Body Of 10-Year-Old Girl Found In Plastic Bag In Shed; Stepmother Charged With Murder
A completely senseless act.
Facebook An Indiana woman is facing four felony charges for the murder of her 10-year-old stepdaughter. Amanda Carmack, 34, was arrested Wednesday after evidence was found linking her to the murder of her stepdaughter Skylea Carmack. According to Heavy, “Skylea, 10, disappeared on Saturday, August 31, 2019. On Facebook, Carmack, who had six other children in the home, posted about depression and complained about parenting issues.”
Police say they discovered evidence that potentially linked Carmack to the crime and shortly found Skylea’s body in a plastic trash bag located in a shed behind her home. The cause of death was confirmed in an autopsy as “asphyxia by strangulation, and the manner of death was homicide,” according to Fox 59 News. Authorities believe the homicide occurred between 4:30-6:30 p.m. Saturday.
When asked in a press conference about the motive, Indiana State Police Officer Slocum said it was impossible to “rationalize why someone would kill a 10-year-old.”
How did this terrible crime happen? Who is Amanda Carmack?
1. Carmack made very questionable Facebook posts about her children
A huge chunk of Carmack’s Facebook feed consists of complaints about her children, making it clear she was overwhelmed with raising them. The rest of her feed includes self-pity posts about her apparent issues with depression. With these posts, although she doesn’t outright share in detail how the children are punished, it’s clear between the lines that it goes down. In one Facebook post, she wrote:
“Soo… I’ve got a child that has been hiding food in their pants and flushing it after the meal. Regularly! This same child has also been sneaking hot cocoa packets and candy, eating them, and hiding them in their bed. Then… She tried to lie about it. That’s just the past week. Previously, she has run away, stolen money from me and continually lied about anything she thinks I’m too busy/stupid to know about. I’m really at the end of my rope with this one..”
Users have publicly come to Skylea’s defense in this post by mentioning that sneaking food is a survival tactic used when left hungry and that the girl likely had justifiable reasons for other behaviors. Following the arrest of Amanda Carmack, users have publicly commented on Carmack’s Facebook feed, bashing the stepmother for her horrendous actions and her self-pity posts.
2. Carmack even shared that bystanders have commented on her and the father’s parenting
Carmack took to Facebook to share an altercation at Goodwill that she and her husband had with another patron, who commented on their behavior towards their child. This post is outright disgusting for many reasons, but the part that gets me the most is how Carmack seemed almost prideful that she got away with child abuse and evaded CPS. This patron was right to put Carmack in her place, and I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if CPS got involved.
“Soo… We went to the Goodwill Outlets in Indy today… This woman decided that she had something to say about my husband telling our whiny 4yr old to stop whining… I had a little something to say about her following them around though. That was about the time he corralled the kids to the side and everyone else in the store was waiting to see what kinda show was about to start. My Momma taught me not to throw the first punch so I kept from swinging. I must be intimidating though… She threatened to call CPS, I told her to do it and that we would wait for them, she booked it out the doors though. I guess she decided that it wasn’t worth it cause I’m posting a status and not bail…”
3. Skylea’s father assumed his daughter ran away
Skylea had a history of running away from home, so her father Kevin Carmack assumed this was what happened and had no clue of her whereabouts. According to FOX59 News, “At the time, the TV station reported, he was at work and Skylea was at home with Amanda and six other children. The Department of Child Services took the other six children from the home.”
4. Amanda Carmack Filed the Missing Persons Report
According to Heavy, Amanda Carmack filed the missing persons report later that evening after committing murder.
5. Carmack was arrested for four charges
“Carmack was arrested for murder, neglect of a dependent resulting in death, domestic battery resulting in death, and strangulation, according to the Indiana State Police. She is being held at the Grant County Jail. Amanda Dawn Carmack is not eligible for bail in any of these offenses.”
6. A “conglomerate of evidence” led police to the 34-year-old’s arrest
According to Fox Denver 31, police had a “conglomerate of evidence” to charge Carmack with. Could it have been her grim, detailed, and ignorant Facebook posts? If you read them yourself, it would come as no surprise that she fit the role of someone looking for an excuse to lash out on her kids. One user took to Facebook to share that he wasn’t surprised at all with Carmack and knew this would happen sooner or later. He wrote, “I knew something like this would happen one day,” sharing his own negative experience with Amanda Carmack.
My question is, how did so many people let this woman and father get away with how they treated their children? How could they sit idly by without doing anything?
Elizabeth Ward is a writing student finishing her bachelor’s at the University of Louisville.