COVINGTON COUNTY, Ala. (WTVY/Gray News) – A woman in Alabama will spend the next two decades in state prison after pleading guilty to child abuse in a case prosecutors described as “horrific.”
Officials said 60-year-old Melinda Chance Lee pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated child abuse and received a maximum sentence of 20 years at Tutwiler Women’s Prison in Wetumpka.
The case began in 2022 when the Covington County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report at an Andalusia hospital after a 6-year-old girl there was reported to have shown signs of abuse and torture.
Authorities said the child had suffered severe physical injuries, including extensive bruising and burns across her body. She was also severely malnourished.
The girl was taken to the USA Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Mobile for extensive treatment.
The Child Advocacy Center helped investigators in interviewing the victim and her 9-year-old sister, both of whom were under Lee’s care. While the older sister showed no physical signs of harm, she had endured significant mental and emotional abuse, according to officials.
The interviews revealed numerous abuse incidents, including having hot sauce or alcohol poured into the victim’s eyes and being covered with salted potato slices, having an overheated rice sock taped to her body to cause severe burns, beatings with a belt, confinement in a dog cage in Lee’s closet, and being forced to sleep on a bare laundry room floor. Medical staff determined the child had been malnourished to near death.
“This is the worst physical abuse case I’ve seen,” Chief Assistant District Attorney Nikki Stephens said.
Multiple search warrants executed at Lee’s home recovered several items that the girls identified as abuse instruments.
Covington County Sheriff Blake Turman said Lee was a repeat offender with prior arrests on similar charges, bond postings and DUI convictions.
During an interrogation by Lt. Investigator Joey Cato, Lee reportedly discussed the abuse “with a smile and through laughter,” claiming the children’s behavior justified her actions.
“In both interviews, Melinda Lee embodied pure evil,” Cato said. ”She showed no remorse for her actions, no concern for the children and was only emotional once she realized she was going to jail.”
Lee’s guilty plea came the same day the two sisters were scheduled to testify about the abuse.
“There was no room for negotiating a sentence as the conduct was so egregious and our case was so strong – strong because we had two of the most courageous girls ready and willing to tell their stories,” Stephens said. “I suppose Melinda Lee could see ‘the writing on the wall’ and preferred the world not know any more than necessary about what a monster she really is.”
Lee attempted to withdraw her guilty plea days later but was denied, leading to her sentencing.
“There is simply no room in civilized society for people like Lee, who prey upon children and find power in the abuse of those more vulnerable than herself,” District Attorney Walt Merrell said. “For someone to dream up the methods of abuse that she subjected these children to – both the physical and the psychological trauma she created between the siblings – is horrific. It is hard to fathom someone so cruel, but to do it to children is as evil as it gets.”
Stephens said both girls have since been adopted and are “thriving.”
“They’ve accomplished far more in their young lives than Lee ever will, and I could not be more proud of each of them,” Stephens said.
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