Woman charged a year after infant daughter found dead

Posted: Monday, May 18, 2015 6:15 pm | Updated: 8:33 pm, Mon May 18, 2015.
By Sarah Newell Williamson/News & Record sarah.williamson@news-record.com

Posted on May 18, 2015by Sarah Newell Williamson

GREENSBORO — A woman was charged Friday in the death of her infant daughter more than a year after the child was found dead.

Tiara Jessica Bonds, 24, of Greensboro, is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Ayanni Woodard.

Bonds is accused intentionally leaving her infant alone in the car while she worked as a cook at the Pizza Hut on 4719 High Point Road on April 26, 2014, said Susan Danielsen, police spokeswoman. Bonds usually went to work at 5 p.m.

The woman called 911 to report her daughter was unresponsive at 11:18 p.m., Danielsen said. Attempts to save the infant by responding EMS workers were unsuccessful.

Bond, who police said was the primary caretaker of the child, was questioned but not arrested at the time of the child’s death.

Danielsen refused to say exactly how old the child was, describing her only as an infant. The child was identified in the warrant for Bonds’ arrest as Ayanni Woodard.

Bond’s arrest was delayed by false statements from Bonds, as well as friends and family, Danielsen said.

The investigation also was complicated by Bonds being reported missing by her mother on Sept. 9, 2014. Bonds usually kept in regular contact with her mother on social media,
Danielsen said, but hadn’t checked in with the mother in several days. Bonds later was discovered to be OK, police said.

Police responding to an unrelated call on the day after the anniversary of the child’s death that would lead them to Bonds. On April 27 police found Bonds’ vehicle in a parking lot in the 2100 block of Fairbrother Street, Danielsen said. Bond had been sleeping in her car, but was not in it when police arrived. An officer spotted Bonds in a park off Phillips Avenue, Danielsen said and she was interviewed and released again.

According to Danielsen, an arrest warrant was issued for Bonds on May 8 based on the interview, an autopsy report by the N.C. medical examiner’s office and a recommendation from the Guilford County District Attorney’s office.

Bonds was arrested on Friday by Greensboro’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Team in the same parking lot where police found her car last month. She remains jailed under a $15,000 bail.