The criminal behavior of recent months has been unbelievable. And stunning acts of pure savagery continue to occur. Monique Lynch and Hanif Sims, who have been charged with with first-degree murder, concealing a body and tampering with evidence.
According to police reports, the two were returning to Colorado from Nevada after contractors discovered the body of Sims’ 9-year-old daughter, Genesis, in the basement of a Monument, Colo., home where the family once lived. The shocker is that evidence supports that Genesis may have been buried alive after being beaten for soiling herself.
The arrest warrant indicates that on May 14, the police were called to 764 Century Place to investigate a reported body found in the crawl space. Contractors found the body covered by a trash bag made of burlap.
The corpse was estimated to be a child between the ages of 7 and 10 years and weighed about 43 pounds according to the medical examiner’s office. The body had decomposed so much that the coroner’s office could not determine if she was African American at the time.
Through interviews, investigators learned that the unit was occupied by Lynch and Sims from November 2008 to February 2009 and that they had two children ages 7 and 12. Family members also said that they had not seen the little girl and that the son, Devon, had been placed in foster care. Genesis’ biological mother, Jopetia Garretson, provided the DNA to confirm that the body was her daughter’s.
Lynch and Sims were located in a hotel in Henderson, Neva., after a warrant was obtained to search phone records. Information obtained from Facebook led to their location. According to Sims, the day of her death, Genesis had soiled herself and Monique began beating her with a belt. Sims also said that he told Lynch to stop and for her to go upstairs and clean the child. “When I got upstairs, the child was in the bathtub dead,” he told authorities.
Lynch was said to have screamed, telling the child to “get up” and “stop faking.” Sims picked her up and began giving her CPR to no avail. He asked Lynch to call 911, but she refused, stating that she had warrants for her arrest. Sims faces up to 51 years in prison. –torrance stephens, ph.d.
