Year’s Top Stories: Quest for justice for Athena Brownfield

(This is the biggest story of 2024 as determined by The Constitution staff.)

ANADARKO — It’s been two years since the untimely death of 4-year-old Athena Brownfield.

It’s been almost two years since the small girl’s disappearance caused a massive search for her only to find she’d been killed the night of Christmas 2022.

The search for the little girl began around 2 p.m. Jan. 10, 2023, after her 5-year-old sister approached postal carrier Maci Myers while wandering outside the Cyril home at 225 W. Nebraska the girls had lived at in Cyril. Investigators said Myers knew something was wrong. Myers stopped and asked the girl if she was OK. Her responses made Myers uneasy, so she notified local authorities. That simple act led to the revelation of a horrible crime, and, undoubtedly, saved the life of the child, she said.

This action would later lead to Myers receiving the “Hero Award” from the U.S. Postal Service.

The girl was put into protective custody.

Athena and her sister had been left in the care of the Ivon Neill Adams III and his wife, Alysia, a year prior by their biological mother, Jasmin Adina Kay Brownfield, who’d claimed she was suffering mental health issues, according to investigators.

Investigators later learned Athena and her sister had been left alone at the Cyril home while Ivon Adams took the couple’s biological children to Arizona and, according to her social media posts from that time, Alysia Adams was in Oklahoma City with another man.

On Jan. 12, 2023, Alysia Adams, 33, was arrested for two felony counts of child neglect while the search was underway.

Following seven days of searching, Athena’s remains were found on property near Rush Springs.

Athena’s probable cause of death was determined to be from acute pneumonia that complicated her malnutrition, according to the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s preliminary autopsy report. She weighed 24 pounds at the time of death. She also tested positive for rhinovirus/enterovirus, human adenovirus, human bocavirus and COVID-19, according to the report.

Ivon Neil Adams III, 38, was taken into custody Jan. 12, 2023, in Phoenix, Ariz., for a first-degree murder warrant. Information found on Ivon Adams’ phone led to the first-degree murder allegation, according to the warrant affidavit.

Alysia Adams told investigators her husband, Ivon, had beaten Athena to death the night of Christmas 2022 at their home in Cyril. She said he buried her on the land outside of Rush Springs early the next morning, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

On the couple’s social media pages at that time, photos showed they’d spent a seemingly happy New Year’s Eve in Oklahoma City.

The Adamses have been held in custody since their initial appearances in Caddo County District Court in January 2023; Alysia Adams’ bond was set at $500,000 and Ivon Adams has been held on no bond.

Jasmin Adina Kay Brownfield, 29, of Stillwater, was charged in Caddo County District Court on May 4, 2023, with two counts of child neglect. After initially being held on $100,000 bond, it was reduced and she was freed on $50,000 bond on May 22, 2023. She is scheduled for a 1:30 p.m. Jan. 8 hearing regarding placement on the jury trial docket.

The couple, who had been slated to be tried together, waived their preliminary hearing for the case in December 2023.

At that point, District Attorney Jason Hicks amended charges against Alysia Adams from child neglect to first-degree or second-degree murder as well as a single charge of child neglect, and the charge of obstructing officers.

Ivon Adams’ charge was amended to second-degree murder and he received an additional charge for the unlawful removal of a dead body.

On Feb. 14, Hicks filed a bill of particulars in Caddo County District Court seeking the death penalty for Alysia Adams. In those particulars, he stated, that she “knowingly created a great risk of death to more than one person” and that the girl’s death was “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.”

Alysia Adams had been held at the Caddo County jail but was moved to the Grady County jail following allegations she had an inappropriate relationship with a jailer at the Caddo County jail. The jailer was terminated.

On Nov. 13, records showed that Alysia Adams was going to enter a guilty plea in exchange for the death penalty being lifted as a punishment choice. Shortly before the hearing’s beginning, she changed her mind and entered a plea of not guilty.

Hicks told The Constitution he will be seeking the death penalty.

Alysia Adams is scheduled for a 1:30 p.m. March 12 hearing to be placed on the felony trial docket, according to records.

Court records show that Ivon Adams was scheduled for arraignment on Nov. 15. A formal arraignment is a hearing designed to allow defendants opportunity to answer charges after a judge determines if there’s sufficient evidence for a case to proceed to trial.

No hearing has been held at this point and it is believed he is preparing to testify against his wife.