CONWAY, S.C. — Jurors were sworn in Monday at the Horry County courthouse in Conway for the murder trial of Camisha Marie McGaskey, the woman accused of killing 11-year-old A’Kyri Bell inside a Horry County home in the summer of 2025.
McGaskey faces counts of murder, obstruction of justice, trafficking of minors and criminal conspiracy. The office of Solicitor Jimmy Richardson, the elected prosecutor for the 15th circuit, is trying the case, and Judge David Caraker is presiding.
The Horry County Police Department was sent to a house on Sago Palm Drive in a gated community on June 11, 2025, to help paramedics with a child who was not responding. A’Kyri, who was visiting from Bay City, Texas, died of head injuries, and the coroner ruled the cause of death as multiple blunt force injuries. Officers removed seven more children from the home that day.
Police first charged McGaskey with obstruction, then added the murder charge about a week later. The investigation grew after state and county investigators said the girl’s death was linked to a human trafficking operation in the county.
Monday was taken up by jury selection and legal motions. The judge allowed the state to show the jury a limited set of short video clips and to call a child abuse specialist as an expert witness. After hearing the recorded police interview McGaskey gave on the night of the death, he ruled her statement was voluntary and that her rights had been read properly, rejecting a defense argument that it was coerced.
Five other people charged in connection with the death are listed as witnesses, and children are expected to testify as the trial continues.
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