A distressing case has unfolded as Darrian Randle, a 31-year-old mother, has been charged with murder and child abuse after her initial claim that her 3-year-old daughter, Nola Dinkins, was kidnapped proved to be false.
On Tuesday, June 10, Randle, from Newark, Delaware, told police she had pulled over her car to comfort an upset Nola when an unknown white man, armed with a handgun, took her daughter and fled in a dark SUV driven by a white woman. An Amber Alert was issued, triggering a massive overnight investigation involving the New Castle County Division of Police and the FBI.
However, detectives quickly determined Randle's story was untrue, and the Amber Alert was canceled. The case was then handed over to the Maryland State Police as a homicide investigation, with Randle also facing a charge of felony falsely reporting.
Further developments led to the arrest of a second suspect, 44-year-old Cedrick Antoine Britten of North East, Maryland, who is identified as Randle's boyfriend. He has been charged as an accessory to first and second-degree murder, failure to report a child's death, and other related criminal charges.
On Wednesday afternoon, human remains consistent with those of a young child were discovered in a vacant lot in North East, Maryland. Positive identification of the remains is pending autopsy results.
Randle is currently in police custody awaiting extradition, while Britten is in Maryland, awaiting transport to court. Randle has been committed to the Baylor Women’s Correctional Institution on a $1,000,000 cash bail, with a preliminary court hearing scheduled for Monday, June 23.
