Missing 3-Year-Old Kamille McKinney’s Body Found in a Dumpster

Kamille "Cupcake" McKinney in two photographs distributed by law enforcement. (FBI)

Authorities in Birmingham, Alabama, have found the body of a 3-year-old girl who went missing 10 days ago.

Kamille McKinney—who also goes by the name “Cupcake”—was abducted on Oct. 12 while attending a birthday party at a public housing project in Birmingham’s Tom Brown Village.

She was last seen at around 8:30 p.m. by a witness who claimed she had been taken from the birthday party by a stranger driving a dark SUV.

The SUV was later towed from the apartment complex after it was spotted there and a man and a woman were taken into custody.

Birmingham Police Department said in a press conference on Tuesday that they had recovered what appears to be the remains of McKinney in a dumpster, not far from where she disappeared.

Officers found the remains during a routine search of a landfill.

Birmingham Police Chief Patrick Smith said: “Locating the remains were the last pieces of the puzzle we needed to bring the charges.

“We believe this is something they thought about and acted upon.”

The department said it will be charging two suspects, Patrick Stallworth, 39, and Derick Irisha Brown, 29, with capital murder and kidnapping in connection to the case.

Both Stallworth and Brown were arrested last week on unrelated charges before being named as suspects in the case, Police Chief Smith said in a statement on Oct. 15.

Stallworth was arrested and charged with four counts of possession of child pornography and three counts of possession with child pornography with intent to distribute after police found indecent images on his mobile phone.

He was released from jail on a $500,000 bond but later taken back into custody.

Meanwhile, Brown was jailed for violating probation conditions on a previous kidnapping charge in which she reportedly abducted her own children from DHR custody.

According to AL.com, Brown and Stallworth are in a relationship.

During the conference on Tuesday, Smith also thanked the public for their help and cooperation with the police department during its investigation into McKinney’s disappearance.

He added that police have not established a connection between the two suspects and McKinney’s family after speculation over the family’s involvement in her disappearance.

Smith explained that McKinney’s mother did not give interviews at the conference because police “did not see the benefit of throwing the mother in front of the camera.”

Last Friday, Police released surveillance footage taken on the night McKinney disappeared.

The footage shows two children—one of which is believed to be McKinney—playing together outside.

They are then approached by a man with a distinctive limp who “engaged with the children” before they followed him out of the view of the camera.

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said that the “city is in mourning” following McKinney’s disappearance.

In a lengthy statement posted on Twitter, he wrote: “Tonight, we’re a city in mourning. Kamille McKinney is gone. Ripped away from her family. The pain her family is enduring right now is unimaginable. Know that whoever perpetrated this crime will be brought to justice and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

He encouraged the public to “stand in solidarity” with McKinney’s family, adding, “Now, more than ever, this family needs us.”