Phillissa Diallo booking photo (Credit: Cherokee County Sheriff's Office)
CANTON, Ga. - A Canton woman was sentenced to prison last Monday after she pleaded guilty to the 2022 killing of a 2-year-old child, prosecutors announced.
What we know:
Phillissa Diallo, 44, pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree, cruelty to children in the second degree, and concealing the death of another.
Chief Superior Court Judge David L. Cannon Jr. sentenced Diallo on May 11 to 37 years, with the first 21 years to be served in prison.
The judge also ordered Diallo to have no contact of any kind with the family of the victim, 2-year-old Alyssa Rose Davis.
Diallo was the only person present with the child in the days surrounding her death in December 2022.
The backstory:
The case began on Dec. 14, 2022, when Diallo walked into the Canton Police Department and told officers she had a dead child in her apartment on Hearthstone Landing Drive. Officers searched the home and found the child's body hidden in a plastic storage bin under other items in a closet.
The bin contained a salt substance, and investigators took crime scene photos showing where blood had been cleaned up inside the apartment. Ring video collected by police showed Diallo bringing bleach into her home and leaving the girl alone for extended periods.
Dig deeper:
An autopsy concluded that 2-year-old Davis died from lethal amounts of acetaminophen and diphenhydramine. The child was last known to be alive on Dec. 8, 2022, and her body was found six days later inside the closet.
Alyssa Rose Davis (Credit: family provided photo)
Diallo must serve the first 21 years of her 37-year sentence behind bars before she is eligible for release. Prosecutors proved the child had been left completely in Diallo's care for more than 14 days at the time of her death.
What we don't know:
Authorities could not determine the exact date of death for the toddler because of the condition of her body when it was discovered. It is also unknown why the child's mother originally left her daughter in Diallo's care for more than two weeks.
Prosecutors noted that while Diallo was alone with the girl, evidence was insufficient to establish a charge of malice murder under Georgia law. The exact motive behind why Diallo gave the child lethal doses of medication has not been revealed.
What they're saying:
"Instead of taking steps to preserve the child’s health and well-being, the defendant demonstrated willful neglect. She then took gruesome, unimaginable steps to conceal her death," said Deputy Chief ADA Rachel Hines. "Alyssa was not treated with the protection and dignity owed to every child, and that reality will haunt everyone involved in this case."
During the trial, defense attorneys presented an independent expert who claimed Diallo was delusional. However, a Georgia Department of Behavioral Health expert testified that Diallo was not experiencing delusional thoughts when the crime happened.
The Source: The information in this article was provided by a release from the Blue Ridge Circuit District Attorney’s Office, which detailed the investigation by the Canton Police Department and court proceedings.