Man drowned 5-year-old daughter and burned body in OK, feds say. He’s sentenced
.png "Adley Grace Mason was 5-year-old when she was killed in Creek County, Oklahoma. Her father pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.")
An Oklahoma man was sentenced to life in prison after officials said he admitted to killing his 5-year-old daughter.
Adam Raymond Mason, 34, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Jan. 23 in connection with the death of 5-year-old Adley Grace Mason, according to court records.
McClatchy News reached out to Mason’s attorney June 23 for comment but did not immediately hear back.
On Aug. 26, 2020, Creek County sheriff’s deputies were called to a home for a well-being check on Adley after her mother told deputies Mason wouldn’t let her speak with Adley, according to a June 20 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
When deputies arrived, they found Adley’s burned body, according to officials.
Mason was found shortly after hiding in nearby woods and was arrested, officials said.
“The suffering this innocent child endured at the hands of her own father is completely incomprehensible. The defendant deserves every second of the sentence imposed, and more,” FBI Oklahoma City Special Agent in Charge Doug Goodwater said.
When investigators spoke with Mason, he told them he believed Adley was “controlled by witchcraft” so he punched her in the face, drowned her in a bathtub then put her body in a creek bed where he set it on fire, according to a criminal complaint.
“What Mason did to this 5-year-old little girl was inhumane. There will be no first dances for her. She will not have the opportunity to attend college or become a mother herself,” U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson said in the release.
Adley was described as “full of life” and “sassy,” KWTV reported.
“I can tell you that her loss here on Earth is making heaven sweeter,” Pastor John Tidwell told the news organization in 2020.
In January, Mason’s attorney told McClatchy News he was addicted to methamphetamine and “acted in the midst of a methamphetamine hallucination” but that “he accepts responsibility for his acts and expresses remorse for his terrible actions.”
