‘What have I done?’: Mother Who Put Dead Tot in Hearse Caught on Security Cam [Update]

An Alabama woman facing murder charges appeared in court Friday, where prosecutors said security footage showed her walking toward a Gadsden funeral home with a child in her arms.

Terrica Pearl, 29, is accused of killing her daughter, identified as 21-month-old Blessence Pearl, in August. She’s facing a capital murder charge due to the age of the victim.

During a preliminary hearing Friday, prosecutors said the defendant, who lives around a block away from the West Gadsden Funeral Home, was seen on security footage walking toward the funeral home at around 2:30 a.m., while carrying a child believed to be Blessence.

Around two hours later, security footage reportedly showed Pearl walking away from the funeral home without the child, prosecutors said, WBRC reports.

As CrimeOnline previously reported, police arrested Pearl after finding the child’s body in an unlocked hearse at the funeral home, located on Forrest Avenue.

The managing funeral home director, Dantez O. Robinson, said that the toddler’s body, which employees initially thought was a doll, had been discovered when the groundskeeper went to move the hearse.

Later that morning, Pearl allegedly arrived at a Huntsville hotel, where she appeared to be on drugs. Police interviewed her at the hotel before her arrest.

Police noticed something white in her hair, and Pearl allegedly claimed that Bleesence had gotten into some Wite-Out, a liquid correction fluid. Someone who lived with the defendant corroborated the incident.

During the interview, Pearl became upset and started screaming,“oh my god, what have I done?”

She also claimed that while feeling “compelled” to walk to the funeral home, she asked her daughter if she felt safe.

Court documents indicated that Blessence had been strangled with a “thick robe string,” believed to from the defendant’s blue robe.

Police found the robe inside Pearl’s vehicle.

“You can see where the string was ripped from the garment,” Gadsden Police Sgt. Nick Keener, the lead investigator in the case, said.

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Defense attorney Shaun Malone argued that the state lacked evidence in the case. He requested records from the Alabama Department of Human Resources, to get more information on the defendant and victim.

“Those records would be illuminous to how we all got here today,” he said.

Meanwhile, Robinson, who said he has two daughters, said he’s hoping for justice.

“To see something like this really sent me into another level of shock.” he said last month.

“We’ve never had a problem with people going into our cars at the office. I laid the keys down where the keys go and out the door I went.

“To see that and to see my employee in disbelief, I was lost for words when I put the call out to the police department.

“We want justice for this baby. Babies do not ask to be here.”

Pearl is being held without bond in the Etowah County Jail.

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[Feature Photo: Blessence Pearl/West Gadsden Funeral Home]