Babysitter overdosed toddler with Tylenol and Benadryl, mutilated body, hid it in box

The Cherokee County District Attorney announced that Phillissa Diallo pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, second-degree cruelty to children, and concealing the death of another. She was sentenced on May 11.

An investigation began on Dec. 14, 2022, after Diallo went to the police station and said there was a dead child at her apartment. Responding officers searched her home and found the mutilated body of 2-year-old Alyssa Rose Davis inside a storage container full of a salt-like substance. The box was reportedly hidden under other items inside the closet, per the DA.

An autopsy on Davis determined that her cause of death was an overdose on acetaminophen and diphenhydramine. Diallo had been babysitting Davis for more than two weeks; home security surveillance footage showed she left the child alone for long periods. It also showed she brought bleach into the home; forensic testing later confirmed areas of the home had been cleaned with it.

Diallo was reportedly in communication with the child’s mother, who did not know Davis had died until authorities told her, according to the DA.

Diallo’s defense said she had been delusional at the time, but a behavioral health expert testified that at the time of Davis’ death, Diallo was not experiencing any delusional thoughts, according to People.

In court, Davis’ mother said she was robbed when Davis died and that the girl’s siblings miss her and will never be the same.

“Instead of taking steps to preserve the child’s health and well-being, the defendant demonstrated willful neglect,” Deputy Chief ADA Rachel Hines said in a news release. “She then took gruesome, unimaginable steps to conceal her death. Alyssa was not treated with the protection and dignity owed to every child, and that reality will haunt everyone involved in this case.”