Erica Newsome had been driving for two days with her dead 11-year-old daughter before she crashed her truck into a guard rail in West Virginia on Sunday

A Florida woman was arrested after a pair of New York motorists traveling through West Virginia spotted her pulling the body of a child out of her crashed vehicle and then dragging it into the woods.
Erica Newsome, 37, had been driving for two days with her dead 11-year-old daughter before she crashed her truck into a guard rail in West Virginia on Sunday, police said. That’s when the motorists spotted Newsome pull a small body wrapped in a blanket out of the truck, the Pocahontas Times reported.

Police said Kaye-lea [left] died on Saturday in her mother’s Jacksonville, Fla home, [right]. Erica Newsome admitted to killing her daughter

They phoned 911 and authorities responded to the scene around 11:20 a.m. They found Newsome 150 feet up a nearby hillside , the body of her daughter Kaye-lea Plummer, next to her, police said.The coroner said Kaye-lea had been dead for at least 24 hours when authorities discovered her. They believe her death occurred in Jacksonville.
“It was obvious that the 11-year-old did not die from injuries from the accident,” State Police Sgt. Herby Barlow said told the newspaper. “Her injuries were non-motor vehicle injuries.”
Newsome said in a Miranda statement that she intended to take the girl to Buffalo, N.Y., where her father lived, according to the Times. She said her daughter did not move, eat, drink or use the restroom in the two days it took for them to drive from Florida to West Virginia.
Newsome later admitted to police that she had killed her daughter and was abusive to her.
Kaye-lea’s father, Donath Plummer, told News 4 that Newsome randomly texted him Saturday, telling him she’d be dropping the girl off the next day. Then she texted again to tell him they were having car trouble and that they needed rest

Kaye-lea Plummer moved to Florida with her mother after Erica Newsome divorced her dad, Donath Plummer [right], in 2014

On Sunday, he learned his daughter was dead.Plummer’s dad, Donath Plummer, who lives in Buffalo, New York, said his daughter was a regular child and may have been struggling with her parents’ separation. The couple married in 2007 and separated two years later. Newsome moved with Kaye-lea to Jacksonville in 2014. He had not seen them since. He said he didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to his daughter.
“I can’t even wrap my head around what even would have made (my wife) snap,” Plummer said. “That’s exactly what that mugshot looked like. Something pushed her over the edge and she snapped.”

Donath Plummer says his ex is the only person he trusted with his daughter Kaye-lea [right]

Plummer said Newsome did get his daughter an internet phone so they could talk. He said he always asked his daughter if she was OK, and she would say yes.
Plummer said Newsome texted him out of the blue early Saturday to say she was bringing Kaye-lea to Buffalo. He said she texted him again about noon to say she needs to stop and rest, plus, they are having tire issues.
“I just wish I could have been there,” Plummer said. “I can’t imagine what she actually went through.”

Texts exchange between Erica Newsome and ex, Donath Plummer, on Sunday

On Sunday, police came to his workplace Sunday to tell him his daughter was dead and estranged wife was in jail.
“They just said she was found at the scene of an accident, but they don’t believe my daughter died there,” Plummer said.
He spoke highly of Newsome, saying she was “the only person I trusted my child with.”
“We didn’t always agree on everything, but she was a great mother. I don’t know how this could have happened,” Plummer said. “Something is very, very wrong. She needs help. She really needs help.”
Pocahontas Times reports Plummer believes his estranged wife “snapped” and that she’d been “the only person I trusted with my child.”
Newsome was arrested on charges of concealing the body of her daughter and was jailed on $50,000 while investigators searched for evidence in Florida.