DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A mother accused of killing her six-year-old son 23 years ago in Dekalb County gave different stories to police when she was first interviewed by detectives last week.
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Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes was at the DeKalb County courthouse Thursday, where the trial of Teresa Black continues. Black is accused of murdering 6-year-old William Hamilton in 1999.
Video played in court Thursday showed Black’s initial interview with detectives after investigators identified the boy’s remains.
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When Black ended up in a police interrogation room in Arizona, she didn’t know why she was handcuffed or taken into questioning.
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A DeKalb County detective and an investigator with the DA’s office traveled to Arizona once they knew that the boy who died and was left in the woods was Black’s son.
They said she lied to them at first and said she left her son with a woman at a homeless shelter in Decatur because she couldn’t take care of him.
“Teresa, I believe that you knew today was going to come someday,” a detective said to her in the interview.
When officers told her they knew what happened to her son, Black broke down.
“I know you didn’t hurt your kid,” a detective said.
“I didn’t,” Black said.
She then claimed that her son was malnourished because they were homeless and had nothing. She said she was on drugs, William got sick and she gave him medicine.
“And we laid down, and when I woke up, he didn’t wake up,” Black said. “He didn’t wake up and I didn’t know what to do.”
Investigators said Black never called 911 and said that now, she regrets that. She said her son’s death has bothered her for two decades and cried when she watched the video in court.
She and the boy’s father are both expected to take the stand at some point.
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