Lab says remains found in lot are those of Searcy toddler

Human remains found in December in Jackson County have been confirmed as those of Malik Drummond, a 2-year-old boy from Searcy who police say was beaten to death by his father.

ADVERTISEMENT

More headlines

Searcy police confirmed Friday that results from a state Crime Laboratory report matched Malik's DNA. The findings do not show what caused the boy's death.

Police had expected the remains to match Malik, said Steve Taylor, the Searcy assistant chief of police.

"We had pretty strong suspicion that it was him," Taylor said.

Jeffery Clifton, 43, of Searcy has been charged with capital murder and abuse of a corpse in the death of Malik, his son, whose disappearance more than a year ago caught the attention of many in central Arkansas.

Taylor said the remains were matched from samples of DNA taken from Clifton; Tanya Drummond, Malik's biological mother; and Malik's twin sister, Aryanna Drummond.

"The remains are consistent with an individual who would have had these biological parents and this biological sibling, and there's only one known person in the world that fits all three of those categories, and that was Malik," Taylor said.

Taylor said the findings will be forwarded to the prosecuting attorney's office.

Clifton has pleaded innocent to the charges and remains in the White County jail.

Lesley Marcotte, 27, of Springdale is accused of felony hindering apprehension or prosecution and has pleaded innocent. Marcotte was Clifton's girlfriend at the time of the toddler's disappearance.

The couple told police that Malik had wandered away from their home Nov. 23, 2014. They said they last saw him in their living room playing with Aryanna. A large-scale search followed as police tried to find the toddler.

Malik lived with his mother but had been staying at his father's home about two weeks. Clifton told police that he had learned in June 2014 that he was the father of the twins, Searcy police Cpl. Steve Hernandez has said.

Police wrote in an affidavit that Marcotte told them Clifton had fatally beaten Malik on Nov. 20, 2014, but had kept the body hidden until early Nov. 23, 2014, when, she said, he disposed of the body.

On Dec. 1, the day Clifton was arrested, he led them to skeletal remains in a vacant lot in the community of Auvergne, which is south of Newport and about 40 miles from Searcy.

Both appeared in White County Circuit Court on Jan. 5. Clifton's next pretrial hearing is scheduled for Feb. 22. Marcotte's pretrial hearing was delayed until March 2 because she was due to have a baby Jan. 19.

State Desk on 02/13/2016

Upcoming Events