Case involving Oceanway woman, daughter's body heads to grand jury

11-year-old Kaye-lea Plummer found dead after crash

Erica Newsome

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A magistrate determined on Friday that there is probable cause that a Jacksonville woman concealed the body of her 11-year-old daughter, and the case was bound over for grand jury consideration.

The magistrate made the ruling at the conclusion of a preliminary hearing in West Virginia. The case now heads to Pocahontas County Circuit Court. Erica Newsome remains jailed on $50,000 bond, according to court documents.

There’s no word on when an autopsy will be performed on the 37-year-old woman’s daughter, Kaye-lea Plummer.

Newsome doesn’t face charges in Florida yet, but investigators have said they found signs of foul play at her home in the Oceanway area of Jacksonville.

Earlier this week, police reported Kaye-lea’s death. Her body was found after a crash in West Virginia. Authorities believe Newsome killed Kaye-lea inside their Jacksonville home and was attempting to drive her body to Buffalo, New York, where the child’s father lives, according to investigators.

After the wreck, Newsome was arrested and charged with concealing a dead body.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office was contacted last Sunday afternoon by the West Virginia State Police and detectives began an investigation at Newsome's mobile home in Oceanway.

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According to multiple reports in West Virginia, Newsome lost control of her vehicle Sunday and struck a guard rail on Allegheny Mountain, a mile and a half west of the Virginia border.

Motorists from New York City, traveling the same highway, reported seeing Newsome remove a body wrapped in a blanket from the vehicle and drag it over the hill.

West Virginia State Police Sgt. Herby Barlow said Newsome and the body of her daughter were found on an old logging road about 150 feet over the embankment.