The body of a 5-year-old South Carolina girl Nevaeh Adams, who disappeared in August, was found in a landfill in Richland County. According to police, the girl had been reported missing after a family member discovered her mother dead in her apartment.
On Wednesday, the family packed the belongings of Bradley and Nevaeh into a U-Haul as they moved out of the apartment following the tragedy.
"It was another blow all over again," Elijah Nelson, Nevaeh's grandfather, said. "It felt like someone had just stuck me in my eye. It was painful just to hear that, but at some point we needed to hear that and we knew that this day was coming. And like I said I just thank God for bringing us through."
"That was one precious little girl. And she wasn't just a little girl, she was an angel that God had sent here to very much prepare us for all of this," he added.
Nevaeh's father, Dupray Adams, spoke out about his feelings after he found the outfit he last saw his daughter wear.
"[I] grabbed the clothes, kinda held it close to me to try and get a scent of her," he said. "It was very emotional when I first went upstairs."
The remains of the girl was found after police sifted through about 230 tons of trash in the landfill. On August 5, authorities found Nevaeh's mother -- 29-year-old Sharee Bradley -- stabbed to death on Aug. 5. Police later arrested Daunte Maurice Johnson after witnesses said they saw him leaving the apartment.
Johnson later admitted to police that he killed both Bradley and Nevaeh. A preliminary report from the Sumter County Coroner's Office suggested that Bradley had been dead for several hours before she was found. Sumter County Coroner Robert Baker Jr. told CNN Friday that Bradley died by "blunt force sharp injuries to the head and to the neck."
As Nevaeh was not found in the home where she lived with her mother, a missing persons report was filed. Police started searching dumpsters in the city after Johnson admitted to disposing the girl's body at the location. However, when police arrived, the dumpsters had already been emptied and the contents brought to a landfill. Since then, police have been sifting through the trash.
Police found the remains Friday, with DNA confirming her identity, authorities said Wednesday.
Johnson, who has a criminal record in other states and is a suspect in a Missouri homicide, has already been charged in both murders.
