A woman accused of suffocating a 5-year-old boy in her care and abandoning his body in a sewer made her first appearance Thursday morning in Franklin County District Court.
Pammy Mae, 48, appeared in court wearing a beige prison uniform, but during the hearing prosecutors questioned how she suffocated 5-year-old Darnell Taylor and where his body was located. He showed no visible emotion, including while discussing how he was found in the drain.
Judge Cynthia Ebner ordered May held on $4 million bail on charges of murder, kidnapping and child endangerment.
The hearing revealed few new details about the case itself, but Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Tyler McCoy provided new insight into May.
McCoy told the hearing that May had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and had exhibited possessive and controlling behavior in the past. She and her husband served as the child’s legal guardians.
McCoy asked for a high bail given the seriousness of the charges Maye faces and the fact that she fled the Columbus area before her arrest in Cleveland.
What happened to Darnell Taylor?
On February 14, Maye’s husband called 911 after Maye told him Darnell was no longer with him. While May’s husband was on the phone with a dispatcher, May tried to cover her husband’s mouth and she said she “had a plan,” according to the police report.
Police arrived at the Mays’ home in the 900 block of Reeve Avenue within five minutes, but Darnell and Mays were missing. Their disappearance prompted an Amber Alert.
Police in the Cleveland suburb of Brooklyn found May’s SUV in the parking lot of an apartment complex about an hour after a statewide Amber Alert was issued.
Police searched for May for more than 24 hours, and she was found wandering around in a nightgown on the night of February 15. Police said May told her investigators where Darnell’s body could be found. When police went to the 1600 block of Marsdale Avenue, they found Darnell’s body in a sewer drain.
May choked Darnell on the morning of Feb. 13, according to a probable cause affidavit.
May’s next court date is currently scheduled for March 1, but it is likely that a grand jury will consider her case and that she will be indicted before that date.
