News

Actions

Second person charged in connection with Portsmouth teen mom killed and dumped in cemetery

Nye'Tazia Hicks.png
Simone Worrell.png
Posted at 5:08 PM, Jun 23, 2021
and last updated 2021-06-23 17:47:39-04

PORTSMOUTH, Va.— Court documents reveal details about what police believe happened just before a Portsmouth teenager was killed and how her body ended up in a cemetery.

Police discovered the body of 17-year-old Nye’Tazia Hicks at Evergreen Memorial Cemetery the night of July 27, 2019. Nye'Tazia's pride and joy was her 6-month-old son, Bobby Jr.

A juvenile was charged with felony murder back in April, and court documents reveal police also arrested a 27-year-old woman named Simone Worrell in March.

She’s charged with accessory after the fact in a felony, concealing a dead body and disposing of a dead body on public property in connection with Nye’Tazia’s death.

According to a criminal complaint made by police, Nye’Tazia came to Worrell’s home at the Charlestowne Condominiums on Darren Circle after Worrell agreed to pay Nye’Tazia $200 to babysit her children.

The documents allege that a 14-year-old boy was also at the home at the same time.

According to the documents, police say the teenage boy initially told them he retrieved a gun from Worrell’s house and gave it to Nye’Tazia to hold and the gun went off.

Court documents state in a second interview with police, the teen changed his account of the events to say he struggled to get the weapon from Nye’Tazia when it went off, but police told the teen the forensic evidence didn’t match up with the story.

The documents state that in both versions of the boy’s story, he told police that he tried to stop the bleeding and tried to call 911 but Worrell hung up the phone, stating she was a felon.

In the moments after the shooting while Nye’Tazia was still alive, court documents state the boy told police during the interview, “’Tazia’ was crying and kept saying, ‘My baby, my son, my baby.’”

Police allege that Worrell’s father made the initial 911 call that helped police find Nye’Tazia’s body after his daughter told him to send police to the cemetery.

The documents allege Worrell’s father told her to take the teen to the emergency room, but wouldn’t because she was afraid of being seen on cameras.

The documents say Worrell’s father told police his daughter, “didn’t want to lose her children because this was the second shooting at her house within days of each other…”

Related: ‘My child was robbed of her life’ Portsmouth mother speaks out after 17-year-old found dead in cemetery

According to the court documents, Worrell told a witness she and her boyfriend took Nye’Tazia’s body to the graveyard where she was found.

Worrell was released from jail on bail. Her next court date is set for August.