Aliyah Davis, The Girl In The Trunk, and her baby brother Saceed.
On February 12, 1982 two Pennsylvania Department of Transportation employees performing repairs on the western side of the Platt bridge, discovered remains of a young girl found inside a steamer trunk under the Platt Memorial Bridge in Philadelphia.
She turned out to be 5YO Aliyah Davis beaten to death by her stepfather in 1981, 7 months before her body was discovered.
Warrants were issued for The mother, Maria Davis Fox, and stepfather, Charles Fox, in their mid-30s, on an assortment of charges relating to the murder of Aliyah Davis and the repeated beatings of her brother and sister.
The mother was also charged with welfare fraud for collecting aid for the child after her July 1981 death.
A grand jury began probing the case about a month after the dead girl's sister, Amira Davis, told their natural father that she had watched the stepfather beat Aliyah to death with a stick at their home.
Amira Davis told grand jurors that her mother also watched the beating, but did nothing to stop it.
Amira Davis described how, when she was 8, she saw Fox beat his 5-year-old stepdaughter after she had a bowel movement in her clothes as the family had gathered to watch a television program, The Dukes of Hazzard, in their living room in the 4700 block of Baltimore Avenue.
"First he used his hand, and then he started beating her with a broomstick," she said.
"He hit her on her head and the sides of her head, then he banged her against the wall, picked her up and kicked her. . . . She was making whining noises.
Then she made kind of a groaning noise."
Amira testified that Fox placed Aliyah on a bed in the living room, where she lay for three days with Flies swarmed around the body.
On the fourth day, she said, her sister was gone, as was a steamer trunk that had been placed at her bedside.
Charles Fox's friend, Craig Butler, who was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his grand-jury testimony, told the panel that he saw Aliyah Davis lying on her back making gurgling noises one day in the summer of 1981 after Fox summoned him.
Fox, told him the child had bumped her head in the bathtub.
Neither stepfather nor mother sought any medical help, Butler said.
The next day, Fox asked his help to dump the body, explaining that he feared he might be charged with child abuse if he went to the authorities.
Butler said he borrowed a car and helped Fox dump the steamer trunk that contained the corpse.
The tiny body, its mouth stuffed with gauze, was found by workers seven months later, but remained unidentified for years.
Amira Davis and her 16-year-old brother, Malcolm, also told the grand jury that Charles Fox regularly beat them.
Both also said their mother assaulted them and had stabbed them in separate incidents.
Maria Davis Fox had been sentenced to 8 years probation for the death of one of her other children.
Police said that in September 1973, while Ronald and Maria Davis were married and living with their children in the 4400 block of North Cleveland Street in North Philadelphia, a rescue unit was dispatched to their home to investigate a medical emergency.
Paramedics found the couple's 17-month-old son, Saeed, in a second-floor bedroom.
The boy showed no signs of life and was pronounced dead minutes later at Temple University Hospital, police said.
The Medical Examiner's Office listed the cause of death as injuries to the head and body.
Police interviewed the parents and charged Maria Davis with murder and involuntary manslaughter. Ronald Davis was not charged.
The case went to court on June 10, 1974, and Maria Davis, who admitted to striking the boy, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to eight years' probation, according to court records.
On February 12, 1982 two Pennsylvania Department of Transportation employees performing repairs on the western side of the Platt bridge, discovered remains of a young girl found inside a steamer trunk under the Platt Memorial Bridge in Philadelphia.
She turned out to be 5YO Aliyah Davis beaten to death by her stepfather in 1981, 7 months before her body was discovered.
Warrants were issued for The mother, Maria Davis Fox, and stepfather, Charles Fox, in their mid-30s, on an assortment of charges relating to the murder of Aliyah Davis and the repeated beatings of her brother and sister.
The mother was also charged with welfare fraud for collecting aid for the child after her July 1981 death.
A grand jury began probing the case about a month after the dead girl's sister, Amira Davis, told their natural father that she had watched the stepfather beat Aliyah to death with a stick at their home.
Amira Davis told grand jurors that her mother also watched the beating, but did nothing to stop it.
Amira Davis described how, when she was 8, she saw Fox beat his 5-year-old stepdaughter after she had a bowel movement in her clothes as the family had gathered to watch a television program, The Dukes of Hazzard, in their living room in the 4700 block of Baltimore Avenue.
"First he used his hand, and then he started beating her with a broomstick," she said.
"He hit her on her head and the sides of her head, then he banged her against the wall, picked her up and kicked her. . . . She was making whining noises.
Then she made kind of a groaning noise."
Amira testified that Fox placed Aliyah on a bed in the living room, where she lay for three days with Flies swarmed around the body.
On the fourth day, she said, her sister was gone, as was a steamer trunk that had been placed at her bedside.
Charles Fox's friend, Craig Butler, who was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his grand-jury testimony, told the panel that he saw Aliyah Davis lying on her back making gurgling noises one day in the summer of 1981 after Fox summoned him.
Fox, told him the child had bumped her head in the bathtub.
Neither stepfather nor mother sought any medical help, Butler said.
The next day, Fox asked his help to dump the body, explaining that he feared he might be charged with child abuse if he went to the authorities.
Butler said he borrowed a car and helped Fox dump the steamer trunk that contained the corpse.
The tiny body, its mouth stuffed with gauze, was found by workers seven months later, but remained unidentified for years.
Amira Davis and her 16-year-old brother, Malcolm, also told the grand jury that Charles Fox regularly beat them.
Both also said their mother assaulted them and had stabbed them in separate incidents.
Maria Davis Fox had been sentenced to 8 years probation for the death of one of her other children.
Police said that in September 1973, while Ronald and Maria Davis were married and living with their children in the 4400 block of North Cleveland Street in North Philadelphia, a rescue unit was dispatched to their home to investigate a medical emergency.
Paramedics found the couple's 17-month-old son, Saeed, in a second-floor bedroom.
The boy showed no signs of life and was pronounced dead minutes later at Temple University Hospital, police said.
The Medical Examiner's Office listed the cause of death as injuries to the head and body.
Police interviewed the parents and charged Maria Davis with murder and involuntary manslaughter. Ronald Davis was not charged.
The case went to court on June 10, 1974, and Maria Davis, who admitted to striking the boy, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to eight years' probation, according to court records.
Aliyah Davis, The Girl In The Trunk, and her baby brother Saceed.
On February 12, 1982 two Pennsylvania Department of Transportation employees performing repairs on the western side of the Platt bridge, discovered remains of a young girl found inside a steamer trunk under the Platt Memorial Bridge in Philadelphia.
She turned out to be 5YO Aliyah Davis beaten to death by her stepfather in 1981, 7 months before her body was discovered.
Warrants were issued for The mother, Maria Davis Fox, and stepfather, Charles Fox, in their mid-30s, on an assortment of charges relating to the murder of Aliyah Davis and the repeated beatings of her brother and sister.
The mother was also charged with welfare fraud for collecting aid for the child after her July 1981 death.
A grand jury began probing the case about a month after the dead girl's sister, Amira Davis, told their natural father that she had watched the stepfather beat Aliyah to death with a stick at their home.
Amira Davis told grand jurors that her mother also watched the beating, but did nothing to stop it.
Amira Davis described how, when she was 8, she saw Fox beat his 5-year-old stepdaughter after she had a bowel movement in her clothes as the family had gathered to watch a television program, The Dukes of Hazzard, in their living room in the 4700 block of Baltimore Avenue.
"First he used his hand, and then he started beating her with a broomstick," she said.
"He hit her on her head and the sides of her head, then he banged her against the wall, picked her up and kicked her. . . . She was making whining noises.
Then she made kind of a groaning noise."
Amira testified that Fox placed Aliyah on a bed in the living room, where she lay for three days with Flies swarmed around the body.
On the fourth day, she said, her sister was gone, as was a steamer trunk that had been placed at her bedside.
Charles Fox's friend, Craig Butler, who was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his grand-jury testimony, told the panel that he saw Aliyah Davis lying on her back making gurgling noises one day in the summer of 1981 after Fox summoned him.
Fox, told him the child had bumped her head in the bathtub.
Neither stepfather nor mother sought any medical help, Butler said.
The next day, Fox asked his help to dump the body, explaining that he feared he might be charged with child abuse if he went to the authorities.
Butler said he borrowed a car and helped Fox dump the steamer trunk that contained the corpse.
The tiny body, its mouth stuffed with gauze, was found by workers seven months later, but remained unidentified for years.
Amira Davis and her 16-year-old brother, Malcolm, also told the grand jury that Charles Fox regularly beat them.
Both also said their mother assaulted them and had stabbed them in separate incidents.
Maria Davis Fox had been sentenced to 8 years probation for the death of one of her other children.
Police said that in September 1973, while Ronald and Maria Davis were married and living with their children in the 4400 block of North Cleveland Street in North Philadelphia, a rescue unit was dispatched to their home to investigate a medical emergency.
Paramedics found the couple's 17-month-old son, Saeed, in a second-floor bedroom.
The boy showed no signs of life and was pronounced dead minutes later at Temple University Hospital, police said.
The Medical Examiner's Office listed the cause of death as injuries to the head and body.
Police interviewed the parents and charged Maria Davis with murder and involuntary manslaughter. Ronald Davis was not charged.
The case went to court on June 10, 1974, and Maria Davis, who admitted to striking the boy, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to eight years' probation, according to court records.
On February 12, 1982 two Pennsylvania Department of Transportation employees performing repairs on the western side of the Platt bridge, discovered remains of a young girl found inside a steamer trunk under the Platt Memorial Bridge in Philadelphia.
She turned out to be 5YO Aliyah Davis beaten to death by her stepfather in 1981, 7 months before her body was discovered.
Warrants were issued for The mother, Maria Davis Fox, and stepfather, Charles Fox, in their mid-30s, on an assortment of charges relating to the murder of Aliyah Davis and the repeated beatings of her brother and sister.
The mother was also charged with welfare fraud for collecting aid for the child after her July 1981 death.
A grand jury began probing the case about a month after the dead girl's sister, Amira Davis, told their natural father that she had watched the stepfather beat Aliyah to death with a stick at their home.
Amira Davis told grand jurors that her mother also watched the beating, but did nothing to stop it.
Amira Davis described how, when she was 8, she saw Fox beat his 5-year-old stepdaughter after she had a bowel movement in her clothes as the family had gathered to watch a television program, The Dukes of Hazzard, in their living room in the 4700 block of Baltimore Avenue.
"First he used his hand, and then he started beating her with a broomstick," she said.
"He hit her on her head and the sides of her head, then he banged her against the wall, picked her up and kicked her. . . . She was making whining noises.
Then she made kind of a groaning noise."
Amira testified that Fox placed Aliyah on a bed in the living room, where she lay for three days with Flies swarmed around the body.
On the fourth day, she said, her sister was gone, as was a steamer trunk that had been placed at her bedside.
Charles Fox's friend, Craig Butler, who was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his grand-jury testimony, told the panel that he saw Aliyah Davis lying on her back making gurgling noises one day in the summer of 1981 after Fox summoned him.
Fox, told him the child had bumped her head in the bathtub.
Neither stepfather nor mother sought any medical help, Butler said.
The next day, Fox asked his help to dump the body, explaining that he feared he might be charged with child abuse if he went to the authorities.
Butler said he borrowed a car and helped Fox dump the steamer trunk that contained the corpse.
The tiny body, its mouth stuffed with gauze, was found by workers seven months later, but remained unidentified for years.
Amira Davis and her 16-year-old brother, Malcolm, also told the grand jury that Charles Fox regularly beat them.
Both also said their mother assaulted them and had stabbed them in separate incidents.
Maria Davis Fox had been sentenced to 8 years probation for the death of one of her other children.
Police said that in September 1973, while Ronald and Maria Davis were married and living with their children in the 4400 block of North Cleveland Street in North Philadelphia, a rescue unit was dispatched to their home to investigate a medical emergency.
Paramedics found the couple's 17-month-old son, Saeed, in a second-floor bedroom.
The boy showed no signs of life and was pronounced dead minutes later at Temple University Hospital, police said.
The Medical Examiner's Office listed the cause of death as injuries to the head and body.
Police interviewed the parents and charged Maria Davis with murder and involuntary manslaughter. Ronald Davis was not charged.
The case went to court on June 10, 1974, and Maria Davis, who admitted to striking the boy, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to eight years' probation, according to court records.
