Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Disabled Girl Found With Maggots in Diaper, Mom Charged with Murder

Episode Date: October 2, 2026

Leslie Wilson faces a felony murder charge in Alabama related to the death of her 12-year-old daughter, Mya Bell Christopher. Gadsden Police said the girl weighed 32 pounds when she died, had marks on her body and maggots in her diaper. Mya died in June. After a months-long investigation, Wilson has been charged with her daughter's murder. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through the horrific case in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Go to https://quo.com/crimefix to get 20% off your first 6 months!Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: John Phillips https://www.instagram.com/johnphillipsesq/CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Van DinhGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I can't imagine having a 32-pound 12-year-old with this level of built up, you know, dental issues and just, again, maggots in the diapers, that's at all. A mother accused of a horrific crime, her disabled daughter starved and found with maggots in her diaper. Now, police say it was murder. I'll tell you what we know so far. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy, and this is crime fix. You know, all children rely on their parents for care. But in this case, the child was completely and totally dependent on her mother because she had a disability. The girl had cerebral palsy and

spent much of her time in a special wheelchair. Photos on the mother's Facebook page show the girl and her mother, at least on Facebook, you know, they appear to be loving. But that's the problem with social media. People only share what they want you to see on those platforms. Leslie Wilson, according to police, was a neglectful and uncaring mother. Police in Gadsden, Alabama, say this 12-year-old girl died an excruciating and terrible death that was entirely preventable. And they say her mother, Leslie Wilson, is to blame. Wilson faces a felony murder charge.

Prosecutors say from May to June of this year, Wilson tortured or willfully mistreated, cruelly beat, or otherwise willfully mistreated her daughter. An obituary lists a child's name as Maya Bell Christopher, a child who loved coloring, saltwater swimming in songs like Valbat and wheels on the bus go round and round. But police say the girls' final weeks were excruciating. Detectives with the police department say that Maya was deprived of food and that her siblings were trying to care for her. Children, young children, were trying to care for their dying disabled sister, according to police. An autopsy revealed that 12-year-old Maya weighed just 32 pounds when she died. She was dehydrated and suffering from malnutrition according to local news reports.

A detective testified at a bond hearing that Maya had a feeding tube, and as her siblings tried to care for her, there was little food in the house. Maya died of sepsis. The Mayo Clinic identifies that condition as the body responding improperly to an infection. The infection fighting processes overreact and cause inflammation all over the body and then the organs stop working as they should. Now, after the girl died, Leslie Wilson posted a tribute video on Facebook writing, I will see you again, twin, Mama loves you, fly high baby girl. That video shows photos of Maya from her birth to some time before her death.

Also on Facebook photos of Leslie, looking well and dressed up after Maya's horrific death, she looks happy and clean. But there's another post made just after Maya's death that really caught my eye. Maya died on June 17th. And on July 8th, Leslie posted, it has been a lot said, but I have nothing to say because at the end of the day, I was the only one there. I know what kind of person I am and who I will always remain. Y'all just don't know the obstacles and challenges I've already faced in my life, and this too I shall overcome. Thank you to my support system who have been here with me through all of this, and I'm not talking about people who just calling and coming around to be nosy. I'm talking about the genuine people who knows who I really am. An autopsy also revealed marks on Maya's

body, and police say when she was found, there were live maggots in her diaper. Maya, as a I mentioned died on June 17th, and children's services began investigating, which led to this recent felony murder charge. You know, we have all been there balancing multiple things at once, and something happens to slip through the cracks. But having the right system will help you stay ahead. That's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo. That's QUO, the business phone system built so you never miss a call. Quo is the next generation business phone system. When using Quo, you and your team have a centralized inbox, so all of your calls, texts and voicemails live in just one place. Anyone can pick up a conversation, see the full history, and respond fast. The best part,

Quo integrates with the tools you already use, like HubSpot, Zapier, Slack, and more. It's also available for iOS, Android, and desktop. Let Quo help you save time, stay organized, and spend less time chasing information between systems. I tried to book a hair appointment the other day with someone, a friend recommended, but the person never got back to me. It happens. But losing a potential client, it's not ideal. Money is on the line. Always say hello with quo. Try quo for free plus get 20% off your first six months. When you go to quo.com slash crime fix, that's QUO.com slash crime fix. All right. So to talk about the horrific allegations in this case, I want to bring in John Phillips. He's an attorney who practices in Florida, but he's from Alabama, licensed.

to practice law in Alabama, went to law school there. So John, thank you so much for joining me. Good morning. This is a very difficult way to start the day. Yeah, most certainly, very much so. And I appreciate you coming on to talk about it. First of all, we have little Maya who died on June 17th. We're now in the beginning of October and her mother is now just being charged with felony murder. I would assume, and I'll let you handle this, but I'll assume that they had to investigate what exactly they believe was going on. Children's Services was involved and then had to wait for the autopsy results. That's exactly right. And I think felony murder is kind of the best way to start because it, you know, people think in law school,

you're trained to think about felony murder from the standpoint of like a bank robbery. Somebody goes and it tends to rob a bank and then they kill the guard and they, you know, they wasn't trying to murder. that person, but it's felony murder. It's a top grade felony. And here it's the systemic abuse and neglect that were crimes along the way ultimately leading to the death. They're not saying that she intentionally killed her child, but through all these other felonies,

you know, created a situation where it's the equivalent of murder from felony murder's perspective. the arrest warrant you know kind of talks about neglect occurring in may and of course June Maya died in on June 17th after being taken to the hospital but you know she went to this child went to school according to her obituary so i'm left to wonder i mean my goodness a did was she not in school in may did something go on where she wasn't being sent to school because schools are usually the first to recognize, you know, signs of neglect and abuse. Or was she not in school or did this, was this like a something that started long before

May, potentially, and then just escalated in May because this child was 12 and only weighed 32 pounds. That's unbelievable to me. It is unbelievable. And as a father of a 14 year old, a 12 year old and a 9 year old, you know, 32 pounds is, is probably more than half of what the body weight should have been. And certainly they've charged, the complaint covers May 1st through June 17th. But that doesn't mean that, you know, all of a sudden, you know, neglect and, and the level of abuse happened as of, you know, that date. It, typically you don't have a light switch of, of neglect. You have, you know, you have an escalation, but to your, to your valid point, you would think if she was in some sort of, of program or school that somebody would have said something, particularly in Etowah County,

Alabama, where, you know, people tend to take care of each other. It's a small town Alabama. And, you know, on the Facebook page of the mom, I'm just flabbergasted. You know, it's one of those where it's like, oh, look how the happy family and the whole thing. And she was apparently selling food as well. This woman was involved in something where she sold food. But then the investigators say there's no food in the house, like very little food. And this child's siblings were trying to care for her. And she had a feeding tube.

So what does that tell us? I mean, did this woman have some type of mental breakdown? Or is she just potentially just a big fraud putting things? things on Facebook. We don't know. And that's that's part of the question. And certainly there's so many different resources people have to, you know, if they're impoverished, particularly for children, to be able to tap into, you know, state and federal resources for food and for medical care. And none of that seems to have been, you know, accomplished here in this window. And for children to be raising children and for there to be kind of this social media personality.

And of course, what people post on social media tends to be the perception, not the reality, right? The best perception. But I think it's all going to be fodder for the state and law enforcement because it does show a level of fraud or maliciousness that here she, you know, Ms. Wilson held out one thing, but meanwhile, what was going on with, with her daughter was, was far from it. And it's just, you know, the maggots in the diaper, which again, you get a 12 year old, all the, all the things that, that have been listed in this report about malnourishment and

dehydration is just, just awful. Yeah, it's horrific. This poor child died an excruciating death, painful death. Her cause of death apparently was sepsis. which sounds just even worse. I mean, just absolutely horrific. They could not save her at the hospital. And she was, you know, she had cerebral palsy. So she was in a wheelchair most of the time, whether she was in that wheelchair at home or in a bed. We don't know.

But the maggots in the diaper, that right there shows you that this child was left for a significant period of time, enough time that she was soiling herself in the diaper and that maggots were able to get in there, like flies and lay eggs. Right. That's right. Because it's not a, you know, that's not a contemporaneous thing. It's, you know, people, people think about their garbage after a couple weeks. You sometimes you throw away, you know, expired meat.

It takes a while, but then it gets real bad. And just think of the odor of that. Yes. And then I think the forensic pathologist also noted it was the worst. teeth she had ever seen, which again shows that this wasn't something that was within a month, multiple month window. If you've got, you know, teeth of a child, and at that age, should be, should be the primary teeth, the final set of teeth, you know, decaying and being in that state of disrepair, it shows more of a long-term issue. And it's just, it's awful. It's awful to

think about. Yeah, it really is. Let's talk about the hearing that was held. Anaya's law. Talk to me a little bit about that. I love Anaya's law, and it's named after Anaya Blanchard. I've gotten to know the family there, you know, in a horrible situation. Basically, what Anaya's law does is give an advance hearing because they want to focus on making sure people accused of such horrible crimes with their, there's probable cause stay in jail because Anaya's killer was allowed out after a prior incident and was was, you know, then responsible for another death. And it just provides, you know, more, you pre-suit protection for victims. It's a very comprehensive Victims Protection Act. I wish more states would follow Anaya's lead, Alabama's lead, and enact such, such

such victims rights, you know, laws, you know, of course, says the victim's rights attorney. Of course, of course. You know, I do want to circle back just, you know, to the children in this case. I mean, we have Maya. And I'm wondering if the siblings were treated differently, if they were not as neglected because they didn't possibly have a disability. We haven't heard anything about charges related to Maya's siblings. So if you're neglecting one child, and sometimes we see this in cases, John, where it's like a stepchild or something like that and the child is mistreated, but it doesn't appear to be the case here. These appear to be her full siblings. So were the other siblings possibly not as neglected? I can't imagine if there's little food in the house that these other

children were not neglect. I'm sure it's I'm sure it's all relative. And and with what they've charged Ms. Wilson, it's it's it's enough to to certainly suffice for for you know, significant if not life imprisonment. But also I think that the argument is if a child for eight more able-bodied children that didn't have CP, they were able to protect themselves and fend off themselves enough that they at least weren't at the level that this poor child was. And there still could be more charges as discovery develops, but certainly you've got a, you've got a fatality here that is the lead case. And I'm sure the equivalent of DCF, I don't know if it's DHS there, will, you know,

Department of Children and Family or the equivalent will will continue to look at at this situation. And I don't even know who the other children are living with now. But again, it gets into the, you know, now they're in foster care with all of this going on and their family in ultimate turmoil. And the emotional sacrifice and strain that puts on all of the family is very real trauma, too. Yeah, incredible trauma, just awful. you know, what could the possible defense in this case be? I don't I don't know what defense there could be unless there was just some severe mental illness,

but that's still not, that's still not, to me, a legitimate defense to starving your child. That's right. And again, the social media posts by by Ms. Wilson is going to kind of show that, you know, at least she, she purported to be of sound mind and and regular but this is this is a level of indefensible and again you know people have options people people who are going through poverty people going through struggles you know particularly with a child that would qualify through through federal programs you know don't have to just die and and be subject to to such abuse and, you know, anybody can walk them through that level of help. But, but, you know,

I, I guess you can try to point the finger at a co-parent or try to point the finger at mental health or, or, you know, just, just disease and defect that this was, this was, you know, someone that the system failed. But again, the system is, is, in this case, I'm not, Sometimes the system truly fails children, but in this case, you know, it just seems like the parent failed. And for what reason, whether she just lived another life or lived in another place we've seen before or why? It's just, again, this is, as a parent and as a victim's right lawyer, this is one of the more

horrid cases I've looked at. I want to put a Facebook post from, you know, Leslie Wilson up on the screen. She put on Facebook on July 8th. This was nearly a month after Maya had died. It has been a lot said, but I have nothing to say because at the end of the day I was the only one there. I know what kind of person I am and who I always will remain. You all just don't the obstacles and challenges I've already faced in my life, and this too I shall overcome. Thank you to my support system who have been there with me through all of this.

And I'm not talking about people who just calling and coming around to be nosy. I'm talking about the genuine people who know who I really am. So, and she talks about, you know, her baby girl, Maya Bell, and that she'll miss her every day for the rest of her life. So this is a woman who's saying she's had challenges and obstacles to overcome. but then, I mean, a lot of people have challenges and obstacles to overcome. So is this self-serving or is there really an issue here? It's clearly self-serving. It's waiver of the Fifth Amendment.

Anything you post on social media can and will be used against you in a court of law. And there's a level of admission against interest here that she had these other things. And again, it shows us sound much. She had these other things in her life. and essentially chose, you know, neglect, essentially, you know, contributed rather than, you know, kind of fingerpoint or just say nothing and let the state have to prove its case through an absence of fact and an absence of what could be considered an admission before a jury. And there are other posts as well, to my understanding. And it's just, it's just, I can't imagine having a 32 pound 12-year-old with, with this level of built up, you know, dental issues and just, again, maggots in the diaper,

says it all that you're going to say, oh, you don't know what I've been through. Well, let's talk about what that child's been through, right? Like this is one of those examples that, that, you know, nobody's better off dead. It's a horrible way to think about it. But the suffering is now over for this child. And she, she deserved better. Most certainly. It's just horrific.

We're going to keep an eye on it. This poor child, Maya. Thank you so much, John, for your time and your expertise, as always. My pleasure. Now, Leslie Wilson is being held without bail. She's scheduled to be back in court at the end of the month. And we'll keep an eye on this case and let you know what happens. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix.

I'm Anjanet Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.