DETROIT – The mother of a 9-year-old boy is facing murder charges after prosecutors said the child was smothered to death, bound, and buried in a shallow grave behind a house in Detroit.
On Jan. 6, 2025, the landlord of a home in the 19700 block of Woodingham Drive in Detroit was working to prepare the property for a new tenant when he discovered the body of a child in a shallow grave in the backyard. The landlord called Detroit police, and when officers arrived they found a human foot sticking out of the frozen ground.
--->Human remains found in shallow grave at vacant Detroit home: What we know
The body has since been identified as Zemar King, the 9-year-old son of Brandee Katrice Pierce, 41. The cause of death has been determined to be smothering and neck compression, according to prosecutors. Pierce has been charged with murder in her son’s death.
“It’s alleged that she purchased a shovel, she bound him by tying his hands and feet together, and dug a hole in the backyard of the house on Woodingham where she had been living for a short time. She then put him in this hole and covered him with dirt,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said. “That after killing her son, she and her other son, who was 3 years old, moved to Georgia.”
Worthy said the department spoke with Zemar’s father on Wednesday morning regarding the case. She does not believe he was aware of the child’s death until recently.
Prosecutors said that on Oct. 24, 2024, Pierce assaulted Zemar, killing him. On Nov. 6, 2024, she left her rental home and took her 3-year-old son to Georgia. On Dec. 20, 2024, the Brookhaven Police Department in Atlanta, Georgia, investigated Pierce on an unrelated matter regarding the 3-year-old boy and contacted the Detroit Police Department.
The 3-year-old boy is currently in foster care, according to Worthy. Pierce is being held in Georgia and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office is working to get her extradited to Michigan to several charges, including first-degree murder.
Pierce is facing the following charges in Michigan:
- First-degree murder
- Felony murder
- First-degree child abuse
- Tampering with evidence
- Concealing the death of an individual
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy held a press conference at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, to announce the charges in the case. Watch that full press conference in the video player below:
