Patrol officers were sent to a motel on Monday afternoon in response to a welfare check, the news release said. When officers entered the motel room, they found a small child lying dead on the floor and two women in the room. Investigators said the child appeared to be extremely malnourished.
Detectives believe the women and child had been living at the hotel sporadically over some time, the news release said. A mother and grandmother have been charged with murder and felony child abuse after a 3-year-old child was found dead in a North Carolina motel.
Asheville police said in a news release that the mother, Chantarica Nasha Matthews, aged 29 years old and the grandmother, Inga Torrence Matthews, aged 50 years, are also charged with concealment of death. They’re being held in the Buncombe County jail without bond on the murder charge. Each of them was assigned to the public defender’s office, but a specific attorney hadn’t been named on Tuesday. Stay tuned with us on this page for more updates.