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Awful New Details About The 15-Day-Old Baby Girl Found Dead In The Woods — And Why Her Dad Was Charged With Murder

Photo: FOX 5 Atlanta
Caliyah McNabb baby dad murder

On September 23rd, Caliyah McNabb was born to Courtney Bell and Chris McNabb in Atlanta, Georgia.

Two weeks later, she was found dead inside a duffel bag in the woods near her family’s home at Eagle Point Mobile Park. 

According to police, Caliyah was fed and changed around 5 a.m. Saturday morning and put back to bed with her 2-year-old sister at their mobile home park in Covington, Georgia about 35 miles outside of Atlanta. 

About five hours later, between 9:30 a.m. and 10 a.m., the parents said they went to check on the infant and discovered her missing. 

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They called the police who found no signs of forced entry or foul play. The McNabb home was searched and a search party canvassed a 2-mile perimeter of a wooded area near their home. 

Nothing was found on Saturday, but on Sunday, Caliyah McNabb's body was found wrapped in a blue cloth inside a duffel bag that had been hidden under a log in the woods. 

She was found in an area that police had originally searched, according to CrimeOnline, but they didn’t see her the first time because someone had hid her carefully in a depression and then placed a log on top of her. 

"She was so little. She was just precious," said the baby's grandfather Tim Bell. "From the first time you pick them up, there's love there. That love is broken. It hurts like I have never hurt before."

A family friend told CrimeOnline that when she was driving Caliyah’s parents to an interview at a local station, they learned that the baby’s body was found.

It was then that Chris McNabb suddenly jumped out of a car at a red light and ran away.

Around 7 p.m. that night, he was found at a nearby grocery store. 

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Witnesses there say he was walking around and telling everyone that he didn’t kill his baby. 

"I was standing there waiting on customers. He came in and somebody said ‘That's him.’ I looked at him and said ‘That is him. That is him,’" said Julie Hannah, store clerk.

FOX

"He was real wet and nasty like he had been running through the woods in the rain," said Hannah. "He started hollering and talking about ‘they are going to get me. They are going to get me. I've been running all day. I have been in the woods all day.’"

"He come back up here and he started talking to me and he says, ‘You know me? You recognize me?’ I said, ‘No.’ He says, ‘I was in here last night talking to you guys about my baby getting kidnapped," said Hannah.

"He went on and on and on just rambling ‘I didn't do it. It wasn't me. It wasn't the baby's mama, y'all going to look crazy when you figure this out.’"

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"I say he wanted to get caught. He said it in front of a lot of people," said customer Kathyrn Wesley.

He was arrested at the store without incident and jailed on a probation violation. 

According to the Newton County Sheriff’s Office, he’s been arrested numerous times for burglary, theft, criminal trespass, and criminal damage.

On Wednesday, he was charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery and concealing Caliyah’s death. 

Autopsy results from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation were released Tuesday afternoon. 

“It is going to be blunt force head trauma,” said Newton County Coroner Tommy Davis said. “The manner of death is homicide.”

Police say Chris McNabb allegedly beat his daughter to death with an unknown object that "seriously disfigured and damaged" her skull beyond repair.

Police also said there's evidence he planned the murder but did not say what that was.

His family said they’re relieved he’s in custody.

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Emily Blackwood is an editor at YourTango who covers pop culture, true crime, dating, relationships and everything in between. Every Wednesday at 10:20 p.m. you can ask her any and all questions about self-love, dating, and relationships LIVE on YourTango’s Facebook page. You can follow her on Instagram (@blackw00d) and Twitter (@emztweetz).