Arkansas woman, 28, gets 10 years in boy's death

Searcy toddler was fatally beaten by his father in ’14

Lesley Sue Marcotte
Lesley Sue Marcotte

SEARCY -- A woman charged in connection with the death of Searcy toddler Malik Drummond pleaded guilty Wednesday to felony hindering apprehension or prosecution.

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White County Circuit Judge Robert Edwards sentenced Lesley Sue Marcotte, 28, of Springdale to 10 years in prison.

Marcotte pleaded innocent to the charges in March after telling Searcy police in December 2015 that her then-partner, Jeffery Clifton, 43, had fatally beaten his 2-year-old son Malik three days before reporting the child missing. Marcotte told authorities Clifton also had planned to implicate the child's mother, Tanya Drummond, in the child's death.

Clifton was charged with capital murder but pleaded no contest May 27 to second-degree murder and abuse of a corpse and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Malik had been living with Tanya Drummond but at the time of his death had spent a couple of weeks at Clifton's house, which he shared with Marcotte.

Marcotte and Clifton initially told police that Malik had wandered from their home Nov. 23, 2014, prompting a manhunt throughout the community.

Malik's image appeared in newspapers, television newscasts, billboards and on video screens at service stations for months while hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officers searched for the missing boy.

After police found inconsistencies in Clifton's and Marcotte's stories, the two were interviewed further before being arrested a year later.

Police wrote in an affidavit that Marcotte said Clifton had fatally beaten Malik on Nov. 20, 2014, because he drank another child's drink. Clifton had kept the body hidden until early Nov. 23, 2014, when Clifton disposed of the body, according to Marcotte.

Clifton's affidavit also said Marcotte recorded two conversations she had with Clifton on Nov. 24 and Nov. 25.

In the first conversation, Marcotte asked Clifton, "What if they find his body?"

Clifton replied, "We already talked about this. This is not the time to talk about this. We need to talk face-to-face."

On Nov. 25, the couple had a conversation in which Marcotte began talking about Malik. According to the affidavit, Clifton told Marcotte to plead ignorance, stating, "All you got to remember is to keep saying you don't know ... I don't care what they say whatever they is saying, they don't have anything ... I don't care what they say, they don't have s***. You know this. So I don't care what they tell you they say it is. 'No I didn't. No I didn't.'"

Police arrested Clifton on Dec. 1, 2015, the same day he led them to skeletal remains in a vacant lot in Auvergne, about 40 miles from Searcy. DNA testing helped authorities identify the remains as Malik's.

According to a fatality listing for Malik released June 8, Department of Human Services workers first became involved with Malik in June 2012 when they investigated a report of inadequate supervision. In 2013, workers investigated another report of a relative striking Malik. The department has said it will make no other information about the reports available, citing privacy protections.

State Desk on 07/07/2016

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