BREAKING: Kimrey pleads guilty to the murder of Mariah Woods

Adolphus Earl Kimrey II pled guilty to the 2017 first-degree murder and felony intentional child abuse of three-year-old Mariah Woods Monday afternoon in Onslow County Superior Court.

Kimrey was sentenced to life without parole. He was charged on Jan. 24, 2018, with first-degree murder and felony intentional child abuse, his arrest warrant stating the defendant “intentionally” inflicted serious bodily injury on Mariah Kay Woods using chloroform.

Woods was found dead on Dec. 2, 2017, in Shelter Creek in Pender County ending a six-day search by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Marine Corps, the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office and volunteers.

Kimrey's trial has been moved multiple times and the DA's office had previously stated they'd be seeking the death penalty. However, District Attorney Ernie Lee told the media Monday afternoon that he had to look to see if there were aggravating circumstances in order to move forward. In North Carolina, the death penalty can only be sought if there are one of 11 aggravated circumstances and he said he could not find any cases that involved chloroform as one of these circumstances.

"I was going to argue it because of it being a three-year-old child," Lee said. "But I decided, after reviewing all the evidence, and certainly once I had gotten some inmate statements, I knew he was going to move forth with a defense of accident. I had to take that into consideration."

Lee said he felt this plea was best for the family and the state of North Carolina. There hasn't been anyone executed in North Carolina since 2006, Lee said, and no one in Onslow County since 1939.

"I don't take these decisions lightly and I'm not afraid to seek the death penalty," Lee added. "I've done eight capital cases in my career, and I have to decide what do I think is best in this particular case and what will be the best for justice. I decided, in this particular case, that life without parole would be appropriate based upon all the evidence."

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Lee presented the evidence found during the investigation of Woods' death in court Monday afternoon.

Lee said Woods' mother Kristy Woods took multiple polygraph tests and passed and detectives have no credible evidence that Woods was involved in her daughter's murder. Kimrey also took several polygraph tests and failed, including an FBI-issued test.

Detectives also investigated for any signs of sexual assault but did not find any. The official cause of death was chloroform toxicity and Kimrey admitted to two fellow inmates that he had accidentally given her too much because he wanted her to go to sleep while he got high.

Lee said Kimrey had purchased a flashlight, bleach, nail polish remover, a headlamp, zip ties, a padlock and a nerf gun at a local Family Dollar store prior to Mariah's death. The bleach and nail polish remover were used to make the chloroform. During this time, Kimrey was addicted to methamphetamine.

Describing the events after Woods died, Lee stated Kimrey admitted to placing the 3-year-old in three trash bags with a 50-pound block and eventually told detectives where to find her on a map but refused to take police there himself. The distance from the house to where detectives found Woods was 22.4 miles.

Per the autopsy report, Woods was found with scrapes, bruises and abrasions that she likely suffered from being taken to the area Kimrey told police they would find her.

Kimrey's defense attorney Walter H. Paramore III, turned to Woods' family who was in attendance Monday afternoon and apologized on behalf of Kimrey.

Paramore stated Kimrey's judgment was impaired by drugs he had taken and that there was no evidence of premeditation or deliberation, adding this was not a traditional first-degree murder. Paramore went on to say the district attorney's office used the chloroform situation as a shortcut to charging Kimrey with first-degree murder and that Woods' death was an accident.

Although the defense argued against there being premeditation in this case, Lee said he would have argued that putting chloroform over Mariah's face in the first place could be considered premeditation. However, Lee added Kimrey made that statement to fellow inmates, not law enforcement, which could have complicated things further.

Just before 3 p.m. Kimrey spoke briefly to the court and to Woods' family.

Visibly taken back by emotion, Kimrey said, "I am deeply sorry for the pain and grief I've caused. I am so very sorry for the family, and everyone involved."

Woods' mother, emotional as well, followed behind Kimrey saying, "I stand before you a broken, destroyed person. My family and I will never be the same. Something will always be missing and that is my baby girl. We have been tortured, harassed and beaten. We have not been able to grieve. My sons have been tortured, taken away and to this day, still can't understand why she was the one taken away from us. All of those milestones that we should be experiencing with her, we'll never experience."

Woods went on to say, "She (Mariah) will be honored forever and remembered. I want to know why but I know we never will know. She was the light of everybody's life. She had a smile that would brighten up your day. I had her name picked out even before I had a little girl. She was like my best friend."

Lee also spoke on the reasoning for Kimrey's trial having been moved back so many times. He said there are currently 42 first-degree murders pending in his district right now and that number has been consistent for several years. He said there have been four in Duplin County in just the last five weeks, which makes it difficult to get through them all.

The COVID-19 pandemic also halted jury trials for more than a year, Lee added. There are also few defense attorneys in the area that handle these cases, so Lee said there were several scheduling conflicts.

"Every murder case is important to this district attorney because as I often tell my assistant DA's, it could be our family out there and I'd hope the DA or the ADA in that case, would show compassion and work hard on their cases," Lee said.

This case was emotional for many, and Onslow County Sheriff Chris Thomas said this case took a toll on all of his detectives and staff. He said it's a bitter ending to a sad story.

Had Kimrey's case actually gone to trial, Lee said it was planned for the spring.

"This is just such a tragedy, not only for the victim's family, but also for society that something this horrific, this senseless would happen," Lee said. "It just kind of really shocks the conscious. We've got this three-year-old little girl, she's never going to grow up, attend school, she's never going to get married or have children of her own. It's very sad."

Reporter Morgan Starling can be reached at mstarling@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Daily News: BREAKING: Kimrey pleads guilty to charges in murder of Mariah Woods