The Virginia dad accused of dumping his daughter’s decomposing body near a set of train tracks in New Jersey last year — months after the toddler died — was convicted Tuesday on one count of concealing human remains.
Travis Plummer, 38, now faces between 10 to 20 years in state prison, according to Hudson County prosecutors.
A jury in Jersey City found him guilty Tuesday — with closing arguments finally coming on Monday — following a year-long trial.
“At trial, the evidence established that Te’Myah Layauna Plummer, born on May 19, 2016, died at some point late in the summer of 2017 and that [Plummer] thereafter concealed her body in a suitcase which he brought to Jersey City on November 1, 2017, and then hid in a garage for four months,” prosecutors recounted in a statement.
“In March 2018, Plummer dumped the suitcase off the Tonnelle Avenue Bridge, just off Broadway in Jersey City, onto the side of the PATH train tracks below before fleeing to Miami and then Puerto Rico,” prosecutors said. “Te’Myah’s body was discovered by Port Authority employees on April 11, 2018.”
Plummer, who is from Richmond, Va., was later arrested and charged with unlawful concealment of human remains. He pleaded not guilty.
Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez credited “the collaborative effort” by the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Homicide Unit, the Port Authority Police Department and the FBI offices in Newark and Richmond — as well as San Juan — for their help in bringing Plummer to justice.
The man was once charged in connection to his son’s drowning over a decade ago — with prosecutors accusing him of leaving the 8-month-old unattended in a bathtub. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor child neglect as part of a plea deal and wound up only serving a year in the slammer. The state says he won’t make it out so lucky this time.
“The charge of Unlawful Concealment of Human Remains, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:22-1a(1), is a second-degree crime and normally carries a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison,” prosecutors said. “However, because of the defendant’s prior criminal record, he could face between 10 to 20 years in state prison.”
Plummer is scheduled to be sentenced on May 17.