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Mother Brandee Katrice Pierce and son Zemar King
Brandee Katrice Pierce, 41, was arraigned Friday on charges alleging that she murdered her nine-year-old son, Zemar King, and buried him in the backyard of her northwest Detroit rental home last fall.
Detroit 36th District Court Magistrate Judge Delphia Burton remanded her to jail pending further hearings. A preliminary examination is set for March 13.
The medical examiner has ruled the death a homicide caused by smothering and compression to the neck.
She faces charges of first-degree murder, felony murder, first-degree child abuse, tampering with evidence and concealing the death of an individual.
The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office alleges that on Oct. 24, Pierce fatally assaulted her son, Zemar, before burying him in the yard of their home in the 19700 block of Woodingham.
On Nov. 6, she abandoned her home and left the state for Georgia with her three-year-old son.
On Jan. 6, around 1:20 p.m., Detroit police responded to a call from the landlord of the abandoned rental home after he discovered human remains in a shallow grave. The landlord was preparing the home for a new tenant.
Days later, authorities arrested Pierce in Cobb County, Georgia.
