Police think the perpetrator drove the mother three miles before beating her to loss and setting her corpse on fire, but the infant was discovered with the victim’s ID and other possessions.
After his ex-girlfriend’s terrible and violent murder and the abandonment of her then 7-month-old child, a man will be imprisoned for the rest of his life.
According to a statement from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office in Arizona, Antwaun Ware, 27, was sentenced to natural life in prison after entering a guilty plea to a class one first-degree felony murder charge and a class six felony charge of endangerment for the terrible event.
According to the MCAO, the real offenses took place on Tuesday, March 6, 2018, at about 10 p.m., when a couple discovered a 7-month-old child alone by the side of the road in a car seat.
According to court documents obtained by AZCentral, the infant was found with personal belongings of 21-year-old Jasmine Dunbar, including her wallet and identification, backpack, diaper bag, and one adult shoe.
According to the news site, police were referred to Ware as a potential suspect after speaking with Dunbar’s godmother, who informed them that Dunbar had scheduled a meeting with Ware on Tuesday night in order to have him taken for a paternity test.
Ware was contacted by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office just after 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday. According to court documents at the time, he claimed to have informed authorities that he had picked Dunbar and the infant up on Tuesday, but that he later dropped them off again following an argument.
The defendant then admitted that he had struck her “a number of times with his fist,” according to the police’s probable-cause affidavit, before leaving her alive in a field, but authorities indicated Ware’s account would vary as the investigation progressed.
According to Ware’s account of events, he took the infant and drove off. According to the court documents, he then told police that “he panicked and dropped (the baby) off… because he saw people nearby and believed they would find her and take care of her.”
He reported to the police that he discovered Dunbar de.ad when he returned to the field. According to Ware’s allegation, he then poured her with gasoline, placed a piece of paper over her, and lit her on fire with a cigarette. Then he claimed to have seen her burn till the fire extinguished itself.
Ware said that he had planned to go back for the youngster after that, but when he got near, he saw that police were already there. As a result, he took other routes to avoid the location, according to Phoenix ABC station KNXV.
According to AZCentral, the remains of the deceased were found by helicopter at about 4:35 p.m. that day. Ware was originally charged with first-degree murder, abduction, child abuse, and body abandonment.
Shortly after her loss was found, Dunbar’s mother Tonya Smith told KNXV that she was troubled by her daughter’s last moments. “She asked you to take a DNA test, how’s that worth killing somebody over?” she was wondering. “I’m upset. ‘Why God?’ I ask myself.
“This defendant’s heartless behavior is unacceptable in our community. He will spend the rest of his life in prison because of the efforts of my prosecutors,” Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in a statement released by her office.