Christopher McNabb Case: Trial, Appeal, and Cortney Bell

Christopher McNabb is a Georgia man serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the October 2017 murder of his 15-day-old daughter, Caliyah McNabb, at a mobile home park near Covington. A Newton County jury convicted him in May 2019 of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, cruelty to children, and concealing the death of another, and the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously upheld the convictions in 2022. The Christopher McNabb case also produced a sharply different outcome for the baby’s mother, Cortney Bell, whose convictions were all eventually overturned.¹²

What Happened to Caliyah McNabb

Caliyah was born on September 23, 2017. She lived with McNabb and Bell, who were first cousins, at the Eagle Pointe mobile home park in Newton County.³

On the evening of October 6, 2017, Bell’s father returned the infant to the couple’s home. Witnesses later testified she was healthy, fed, and clean.⁴ That night, McNabb and Bell smoked methamphetamine together.⁵

According to trial evidence, Bell went to sleep around 5:00 a.m. on October 7 after checking on the baby. At 7:41 a.m., McNabb texted a friend saying he was “wigging and tripping.” Around 10:00 a.m., the couple’s two-year-old woke the parents and told them Caliyah was gone. Bell called 911 at 10:39 a.m.⁴

The next day, a neighbor searching the woods near the mobile home park found a blue Nike drawstring bag hidden under a log. Inside were items of McNabb’s clothing and the body of the infant.⁴ An autopsy determined Caliyah died from blunt force trauma to the head, including skull fractures and internal lacerations.⁶ When the body was discovered, McNabb fled. Officers located him about four hours later near a convenience store and arrested him on an outstanding probation violation warrant.⁷

Arrest and Prior Record

McNabb had an extensive criminal history stretching back more than a decade. A 2007 Bartow County arrest brought sixteen charges, including three counts of burglary, five counts of theft, and multiple counts of criminal trespass and property damage. That case produced probation violations in 2011 and April 2017. Other arrests included a 2011 felony vehicle pursuit in Coweta County involving a stolen car, a 2013 Newton County shoplifting charge during which he gave police a false name, and a 2014 arrest for obstruction and simple battery on an officer. He had been released from Macon State Prison on September 2, 2016.⁸

He was initially held on the Bartow County probation violation. On October 11, 2017, three days after the body was found, McNabb was served with warrants charging malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, and concealing a death. The warrants stated he struck the infant with an unknown object, causing skull disfigurement and death, and concealed her body in the woods using a t-shirt, blanket, and drawstring bag.⁸

What McNabb Told Investigators

In a December 2017 interview with Newton County investigator Jeff Alexander, McNabb denied killing his daughter. He offered several alternative theories, including that an acquaintance had killed the baby and that “somebody important put a hit out on me.” He questioned why police dogs had not found the body on the first day of the search, suggesting someone moved it later.⁹

He also acknowledged that the couple’s drug use was tied to the death, saying, “Whoever did it is a meth head,” and told Alexander, “Yeah it’s a very strong reason to believe that I did it, but it don’t automatically mean that I’m the one that done it.” Alexander responded that the evidence was “continually pointing towards you.”⁹

The Trial and the Evidence Against Him

McNabb and Bell were tried jointly in Newton County Superior Court beginning in May 2019, with Chief Superior Court Judge John M. Ott presiding and Alcovy Judicial Circuit District Attorney Layla Zon prosecuting. Defense attorneys moved to sever the cases, arguing the joint trial made it difficult to defend one client without incriminating the other. Ott denied the motions, ruling that because the defendants faced different charges, there was no conflict.¹⁰

The state’s case was largely circumstantial. Prosecutors pointed to the absence of forced entry, the implausibility of McNabb’s timeline, and the discovery of the body inside a bag containing his own clothing. Witnesses described him as sweaty, wet, muddy, and extremely nervous shortly after reporting his daughter missing.⁴

McNabb’s attorney, Anthony Carter, argued that an unknown intruder had entered the home while the parents slept and taken the baby along with McNabb’s bag. Carter urged jurors not to let his client’s appearance, drug history, or record of domestic violence substitute for proof of murder, telling them in closing, “Probably the worst thing that could happen to Chris is that he loses his child and then he goes to prison for killing his child when he didn’t do it.”¹¹

Neither defendant testified. After the defense rested on May 13, 2019, the jury deliberated for about an hour the next day before returning guilty verdicts against McNabb on all counts. He was sentenced to life without parole for the murder, plus ten years for concealing the death.¹

The Georgia Supreme Court Appeal

McNabb appealed in case No. S22A0031, arguing that the evidence was insufficient and that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to testimony about his drug use, his history of physically abusing Bell, and the fact that he and Bell were first cousins.⁴

On May 17, 2022, the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously affirmed. Justice Bethel, writing for the court, held that the circumstantial evidence, including the lack of forced entry, McNabb’s inconsistent account, the discovery of the body in his personal bag, and his demeanor after the disappearance, was sufficient for a rational jury to convict beyond a reasonable doubt. The court also rejected the ineffective assistance claims.²⁴

What Happened to Cortney Bell

The same jury convicted Bell of second-degree murder, second-degree cruelty to children, and felony contributing to the dependency of a minor. Her legal outcome diverged sharply from McNabb’s.

The Georgia Court of Appeals reversed her murder and cruelty to children convictions for insufficient evidence but upheld the conviction for contributing to the dependency of a minor. Bell appealed that remaining conviction to the Georgia Supreme Court.¹²

On October 24, 2023, the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously overturned Bell’s final conviction. Justice John J. Ellington wrote that Bell had gone to sleep, checked on Caliyah early in the morning, and gone back to sleep for roughly four and a half hours, and that while she slept, McNabb committed what the state itself conceded was the direct and immediate cause of the infant’s death. The court found no evidence that Bell was a party to the crime, was aware of the abuse as it happened, or that the killing was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of her drug use or her decision to live with McNabb.¹³

The court rejected both of the state’s causation theories. It found no evidence that methamphetamine rendered Bell unable to care for Caliyah or that drug use “foretells violent acts against children,” and it noted that McNabb had never abused the children or threatened to do so. Accepting the state’s reasoning, the opinion warned, would mean “every parent who knows their child’s other parent or caregiver had previously hit an adult could be exposed to potential felony criminal liability for the intervening criminal acts of the other person.”¹³ No retrial or new charges against Bell were reported after the ruling.

Where the Case Stands Now

Christopher McNabb remains in prison serving life without the possibility of parole.¹⁴

1
WSB-TV. GA Supreme Court Upholds Man’s Conviction for Murdering Newborn Daughter
2
Rockdale Newton Citizen. Georgia Supreme Court Upholds Murder Conviction of Christopher McNabb
3
Court TV. Georgia v. McNabb and Bell
4
vLex. McNabb v. State, 313 Ga. 701
5
Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Georgia Parents Smoked Meth Before Allegedly Killing Newborn
6
WYFF4. Man Charged in Death of 15-Day-Old Daughter Whose Body Was Left in Woods
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CBS News. Missing Newborn Found Dead in Duffel Bag in Georgia Woods, Dad Detained
8
Covington News. NCSO Investigating Missing Baby
9
11Alive. Chris McNabb Searched for Exoneration in Police Interview Two Months After Infant Daughter’s Death
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Rockdale Newton Citizen. McNabb, Bell Trial: Timeline Surrounding Baby’s Death in Question; Defense Rests Without Calling Parents to Stand
11
Fox 32 Chicago. Couple Sentenced to Prison After Smoking Meth, Murdering Baby Daughter
12
Covington News. Conviction Overturned: Bell v. State
13
Justia. Bell v. State, No. S22G0747
14
WSB Radio. Georgia Supreme Court Overturns Rest of Newton County Mother’s Conviction in Infant Death