Fleeing murder suspects captured in Georgia, will head back for trial

A Sumpter Township couple being sought in the murder of the woman’s four-year-old daughter was apprehended Tuesday afternoon on I-75 in Georgia.
Sumpter Police Chief Eric Luke announced the apprehension to the township board during Tuesday’s regular meeting.
He said they were trying to flee to Florida and, “I’m glad we have them in custody.”
Chief Luke said after they put out the photos of the two on Facebook 26 hours previously, 2.2 million people saw the pictures in 48 states and many tips poured into the U.S. Marshal Detroit Fugitive Apprehension Team and Sumpter Police Department.
He said the Marshals were able to use investigation tools that the township did not have. He said Sumpter police had the fugitives’ old cell phone, but they were apprehended driving down I-75 while talking on their new cell phone.
“The federal government has more resources to use,” he said.
Chief Luke said this is just the start of the process and the couple will soon be returned to Michigan. He said now his department will work even harder on the case to make sure justice is done.
The Jan. 1 death of the girl, identified by the media as Gabby Barrett, was ruled a homicide on Jan. 3 by the Washtenaw County Medical Examiner.
According to a news release from Chief Luke on Monday, there was evidence of multiple traumatic injuries and signs of Battered Child Syndrome, including multiple injuries at multiple sites at multiple ages.
The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office approved an arrest warrant charging both the child’s mother, 24-year-old Candice Renea Diaz, and her boyfriend, 28-year-old Brad Edward Fields, with the following charges:
• Count 1: Homicide – Felony Murder
• Count 2: Homicide – Murder – Second Degree
• Count 3: Child Abuse – First Degree
• Count 4: Torture
Fields also was charged as a habitual offender.
At about 10:43 a.m., Monday, Jan. 1, Sumpter Police responded to a 911 call from a residence on Greenmeadow Drive, inside the Rawsonville Woods Mobile Home Community, on the report of an unresponsive four-year-old female.
Upon arrival, police report CPR was being administered by family members and officers found the child suffering from obvious severe burns about her extremities. She was transported to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor by Huron Valley Ambulance and shortly after arrival was pronounced dead.
Sumpter police were working in conjunction with the Washtenaw County Medical Examiner, a forensic unit from Michigan State Police, and Child Protective Services to investigate the case.
In 2016 the couple was at the center of a daylong case that brought the Michigan State Police Tactical Response Unit to 84 Greenmeadow to help Sumpter Police because it was believed Fields was armed and barricaded in the home.
Fields was arrested on two felony charges: possession of a weapon by a felon and felony firearm. He also was charged with the misdemeanor of aggravated assault. The felony charges were dismissed.