Mother pleads guilty in 9-year-old's death at Fayetteville motel

Crystal M. Matthews pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder in the Oct. 21, 2017 death of Zamarie Chance. Superior Court Judge Jim Ammons sentenced her to between 144 and 185 months in prison.

Fayetteville police responding to a 911 call about a disturbance in a third-floor room at the Fairfield Inn and Suites, at 4249 Ramsey St., found Zamarie unresponsive in the room.

According to an autopsy report, the hotel room was messy, with stains on the floor near the boy’s body and blood and urine on the bedsheets.

The boy had multiple cuts and bruises on nearly every part of his body, including his head and neck, as well as deep scalp hemorrhages, the report stated. But injuries to his neck and face indicated that the cause of death was asphyxiation, either by strangulation, smothering or compression of the torso, the report stated.

Zamarie's father and other family members were dressed in black in court as they listened to the sentencing. They previously said they wanted Matthews to spend the rest of her life in prison, but they declined to comment as they left the courthouse.

Ammons said he accepted the Matthews' plea – she had been charged with first-degree murder and felony child abuse – to give the family some closure in the case. He ordered Matthews to continue receiving mental health treatment in prison.