Feb. 9, 2012 - Eastern Band of Cherokee

4 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012 cherokee one feather/na tsalagi soquo ugidahliMurder Arrest madein Littlejohn DeathBy SCOTT MCKIE B.P.ONE FEATHER STAFFAubrey Kina-Marie Littlejohn,a 15-month-old EBCI tribalmember, was pronounceddead at Cherokee Indian Hospitalon the morning of Jan. 10, 2011.A little more than a year later, an arresthas been made in her death.Lady Bird Powell, Littlejohn’s aunt,was arrested on Friday, Feb. 3 by oficersof the Swain County Sheriff’s Of-ice and the Cherokee Indian PoliceDepartment and charged with SecondDegree Murder, First Degree Kidnapping,Extortion, Possession of Methamphetamine,Possession of DrugParaphernalia and two counts ofFelony Child Abuse.As of Monday morning, Powell wasstill in custody at the Swain County Jailand is being held on a $1 million bond.Her 96-hour hearing was scheduled toSwain County mugshotLadybird Powell has been charged withSecond Degree Murder and other chargesrelang to the January 2011 death of herniece Aubrey Kina-Marie Lilejohn.take place at the jail on Tuesday, Feb. 7.“This has been one of the hardestcases that we have had to investigate,primarily because of the age of thechild,” Swain County Sheriff Curtis A.Cochran said in a statement. “As a parent,it is hard to imagine any childbeing taken away at such an early age.The law enforcement community iscommitted to the pursuit of justice andassisting those who cannot help themselves.”“There has been a great expressionof concern from Aubrey’s family membersand we want everyone in SwainCounty to know that we have neverstopped working on this case. DetectiveCarolyn Posey, of the Swain CountySheriff’s Ofice, is the lead detectiveand I have great conidence in her andall of the oficers of the Swain CountySheriff’s Ofice. I want to thank eachoficer that has played a part in this investigationfor their hard work anddedication.”An autopsy report released in May2011 states the cause of Littlejohn’sdeath as “Undetermined SuddenDeath”.The report states, “Overall, theindings of the autopsy were nonspeciic.There was no evidence of signiicantacute physical trauma orinfection. There were no benzodiazephines,cocaine, ethanol,opiates/opioids, or organic bases detectedin the decedent’s blood.”According to the toxicology report,the only drugs present in Littlejohn’ssystem were caffeine and Atropinewhich, according to the autopsy report,is used in resuscitation efforts and isalso found in many cold medications.While the autopsy report was nonspeciicabout her death, there werequestions about hypothermia as Littlejohn’score temperature was documentedthe night of her death byCherokee Indian Hospital oficials as84 degrees Fahrenheit. “The nonspeciicindings of hypothermia are notpresent in this case; however, it is notpossible to exclude death from hypothermia,”the report states.