Ja’Niyah Herring had a vivid imagination. The 5-year-old routinely pictured herself out in the wild with lions, bears and tigers, according to her family.
“She loved unicorns, just not nearly as much as she loved her siblings,” her obituary stated. “When you think of the sun shining after the rain, that’s like our Niya, her presence with that radiant smile that made a bad day seem not so bad.”
For the past four years, that smile and imagination have been missed by Herring’s seven siblings due to the actions of her father and his girlfriend, according to the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office.
On Thursday, her six sisters and brother might have received some closure. Prosecutors announced that her father, Cedric O’Neal Herring, and Unchinna Myrick will both spend decades in prison for the May 29, 2021, beating death of Ja’Niyah, who they falsely claimed had been injured in a car accident.
Cedric Herring, 30, was found guilty of murder and cruelty to children in September, while Myrick, 28, pleaded guilty Wednesday to voluntary manslaughter and two counts of first-degree cruelty to children, the DA’s office said.
They were each charged for their role in the death of Ja’Niyah who prosecutors said was whipped, tied to a bed and repeatedly beaten.
DeKalb Superior Court Judge Nora Polk sentenced Herring to life in prison on Oct. 15. After her guilty plea Wednesday, Myrick was sentenced to 30 years behind bars, with the remaining 20 on probation, the DA’s office said.
According to investigators, Herring carried his daughter into the emergency room at Emory Decatur Hospital that day and said they had just been in a multivehicle wreck. He said she was knocked unconscious, prosecutors said.
A nurse immediately rushed Ja’Niyah into a room for treatment after determining she wasn’t breathing. Medical personnel worked on her for more than an hour before she died.
Soon after, a doctor conducted a physical examination and found that most of the girl’s body was covered in bruises and wounds “consistent with child abuse,” according to the DA’s office.
Hospital staff then notified the Division of Family and Children Services, the DeKalb Medical Examiner’s Office and DeKalb police.
Investigators found no record of any crash or the vehicle that Herring said he was driving at the time, according to the DA’s office. After being questioned by police about his daughter’s injuries, Herring said he “sometimes used a belt to hit his children when they misbehaved,” prosecutors said.
An autopsy revealed Ja’Niyah died of blunt force trauma and her manner of death was deemed a homicide, the DA’s office said.
Police then interviewed Herring’s surviving children, who said Ja’Niyah refused to clean up the house on the day of her death, so Myrick whipped her with a cord, prosecutors said. After Ja’Niyah tried to get away, Myrick “tied her to a bed and continued to beat her,” the DA’s office said. She eventually released Ja’Niyah, who “fell to the floor,” according to prosecutors.
Soon after, Herring came into the room and yelled at Ja’Niyah to get up and then beat her when she didn’t, prosecutors said. The father then “realized something was wrong” and tried to revive Ja’Niyah with an ice bath before taking her to the hospital.
According to her obituary, Ja’Niyah was the family’s bright light and always had a smile on her face.
“That little girl was rare, a one-of-a-kind. Her life was short-lived but she touched many lives while she was here,” her obituary said.
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