Naman Shrestha
The episode titled ‘A Demon on Her Back’ of Investigation Discovery’s ‘Evil Lives Here’ covers the chilling and tragic murder case of a young girl named Kayla McKean, who met her demise in the winter of 1998. When the body of the 6-year-old was discovered at a secluded Florida location, the entire community was left shell-shocked. Meanwhile, the girl’s mother suffered the most and found it hard to believe that someone could hurt her beloved daughter so brutally. The episode also features exclusive and insightful interviews with the loved ones of the victim, and the officials linked to the investigation, providing the viewers with a detailed account of the case.
Kayla McKean’s Remains Were Found Inside a Shallow Grave in a Remote Site
On January 13, 1992, in Orlando, Florida, Elisabeth McKean and Richard Lee Adams welcomed a little bundle of joy into their world in the form of Kayla Victoria McKean. As she was growing up to become a sweet and compassionate girl, Kayla had the ability to light up any room she walked into. For most part of her short life, she was raised by her mother singlehandedly in Orlando, after she got separated from Richard. However, when she started to struggle to make ends meet, Elisabeth sent the first-grade student of Minneola Elementary School to live with Richard and his new wife, Marcie Adams, in Clermont in April 1998. Having spent more than six months with her father and stepmother, Kayla suddenly vanished from the Clermont apartment.
When Richard couldn’t find any trace of her in the house or anywhere in the neighborhood, he reported her missing on Thanksgiving Day 1998. What followed was a wide-range search for the little girl, with hundreds of volunteers looking for her over the long holiday weekend. With pictures of the six-year-old girl posted on every other street and corner of Clermont, the disappearance became the talk of the town. On November 30, 1998, Kayla’s body was discovered near a creek in the Ocala National Forest. Upon examining the body, it was determined that she died of blood loss secondary to blunt trauma injury that she suffered. Immediately, the disappearance case turned into a homicidal one as the investigators began looking for the perpetrator responsible for the death of the innocent girl.
The Killer Was Someone Close to Kayla McKean
Richard Lee Adams and Marcie Adams also actively participated in the extensive search for Kayla, but they were the ones who directed the authorities toward the shallow grave of Kayla McKean in the Ocala National Forest. When the couple was taken into custody for their involvement in the murder, Richard was thoroughly interrogated by the detectives. During the questioning, he confessed that on November 25, 1998, he got into a fit of rage when she soiled her underwear and slammed his daughter into a wall before beating her with a wooden “discipline” paddle.
As per Marcie’s claims, she was not at home when Richard killed his daughter. According to her, when she returned and found out about the situation, Richard allegedly ordered her to help her put the body into his car and threatened her family if she did not comply. The couple then reportedly drove down to the secluded site in the Ocala National Forest and buried her remains in a shallow grave. Marcie also told the investigators that the day before Kayla’s tragic demise, her husband made her do push-ups and jumping jacks as a punishment for not returning home from the playground before dark.
History of Abuse Faced by Kayla Was Reportedly Overlooked
When the detectives dug deeper into the case, they learned that there had been previous signs that Richard used to inflict physical abuse upon Kayla. In May, she was taken to a hospital with two black eyes and a broken nose and wrist. At the time, Richard claimed that she accidentally fell off her bicycle. Following the incident, she was temporarily removed from her father’s house and placed in foster care. However, not long after, she was returned to him. Following Richard’s confession, he was arrested, and on December 18, 1998, he was charged with child neglect, concealing evidence, child abuse, murder, and obstruction of justice in connection to his daughter’s murder.
His wife, Marcie, was also indicted on three charges — obstruction of justice, child neglect, and concealing evidence. Following Kayla McKean’s tragic demise, the Florida Legislature passed the Kayla McKean Child Protection Act, which went into effect a few months later, on July 1, 1999. Through this act, it was made mandatory for the police to thoroughly review all child abuse complaints across the state. Not only that, the law made it compulsory to have improved communication between supervisors and caseworkers, improved reporting of child abuse, and immediate medical evaluation of children suspected of being on the receiving end of any kind of abuse.
Richard Lee Adams is Serving His Sentence at a Florida Prison Facility
Marcie Adams dodged going to trial by pleading guilty to the charges against her. Her plea deal also kept her out of jail, but in exchange, she had to testify against her husband, Richard Lee Adams, during his murder trial. In May 2000, the killer stood trial for killing his own daughter in November 1998. A few days into the trial, on May 8, 2000, the jury returned with a guilty verdict for the defendant after a couple of hours of deliberation and convicted him of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse. A week later, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. As of today, he remains incarcerated at South Bay Correctional Facility in South Bay, Florida.
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