Pregnant mother killed 1 week before due date

MEMPHIS -- (WMC) -- A 26-year-old expectant mother is dead and one person is in custody, according to Memphis Police Department.

Investigators said they arrived at a home on Sparks Street near Perry Road and found Karshmeshia Pipes' body. She was due to give birth to a daughter next week.

Her family members said they last saw her during a baby shower on January 21. They said Pipes' boyfriend had been giving them the runaround, by telling them that Pipes was not home, for the past several days.

Her family said the man in police custody is Pipes' boyfriend, who is also the child's father.

Pipes' brother said her unborn child, who would have been named Rickyiha, did not survive.

“We will never get a chance to hold that baby, hold that little one,” her brother Nathaniel Lee said. “Kiss her. Touch her. Play with her.”

Pipes' family searched for the mother-to-be for the past week. No one had heard or seen Pipes since around the time of her baby shower.

The family said she missed both her grandmother and brother's birthdays.

“We couldn't get any word or any response to her and we came up with something this morning,” Lee said. “We got the call and found out that she was deceased.”

Investigators could be seen going in and out of the red brick home on Sparks Street on Tuesday afternoon as Pipes' family watched from afar, devastated.

“Why? What did she do to deserve it?” Lee said. “Was it that bad?”

“I don't understand why they just couldn't just walk away, just part ways?” her cousin Arerion Yarbrough said. “You know? Not physically hurt someone.”