Mother Faces Charges in 13-Year-Old Daughter's Death

MANASSAS, Va. - A Prince William County (web | news) mother stood before a judge Monday morning to answer questions about what really happened to her adopted 13-year-old daughter.

Alfreedia Glover says that her daughter Alexis ran away. Police, though, say that Glover lied to them when she reported the girl missing. They believe the developmentally-disabled teen was murdered.

Alfreedia Glover is out on bond after Monday's trial. She is charged with filing a false police report in connection with her Jan. 7 statement to police that her daughter was missing.

On Monday, Glover's attorney said he needed more time to review the ten hours of recorded interviews police conducted with Glover.

Lexie's body was found Jan. 9 in a creek after an exhaustive two-day search, and her death was ruled a homicide, the result of drowning and exposure to the elements.

At Monday's hearing, a group of women who say they knew Lexie came to the courthouse. They expressed frustration that her mother has been released on bond. They said that Lexie had told them that she was afraid of her mother, and that Alfreedia was going to kill her. The women say that they had reported the situation to authorities but with no result.

"Why not let this one be the one that get's everyone's attention? Do not let her death just be nothing. She was a sweet child but extremely fearful of her mother," said one of the women. "She told everybody, everybody knew."

"This child suffered into a cold creek is how she died... this child suffered the entire time... nothing but suffered," said another woman.

As school bus drivers, the women say they told authorities of Lexie's claims of abuse at the hands of her mother. "My mom is going to kill me... this is what she said many times...," said one of the women.

While Prince William County prosecutors plan to take a murder case against Glover to a grand jury next week, the Virginia Department of Social Services is also looking into the case. A spokesman says any child within the social services system that dies under any circumstance will be the focus of an investigation.

While neither Glover nor her attorney had a comment Monday, Glover has said she was devoted to Lexie. She claimed the girl had profound emotional and physical disorders and was low functioning.

Police continue to look into those claims, especially since others describe the child in a much different way. "The child was intelligent," said one of the women. "She was smart, she was caring."