Trigger Warning: This story contains graphic content. 

Lanaya Cardwell and her boyfriend Phillip Gardner, the mother and stepfather of two-year-old Nevaeh Allen, are both charged with second-degree murder in connection with the little girl’s death, per WAFB. 

A Level II Endangered/Missing Child Advisory was issued for Allen on Friday afternoon when her siblings returned home from school and found “the apartment door was open and the child was missing,” per a Louisiana State Police release. Police said Gardner last saw the toddler during the afternoon of Sept. 24 while napping at their Baton Rouge residence. 

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Police said in a statement they couldn’t locate Allen anywhere, until she was found dead two days later in a wooded area in Hancock County, Mississippi. 

WAFB reported additional graphic details of the incident, in which Gardner claims Cardwell was getting ready for work when Allen entered the bathroom and took the mother’s contact lenses. Cardwell became enraged and punched Allen in the stomach with a closed fist, knocking her down and hitting her head against a cabinet. She then took the child into another room and proceeded to beat her. 

Allen shared the child eventually started complaining of injuries from the incident before falling asleep and becoming unresponsive. CPR attempts failed and he admitted to not dialing 911 and leaving his cell phone at home to avoid being tracked. 

Gardner went on to say he placed Allen’s remains in a suitcase and drove to Mississippi, where he threw the child’s body and clothing in a dumpster. Authorities said the toddler suffered brain swelling and it’s possible she was alive before being placed in the suitcase. 

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Baton Rouge police chief Murphy Paul on Wednesday announced the arrests of Cardwell and Gardner, who are currently expecting a child together, per WAFB. He added the situation saddens him and it’s not completely clear at this time which parent killed the child. 

Gardner had previously been arrested for allegedly disposing of the toddler’s body on lesser charges of unlawful disposal of human remains and obstruction of justice. 

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