SAN MIGUEL COUNTY, Colo. — The mother of two girls who were found dead on a farm south of Norwood in September 2017 has been found guilty of two counts first-degree murder, the San Miguel Sheriff's Office tweeted Wednesday.
Nashika Bramble was one of five people arrested in connection with the deaths of 10-year-old Makayla Roberts and 8-year-old Hannah Marshall. They died weeks before authorities found their bodies, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Police said the girls were living with their mother and a small religious group of people, including two other children, on the farm. Four members of the group, Frederick Blair of Norwood, Madani Ceus of Haiti, Ika Eden of Jamaica and Ashford Archer of Haiti, were arrested soon after the girls were found.
Bramble turned herself in to authorities two days later and was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of child abuse causing death.
The two children found alive were taken into state custody.
Court records unsealed by a judge at the request of KOTO Community Radio and the Telluride Daily Planet revealed Ceus, acting as the group's “spiritual leader,” ordered the girls kept in a car without food or water as punishment weeks before their bodies were found.
The documents outline that in late summer 2017, the girls were ordered to stay in the car as punishment – one for poor behavior and the other for having an "unclean spirit in a previous life.”
Like Bramble, Ceus was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of child abuse causing death.
In April, Ceus was ordered to the state hospital in Pueblo for a competency evaluation. All proceedings in her case are on hold.
Blair and Ashford were both charged with two counts of child abuse resulting in death, one accessory count.
Blair "pleaded guilty to an accessory charge, under an agreement that requires him to fully cooperate with prosecutors. Sentencing is pending the completion of his codefendants’ trials," according to the Office of the 7th Judicial District.
Ashford was found guilty of two felony counts of “child abuse, knowingly-recklessly causing death” and a felony count of accessory to a crime. He was sentenced to serve 24 years in prison, with credit for time served.
Eden was charged with two counts of child abuse resulting in death. Her trial is postponed indefinitely after she was found mentally incompetent to stand trial.
Norwood is a small town in San Miguel County, about 331 miles southwest of Denver.
Bramble will be sentenced this fall in Telluride.
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