Defendant in child’s death refuses to appear for arraignment

The caregiver who last saw 4-year-old Darnell Gray alive was scheduled to appear in court Thursday to set a date for her preliminary hearing. But she refused to appear.

Quatavia Givens, 26, of Jefferson City, refused to appear on video from the Cole County Jail, so Cole County Associate Circuit Judge Tom Sodergren set her case to be back in his court Nov. 29.

Given is charged with one count of abuse or neglect of a child. In an earlier hearing, Sodergren ordered that Givens be represented by the Public Defender’s Office.

Authorities said there have been no new developments in the case since Givens was taken into custody.

A Jefferson City Police Department probable cause statement said Givens, who was in a relationship with Darnell’s father, called police shortly before 7 a.m. Oct. 25 to report he was missing from a residence in the 1100 block of Buena Vista Street. She had told police she discovered the child was missing that morning, which set off a nearly week-long search for the boy that ended with the discovery of his body.

On the 25th, Givens had told authorities she believed Darnell had been abducted or had run away from the residence. When she found Darnell was missing, she told authorities, she drove across town to her mother’s residence to tell her what had happened.

Darnell’s body was discovered Oct. 30 in a wooded area in the 2100 block of Louis Circle. Police said people searching one of the paths that Givens traveled regularly led them to Darnell’s body.

Authorities said Givens was taken into custody Oct. 30 at a residence where she was being interviewed by officers; she was then taken to the police department for further questioning. At the time of her arrest, police said, Givens did not know Darnell’s body had been recovered.

The probable cause statement says Givens eventually admitted to investigators she knew the location of Darnell’s body, which was consistent with where he was located.

The statement also said Givens admitted she had injured the boy by stating, “I may have hit him wrong.”

An autopsy was performed on Darnell’s body, and authorities said it showed he had multiple injuries caused by blunt force trauma and sharp force trauma to multiple locations of his body prior to his death.

Darnell’s father, Kijuanis Gray, told reporters he left his child with Givens while he went to Chicago to visit his ailing mother and he “wasn’t expecting her to do this.” Gray wasn’t in Jefferson City when he was contacted about his son’s disappearance.

At the time of her arrest, Givens was on probation for stealing leased or rented property.

Darnell’s fifth birthday would have been Nov. 6. His funeral service is scheduled for Friday in Chicago.