Reported by Evette D. Champion
Internet Pastor Rodney Hamilton from Gwinnett County in Georgia was arrested last Thursday. He was charged with the murder of a 3-year-old little girl.
Investigators said Tamaya Hamilton was his niece and was recently adopted by the pastor. The little girl was living in Lawrenceville with the rest of the family.
The pastor took little Tamaya to Gwinnett Medical Center sometime in January. It was the hospital who transported her to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta where she later died. At that time, Hamilton told police he found the girl unresponsive on January 30 after he took a nap.
The Gwinnett County Medical Examiner worked closely with law enforcement in order to help the investigation. The death of the little girl was ruled a homicide, citing the cause as a subdural hematoma—a brain injury. The little girl died in the Atlanta hospital on February 3.
“The doctor is not able to pinpoint exactly what caused it, but that’s her ruling. She feels that it was as a result of an action from another person,” said Cpl. Deon Washington.
Cpl. Washington said police investigators interviewed the pastor in January and then went to speak to him again on Thursday. Hamilton “offered no explanation for the medical findings,” although he was the only adult at home at the time when the child was injured. The pastor was taken to the county jail, and there he was booked with charges of felony murder and cruelty to children in the first degree.
Cpl. Washington said Hamilton described himself as a pastor of an online ministry, but did not have a brick and mortar church.
When you think of a pastor, you probably picture someone who you can trust for seeking religious and spiritual guidance and someone who is a respectable member of the community. It is tragedies like this that make some leery about trusting anyone. If you cannot trust a pastor—a man of God—who can you trust?
Source
