Five-year-old Janiyah Herring died after her father’s girlfriend tied her to a bed and beat her with a cord for refusing to help clean their Decatur home, according to testimony from the child’s siblings.
Court records show Cedric O’Neal Herring, 30, brought his unresponsive daughter to Emory Decatur Hospital on May 29, 2021, claiming they had been in a car accident. Hospital staff immediately recognized Janiyah wasn’t breathing and discovered her body covered in bruises and wounds consistent with abuse.
When doctors couldn’t revive Janiyah, they alerted authorities about the suspicious injuries. DeKalb County police found no records of any crash involving Herring’s vehicle.
Herring’s other children later told investigators that his girlfriend, Unchinna Myrick, 28, had beaten Janiyah with a cord when she wouldn’t help clean. Myrick then tied the child to a bed and continued the beating. After Myrick released her, Janiyah collapsed to the floor.
Witnesses said Herring entered the room, yelled at his daughter to get up, and beat her when she didn’t respond. Only after realizing something was seriously wrong did he attempt to revive her with an ice bath before taking her to the hospital.
The Sentence: Judge Nora Polk sentenced Herring to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and child cruelty in September 2024.
Myrick pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and child cruelty charges in March 2025, receiving a 50-year sentence with 30 years to be served in custody.
The DeKalb County Medical Examiner ruled Janiyah’s death a homicide caused by blunt force trauma.
Take Action: If you suspect a child is being abused, call Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services at 1-855-422-4453 or call 911 in emergencies. Organizations like the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy (gacca.org) provide resources for children who have experienced trauma and abuse.
B.T. Clark
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
