A neighbor’s efforts to find the guardian of an unattended child led police to what they believe is a homicide.
According to a news release from the Pine Bluff Police Department, the three-year-old girl was found after she knocked on a neighbor’s door at an apartment complex at 2600 South Beech Street just after midnight on Thursday morning. The neighbor brought the child inside after it appeared they did not have shoes on in the cold weather.
Police were called to the complex, the release states, and an investigation into where the child came from led them to Apartment I in the complex, where the front door was found open. Inside, authorities found the body of Dametrick McDaniel, 25, laying in a pool of blood. He was pronounced dead at the scene shortly before 1 a.m.
It was later determined that McDaniel was the father of the child, police say.
Police are searching for Brandon McClatchie, 23, for questioning in the case.
An official with the Department of Human Services was called to take custody of the child and attempts are being made to release the child to her family, according to the release.
Authorities added that no motive has been established in the case, no suspects have been named and the investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information regarding the incident can call Pine Bluff police at (870) 730-2090 or (870) 541-5300.