Accused child killer will stay in jail

KMIZ — A woman accused of killing a 4-year-old Jefferson City boy will remain jailed without bond, a judge ruled Friday.

Quatavia Givens is accused of killing Darnell Gray in October 2018. Last week, prosecutors said they upgraded the charges from second to first-degree murder due to new evidence.

Givens was indicted last month on first-degree murder, child abuse, child endangerment and abandoning a corpse. She had been out of bond for several months on previous charges related to Gray’s death before being arrested after the new indictment last month.

The grand jury indictment released Friday says Givens caused Gray’s death by suffocation. The indictment says Givens failed to get Gray treatment for diarrhea on the day of his death that caused serious physical injury.

Prosecuting Attorney Locke Thompson said the suffocation revelation, which had not previously been made public, was based on new evidence in the case.