Cause of Death for Mom and 3-Year-Old Daughter Found in an Alabama River Determined to Be a Murder-Suicide By Desiree Anello 54

The mom and 3-year-old girl who were found dead in an Alabama river earlier this year died by murder-suicide, authorities said.

The bodies of Shardee McGill, 32, and her toddler daughter, Janae, were found separately on Sept. 25 and Sept. 26, respectively. Jonathan McGill, Shardee’s husband and Janae’s father, reported them missing on Sept. 22. 

Now, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s Sgt. Reginal King said both Shardee and Janae’s deaths were the result of drowning, WJTV, WBRC and AL.com reported.

While Shardee’s death was determined to be a suicide, Janae’s death was determined to be a homicide, with the mom as the suspect, per the outlets.

“Over the course of the investigation, the determination has been made that there are no additional suspects involved,” King said, according to AL.com.

At the time of the mother and daughter’s disappearance, police in Jackson, Miss. — where the pair are from — said Shardee and Janae left their home in a Chevrolet Equinox and never returned. (They were later listed in the National Crime Information database as missing persons.)

On Sept. 25, Shardee’s body was discovered in a shallow body of water off the Tombigbee River, Sumter County Coroner Sonya Jemison confirmed to AL.com at the time. The next day, Alabama authorities found Janae’s body not far from where her mother was discovered.

“The missing person alert in the case of Janae McGill-3 has been cancelled,” the sheriff wrote on Facebook at the time. “Search team authorities in Alabama located a body earlier today in an area in close proximity to where Shardee McGill was discovered. The body was later identified as Janae.”

During a Sept. 26 news conference, police said that, while Johnathan was detained for questioning after traveling to Alabama, he was released soon after. 

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“This young lady left the residence with her mother,” authorities further explained. “It wasn’t a situation where there was a kidnapping or a custodial kidnapping.”

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