COVINGTON, Ga. — The father accused of killing his two-week-old daughter in a murder trial this week spoke of her in the past tense while alone with the mother in an interrogation room – before the girl was found dead.
Transcripts from the trial against Christopher McNabb and Cortney Bell showed that when McNabb and Bell were alone at the Newton County Sheriff’s Office the day 15-day-old Caliyah went missing on Oct. 7, 2017, the father said he “loved” his daughter and "she was my baby.”
“I loved – I love her. She was my baby,” McNabb told Bell.
“Calm down. Why did you just do that?”
“Do what?”
“Why did you just do that?”
“Why did I just do what?”
“You just said loved.”
“I don’t know, Cortney. Where is she? You think I had something to do with this s---?”
“In my heart, no. I just hope you haven’t. My heart tells me no.”
A Newton County jury watched the hours of police interrogation footage Thursday afternoon, the third day of the trial.
McNabb, in his initial interview alone with the lead detective on the case, spoke of how he was in a panic trying to find Caliyah, fearing the worst.
“I mean, I don’t – I don’t know how else to put it except for the fact that I feel like I don’t even exist no more," he said.
“Why is that?” the detective asked.
“Because this is my baby. And she’s gone. And I don’t know where she’s at, if I ever see her again," McNabb responded. "But I know I got to keep my head up because of my two-year-old. I’ve got to. I can’t fall to pieces and - I can’t.”
Later, McNabb tells the detective he believes the police consider him a suspect.
“I’m a pretty smart guy, so I know the questions you’re asking, what they’re leading to. And the answer’s no," McNabb said.
“What am I leading to?” he's asked.
“Did something bad happen to her, where I felt like I needed to do something with her so nobody would know or something like that," the father said. "But no, that’s not what’s going on, I swear. Nothing like it.”
“Swear to God?”
“Swear to God. I put that on my two-year-old. Nothing bad happened to that little girl.”
Defense attorney, Darryl Cohen, who is not associated with this case, said the video may not be as damning as one might think.
“When you take everything into consideration, the entirety of the story, I think it’s going to be so small as to not make a difference.”
Cohen explained the two didn't confess and he believed video showing how distraught they were and worried for their child could play into a strong defense.
“It could have the impact the defense wants; these poor parents, they’re beside themselves, they don’t know what’s going on.”
Next in this case, jurors will hear more interviews with detectives, and they’ll hear what the parents said after their daughter’s body was found…
Prosecutors say the parents were changing their stories, trying to cover-up what they’d done.
BACKGROUND:
VERIFY:
THE TRIAL:
DAY 1:
DAY 2: