the trial.
"There has been a ton of testimony about child abuse, even about torture; what there has been a dearth of is testimony about murder," Wilson said before closing arguments.
Wilson argued in his appeal to jurors that the prosecution's case rested on "lying" witnesses and an absence of definitive evidence linking McGaskey to a specific act of murder. "They could have charged her with child abuse, homicide by child abuse, neglect, whatever. They charged her with one specific act on a specific day," he said. "All this other stuff, it's to prejudice you against this lady."
Wilson also requested that the jury be given the option of considering voluntary manslaughter under a "heat of passion" defence, arguing that Bell had triggered McGaskey's anger with a specific action on the day of her death. Judge Caraker denied the request.
"Even if you discount all the behaviour leading up to June 11, the actions of an 11-year-old child on June 11 — I would shudder to think that would provide legal provocation in a case like this," Caraker said.
Co-defendant pleads guilty to neglect
A co-defendant in the case, Darnell Dearmas, 21, entered a guilty plea on 21 October 2026 to one count of unlawful child neglect. Dearmas admitted to having known about McGaskey's abuse of Bell between 1 January 2025 and 11 June 2025 and allowing his young son to continue living in the home during that period.
The home where Bell was killed belonged to Margaret Roberson, McGaskey's mother, who was listed as a co-defendant in the case.
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)