CANTON, Ga. (BFMG) — A Georgia woman has been sentenced to 37 years in prison after pleading guilty in the death of a 2-year-old girl whose mutilated remains were found in a plastic storage container in 2022, prosecutors said.
Phillissa Diallo, 44, was sentenced Monday after entering guilty pleas to second-degree murder, second-degree cruelty to children and concealing the death of another, according to the Cherokee County District Attorney’s Office. She will serve the first 21 years in prison.
Authorities said Canton police arrested Diallo in December 2022 after officers responded to an apartment and found toddler Alyssa Rose Davis dead. Diallo later walked into police headquarters to report the child’s death.
Investigators determined Diallo had been watching Alyssa for at least two weeks and said security video showed she left the child alone for long periods, according to prosecutors.
“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.”
Prosecutors said Diallo admitted Alyssa was alive when she found her, but did not call 911 in time to try to save the child.
“When officers searched the apartment, they found the child’s mutilated remains inside a plastic storage bin containing a salt substance, hidden beneath other items in a closet,” the release noted.
“An autopsy determined the child died from lethal amounts of acetaminophen and diphenhydramine. The date of death could not be determined. Alyssa was last known to be alive on December 8; her body was found six days later,” per the release.
Alyssa’s mother gave an emotional statement in court, saying she was robbed when her daughter died and that her other children deeply miss their sister, prosecutors said. The mother also said the family will never be the same.
