CRESTVIEW, Fla. (KAKE) - A Florida woman has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in connection to the death of her 3-year-old daughter nearly four years ago. 

WKRG reports Destinee Merrell pleaded guilty to two counts of child neglect and one count of accessory after the fact to a first-degree felony. Adelynn Merrell died on November 10, 2017 in Crestview, in the state's panhandle.

Destinee Merrell's live-in boyfriend, Cory Hagwell, was sentenced in early summer to 30 years for aggravated manslaughter of a child and other charges.

Prosecutors said Hagwell kicked the little girl in the head because she got out of her car seat. He then locked her in a bedroom closet.

According to the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office, Hagwell found the girl dead several hours later and dumped her body in a wooded area. A deputy found Adelynn's body after Hagwell and the girl's mother reported her missing. 

"The other children in the home were found to be severely malnourished and the investigation revealed they were routinely confined in bedrooms and closets," the sheriff's office said in November 2017.

Adelynn was laid to rest at All Saints Cemetery in Salina, where she was born.

 
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