Mother, boyfriend sought in torture, murder of girl, 4

DETROIT — U.S. Marshals are seeking help in their search for a couple wanted in the torture and killing of a 4-year-old girl, who died last week after suffering severe burns.  

On Monday, police said they were seeking a mother and her boyfriend on charges of torturing and killing her daughter, Gabrielle Barrett, at a home where police previously found drug paraphernalia and weapons, according to the Sumpter Township (Mich.) Police Department. Police believed they were the prime suspects in the case. 

According to WXYZ-TV in Detroit, U.S. Marshals are offering up to $5,000 for anyone with information that leads to the direct arrest of Candice R. Diaz, 24, and Brad E. Fields, 28.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call the U.S. Marshal Detroit Fugitive Apprehension Team’s 24-hour hotline at 313-234-5656.

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Diaz and Fields are now facing charges of felony murder, second-degree murder, first-degree child abuse and torture, police said. Fields also has been charged as a habitual offender.   

Gabrielle Barrett had an upbeat personality and loved the movie Frozen, said her grandfather, Jerry Barrett, 47. Barrett is the father of Gabrielle’s biological father, Kyle Barrett.

“She’s just a little angel. Everybody’s been broken up about it,” he said.  

On the morning of New Year’s Day, police responded to a report of an unresponsive girl at a home in the Rawsonville Woods Mobile Home Community in Sumpter Township, Mich., about 30 miles southwest of Detroit.

“Upon arrival, CPR was being administered by family members and officers found the child suffering from severe burns about her extremities,” according to a news release. Gabrielle was taken to the hospital, where she died. 

The Washtenaw County (Mich.) Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide with evidence of multiple traumatic injuries and battered-child syndrome — meaning she suffered multiple injuries, at multiple sites, at multiple ages. 

Police said Diaz and Fields are believed to be driving a black 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier with the Michigan plate DTR 1854.

Police records paint a chaotic picture of life inside the couple’s home, where Fields was accused in 2016 of assaulting Diaz, shooting her dog and shooting himself. Officers found weapons, drug paraphernalia, garbage, and dog urine and feces in their residence, according to police reports from the time.

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Police were sent to the home May 20, 2016, on a report of a domestic assault. Diaz told them Fields punched her several times in the head and smashed her cellphone, according to a Sumpter Township Police report. She also said he shot her dog and shot himself in the leg.

Diaz was able to escape to the community clubhouse to call police, according to the report. 

Along with discovering blood inside the home, an investigator noted this: “The smell in the house was quite foul due to old garbage, decaying food, uncleaned dishes, dog urine on the living room floor, dog feces in the children’s room, a rabbit with unchanged wood shavings and general uncleanliness. There were flies of all sorts in the air throughout the house.” 

The report says investigators also found a Taser gun; prescription pills; a box containing multiple crack/marijuana pipes; and a camouflage bag containing several knives, two .40-caliber magazines, one 9mm magazine and other items.

A Smith Wesson .38 Special was found in the bathroom heater floor grate, police said, and a .40-caliber Glock and a scale were found in the living room floor grate.

Three days later, Diaz went to the police department to say she no longer wanted to press charges against Fields for assault, according to a police report. She told investigators she wanted to confess to owning a firearm with an “obliterated” serial number and an unregistered firearm, which were the weapons police recovered from the home.

Diaz was arrested. While she was being processed, officers discovered she had a blank prescription form from a doctor’s office. Also, they noticed that Fields was in Diaz’s vehicle in the parking lot of the police department — a violation of the no contact order issued because of the May 20 incident, according to a police report. Fields was arrested.

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It is unclear from records how Fields’ case was resolved. 

Diaz pleaded guilty to two charges: possession of prescription forms and altering ID marks on a firearm, online court records show. She was sentenced in July 2016 to two years of probation. 

Fields has been in trouble with the law before. Court records show that in 2006, he pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon. 

Barrett said the last time he saw his granddaughter was a week or two before Halloween. 

“She seemed OK, playing outside with the other kids,” he said. 

Barrett said his son and Gabrielle’s mother broke up in early 2014. 

He said he didn’t know precisely where his granddaughter lived with Diaz and Fields, and had no idea what conditions were like in the home until he heard news reports after Gabrielle’s death. His first time there was Sunday night, for a candlelight vigil. 

“We didn’t know. We would have gone” and removed her from the home, he said. “If I’d have known, I would have been there in a heartbeat.”

Contributing: Elisha Anderson, Detroit Free Press. Follow Ann Zaniewski and Robert Allen on Twitter: @AnnZaniewski and @rallenMI

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