Woman accused of murder and child abuse in St. Louis, Georgia

ST. LOUIS — A woman facing murder and child abuse charges in Georgia is now accused of killing her 5-year-old daughter in St. Louis.

Tiaerra M. Woods, 33, was charged Friday with second-degree murder and abuse or neglect of a child after her daughter died July 25, 2020, of a fluid-filled cyst in her brain along with medical neglect and severe malnutrition, charging documents say.

She is also charged in Georgia with murder and cruelty to children for the death of her son, Kaleb Woods, who suffered from malnutrition and pneumonia before his death in December 2017, according to court documents. 

Woods' daughter, who died in Missouri, is identified in court documents only by the initials K.W. That child suffered a traumatic brain injury when she was two months old, causing cerebral palsy, blindness, seizures, and developmental delays, and was dependent on a feeding tube, according to court documents.

The child had a “lengthy” medical history, investigators wrote in charging documents, including a history of neglect and malnourishment. When she was in the hospital, she gained weight, but then lost it again when she was in her mother’s care, court documents said.

Medical examiners declared the cause of death “homicide” because the child was underweight and small for her age at the time of her death.

Woods is incarcerated at the Clayton County jail in Georgia, just south of Atlanta. 

An attorney was not yet listed in Missouri court documents.