Evidence Under Review After Boy Hit, Killed By Car

Rebecca Neville, 25, is charged with death by motor vehicle in connection with the death of Keligah Randolph early Saturday. Randolph was sitting on his front steps when a car drove across the lawn and up the steps, killing him, police said.

Rocky Mount police said they believe Neville wanted to hurt the Randolph family after an argument with the boy's mother, and they have asked Edgecombe County prosecutors to upgrade the charge in the case to first-degree murder.

But an assistant district attorney told WRAL prosecutors want to examine the police reports and evidence before determining how to charge Neville, who is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

Police said Neville drove Keligah Randolph and his three siblings home early Saturday after they had spent Friday night at two Dee's Christian Day Care Centers in Rocky Mount while their mother was at work.

Charles Randolph, the boy's uncle, said someone from the day care tried to drop the children off earlier in the evening but their mother wasn't there to get them.

The day care employee left the children with Neville, who was at the Randolph house looking for the children's mother, Charles Randolph said. Neville wasn't on a list of people approved to transport the children, he said.

Dee Anthony, the owner of Dee's Christian Day Care, said Neville was waiting at the home when the driver dropped the four Randolph children off as scheduled at 11:30 p.m. One of the children identified Neville as their aunt, Anthony said.

"(The driver) asked her, 'Is that your aunt?' and (Neville) said, 'Yes, I'll take them,' and she took them and went in the house and he came back (to the center)," Anthony said.

When Neville brought the children back home two hours later, she and the children's mother argued briefly before the car was driven across the lawn, police said.

Despite the family's claims that Neville wasn't authorized to transport the children, Anthony said their mother never filled out any forms specifying who could or couldn't pick them up because the children were placed in day care by Social Services.

Anthony said her driver followed state child transport regulations.

"An adult must be available to receive the child from the bus or the van, and that's what happened," she said.

The State Division of Childhood Development, which ranks the two Dee's Christian Day Care centers as four-star facilities out of a possible five stars, is investigating to make sure the day care followed correct procedures. State regulators said the centers haven't had complaints lodged against them previously.