NJ Mother Killed, Burned Son Who Wouldn't Listen, Eat: Reports

BRIDGETON, NJ - The South Jersey woman accused of killing her 23-month-old son over the weekend reportedly hit him because he wouldn't eat or listen to her. Then she allegedly burned and dismembered parts of his body and hid them.

Nakira M. Griner, 24, of Bridgeton, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of her son, Daniel, over the weekend. Authorities have now revealed via complaint that, when the child didn't behave, she hit him so hard that it left bruises on his face and he fell down the steps, according to media reports.

After hitting him on Friday, according to NBC 4 New York, she put him in a stroller and left him alone. Hours later, on Saturday morning, police found the remains of the boy in trash bags under a shed in the backyard of his mother’s home on Woodland Drive in Bridgeton, according to nj.com.

They also found the burned remains of what appeared to be a child in his mother’s purse, according to nj.com.

Griner was charged with murder on Saturday, hours after she told police that her son had been abducted, according to the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office.

She reported him missing at 6:36 p.m. Friday night. She initially told police she had been walking her son in a stroller when she was attacked by a stranger, according to The Asbury Park Press.

Griner said her assailant kicked her and she fell to the ground as the attacker continued to kick her in the head, according to nj.com. When she looked up, the stroller and Daniel were gone, she told police.

Police ultimately found the stroller, containing only a pair of red sneakers, a few blocks away from the alleged attack scene on Devonshire Place, according to nj.com. She allegedly said Daniel “liked going with strangers" but she did not remember if she heard him screaming during the attack, according to the report.

However, police were unable to find any surveillance footage of the incident, and Griner failed a polygraph test that she agreed to take.

In addition to the murder charge, Griner has been charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, second-degree desecration of human remains, and fourth-degree tampering with evidence. Griner has been lodged in the Cumberland County Jail pending a detention hearing, scheduled for Thursday.

A family friend told NBC 10 she was shocked. Crystal Castillo called Griner “the most genuine person in the whole world.”

"My kids were close with her and her kids were close with me. I just don't know what to do," she told the news station.

Even in her last Facebook post, Griner wrote that she was "in love" with Daniel's father. "That's why we have two beautiful children together."

A Mays Landing woman who used to work with the child’s father launched a GoFundMe campaign to help him. She describes the father as “hard-working, two job holding RN” with two baby boys. Daniel was his first-born son.

"The mother of his children killed their first-born," she wrote. "I have no idea why. What I do know is he's going to struggle with paying for things from here on out. Every little penny counts. Reach deep into your pockets and if you can't donate please send a prayer for this man. I used to work with him, and he nor his son deserved this."

To donate to the Daniel Griner Sr. GoFundMe campaign, click here.

See related: NJ Mother Killed Her Child, Left Remains In Yard: Cops

Images via Bridgeton police.