On May 14, the dead body of 9-year-old Genesis Sims was found in a Colorado home’s crawl space. According to sources, the young girl’s body was decomposed, and that is making it difficult to clearly distinguish the cause of death. A DNA test was used to determine the identity of the body.
Despite not knowing the cause of death yet, authorities have been searching for the girl’s father Hanif Sims since discovering the body in May. They suspect his violence is responsible for his daughter’s death, and Sims faces possible charges of second-degree assault and misdemeanor child abuse.
This week, Colorado authorities got a break in the case when a local television station contacted them with information about Sims and his significant other Monique Lynch. Police were able to track down the couple’s whereabouts through a Facebook message sent to the TV station and apprehended the couple at a Nevada motel on Thursday morning.
Along with Sims, Lynch was also arrested, both because she violated her probation in New Jersey and because police suspect she is involved with the abuse that led to the death of Genesis Sims. Lynch is not Genesis’ mother, but she and Sims do have other children who had been staying with relatives in California and have now been entrusted into California’s Department of Human Services.
According to sources at the Colorado television station, Sims and Lynch have said that they did not kill Genesis Sims. They claim that they found Genesis already dead in the bathtub and then hid her body in the Colorado townhome.
Authorities are bothered that the television station corresponded with the couple without police knowledge and argue that their involvement may have impeded the investigation. They are relieved, however, to have apprehended the couple. And so is Genesis’ mother.
Sims and Lynch are expected to appear in court on July 15. Authorities are pushing to get them both to Colorado as soon as possible.
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The Gazette: Facebook led detectives to pair suspected in Monument death
Father of the girl found dead in Monument arrested