Murder charge upgraded against woman accused in Jefferson City boy’s death

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A grand jury has indicted a woman accused of killing a Jefferson City 4-year-old boy on a more serious murder charge.

Quatavia Givens was indicted Wednesday on first-degree murder, child endangerment and abandoning a corpse charges in the death of Darnell Gray after the Cole County prosecutor dismissed the previous charges, which included second-degree murder, according to a Jefferson City Police Department news release.

Gray was first reported missing on October 25, 2018, by his caregiver Givens. Gray's body was found in the 2100 block of Louis Circle in October 2018 after several days of searches involving police and volunteers. Givens initially told police Gray wandered away or was taken, according to court documents.

Police say Gray suffered multiple injuries by blunt force trauma and sharp force trauma before he died. Once in police custody, Givens told police she "may have hit him wrong."

The release did not include information about the reason for the upgraded charge and grand jury proceedings are conducted in secret.

Givens was later arrested in St. Charles, Missouri.

Givens was free on pre-trial release for several months but was arrested Wednesday in St. Charles. She is now in the Cole County jail with no bond.

A hearing in her case occurred at 2 p.m. Thursday. The hearing was meant to be an arraignment, but the defense attorney asked to put it off until she had time to go over the new indictment with her client. The arraignment was rescheduled for Sept. 3.

"The reason they said they want to do that is because there are certain timeline standards that will kick in," said Locke Thomas, the state prosecutor.

Lt. David Williams with Jefferson City Police told ABC 17 News this case has not left the minds of those in the community since it happened. Williams said it's been a long healing process for those involved, and there is still more to come.