Murder plea expected in Lexie Glover case

By Uriah A. Kiser

As 44-year-old Alfreedia Gregg-Glover enters the court room this morning she is expected to plead guilty to felony murder in the death of her 13-year-old adopted daughter, Alexis Glover.

Alexis, or “Lexie,” was found dead Jan. 9 in a shallow creek just off Greatbridge Road in Woodbridge, behind the McCoart Administration Center.

Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert said he anticipates Gregg-Glover will plead guilty to the felony murder charge, as well as a felony child abuse charge and filing a false police report.

She is expected to appear in circuit court at 10 a.m.

Lexie’s disappearance rattled residents earlier this year, when more than 300 law enforcement officers and volunteer searchers fanned out across the Manassas area looking for the girl. The search cost the county “tens of thousands of dollars,” said Prince William police Chief Charlie T. Deane.

Gregg-Glover initially told police her daughter ran away from the Central Library in Manassas about noon Jan. 7. She said Lexie suffered from a severe form of autism that can cause psychotic episodes.

The girl was known to have run away.

And because she hadn’t eaten, Gregg-Glover said the sickle-cell anemia that Lexie also suffered from would only be worsened.

Because the 13-year-old had a history of running away from home, Gregg-Glover had her fitted with an electronic bracelet from the Prince William County Sheriff’s Department.

Police use the radio signal eminating from the bracelet to track the missing. Lexie’s bracelet was found near the library several hours after she was reported missing.

Two days into the search, a jogger spotted Lexie’s body in a shallow creek off Asdee Lane, eight miles from the library where Gregg-Glover said her daughter was last seen.

Her body was submerged in two feet of water near a drain pipe. Police were quick not to call the case a homicide, but rather a “suspicious death.”

Two more days went by and then Gregg-Glover invited reporters and television cameras into her home, issuing a plea for her child’s killer to come forward.

Police focused their attention on the area where she was reportedly last seen, passing out fliers to motorists on Mathis Avenue in what police called a “desperate need for information” in the case.

The next night, in a surprising turn of events, police descended on Gregg-Glover’s home on Sunset Drive near Manassas.

In plain view of neighbors, investigators searched the cars parked in front of her home, then concentrated on the inside of Gregg-Glover’s house.

By night’s end, she had been charged with felony child neglect and filing a false police report. She was held without bond.

“The investigation indicates that the mother had the criminal culpability related to her [daughter’s] death and the transportation of her body,” Deane said at a press conference the next day.

Then reports from neighbors and teachers began to surface, alleging Gregg-Glover had a history of abusing the girl.

Wes Beyers said Lexie showed up in early December at his Manassas area home on MacBeth Street — just blocks from Gregg-Glover’s home — wearing nothing but a vinyl barbeque grill cover.

He said she was cold and was bleeding from a gash on the back of her head. He said she told him someone had hit her on the head with a stick.

As authorities searched for Lexie, Gregg-Glover said the girl was known to wrap tarps around herself in an attempt to keep warm when she ran away in the past.

Beyers said that he called the police, and then he, a police officer and his wife, took Lexie to a local hospital, where she was examined.

That was the first and last time he saw Lexie alive.

Police would not comment on Beyer’s story.

More details about Lexie’s death came to light in early February, just as Gregg-Glover was released on a $5,000 bond for the misdemeanor charge of filing a false police report. Prosecutors appealed that decision to no avail.

A medical examiner’s report released about the same time stated that Lexie had been alive when she was dumped in the freezing creek. The report also indicated that Lexie’s lungs had some water in them when she died.

The medical examiner ruled that Lexie died from drowning and exposure to the cold.

Police said they believed Lexie had some type of medical emergency about 7 a.m. on the day Gregg-Glover reported her missing. Investigators think Gregg-Glover neglected to get her the proper medical care she needed.

After being released on bond, Gregg-Glover left the Manassas area to live in Chesapeake County, under pre-trial supervision. She was not deemed a flight risk, said Prince William Circuit Court Judge Mary Grace O’Brien.

On March 3, Ebert announced Gregg-Glover had been indicted on charges of first-degree murder, felony murder and felony child abuse in the death of her daughter.

An indictment means there is enough evidence for a case to go to trial, not a finding of innocence or guilt.

A week later Deane ordered a comprehensive review of how his police department handled the case. He said a portion of the review would focus on how the department can better recognize children in extreme danger and what additional resources his officers might need to help them.

Several reports were also made to the Prince William County Department of Social Services about Lexie — reports that may have fallen on deaf ears.

An internal investigation was also launched at that agency. One social worker was fired and two disciplined following Lexie’s death.

The state also became interested in the case and launched its own review of how the county handled reports that the 13-year-old was being abused and neglected.

Low morale, inadequate staffing and a lack of communication were among a few of the things uncovered in the internal management review of Lexie’s case.

Currently only one person from the agency is on-call during the week for emergency situations. The state investigation determined that is a problem for several reasons, including the limited amount of experience the case worker gains by working in irregular shifts, Virginia Department of Social Services spokeswoman Marianne McGee told the News & Messenger.

A Prince William police spokeswoman said the findings of their internal review will not be released until Gregg-Glover’s court proceedings have concluded.

Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.