COURTLAND
A Drewryville woman has been arrested on a charge of first-degree murder in connection with a Suffolk woman who allegedly died in her care this past spring.

Keshia Nicole Freeman, 36, of Old Belfield Road, was brought into custody by Southampton County Sheriff’s deputies without incident today, Sept. 22. She was found at a Courtland residence, according to spokesman Sgt. Camden Cobb.

On Aug. 31, the newspaper reported that homicide was listed in the autopsy on Shaquille Hall. The cause was attributed to “blunt force trauma to the abdomen with contributing causes of diphenhydramine overdose, dehydration, starvation and battery,” according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which performed the autopsy.

Both sheriff’s deputies and emergency services personnel responded to a call at 1:10 p.m. on March 2 for a report of an autistic child who had become unresponsive.

On arrival, the child was discovered to be Hall, 23. She was found to have suffered from cerebral palsy not autism, and Capron Rescue personnel pronounced her dead at 1:41 p.m.
“The sheriff’s office investigation revealed that Hall was in the care of her Medicaid-provided aide at the time of her death and that she had not been in the care of her family for at least the five weeks prior to her death,” Cobb wrote.

An investigation had been ongoing since March 2, and was under review at the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office with indictments pending for a suspect that had not yet been named.

Cobb stated on Thursday, “Indictments for this case were presented to a Southampton County Grand Jury this week with the result of two capiases [warrants] being issued for the arrest of Keshia Freeman.”

He added that she was arrested on one capias for murder: first degree, and one capias for abuse and neglect of an incapacitated adult resulting in death. Freeman was taken before a magistrate and bond was denied. She’s in custody at Sussex County Jail, and is scheduled to appear for arraignment in Southampton County Circuit Court on Thursday, Nov. 3.