DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Prosecutors say text messages from another woman may have led a mother to suffocate her 3-year-old daughter.
Channel 2's Tom Jones spent the day in the DeKalb County Courthouse as prosecutors asked a judge to deny bond for Meriel Bemis.
Prosecutors say Bemis' boyfriend told her he was leaving her after an argument over text messages he received from another woman.
Bemis repeatedly called her boyfriend but he refused to pick up the phone. When he did, prosecutors say Bemis had already killed her daughter.
"When he does (pick up the phone), he hears this defendant screaming on the other line, "I killed her,'" Assistant District Attorney Dailia Racine said.
Racine explained that Bemis told police she took the 3-year-old out of bed, "takes her to the bathroom floor and smothers her with a pillow."
Racine also said that Bemis made an attempt to kill herself.
The testimony was so graphic, Judge Gregory Adams asked some of the parents to remove children from the courtroom.
Bemis' defense attorney said his client is adopted and feels unwanted and is always looking for love. She entered a not guilty plea.
Adams refused to grant bond and set the trial for Sept. 22.
WSBTV
