Family says body in bayou is girl, 2

The body found in a Pasadena bayou last week has been confirmed to be that of missing 2-year-old Nadia Lee, a relative told the Chronicle on Sunday.

The disappearance of the toddler, missing since October, spawned a monthslong search culminating when divers found her body in Vince Bayou last Monday. Nadia’s father, 27-year-old Jyron Charles Lee, had been charged in December on suspicion of capital murder in connection with the girl’s death; prosecutors also allege that he killed Nadia’s mother, Nancy Reed, in a Webster hotel.

“I am in the process of grieving and mourning right now,” said Nora Reed, Nancy Reed’s mother and Nadia’s grandmother. The toddler’s cause of death has not yet been determined, she added.

Nadia is believed to have been killed on or about Oct. 16 at her father’s apartment in Pasadena, police said.

Two days later, police were called to a hotel in the 500 block of Bay Area in Webster, where Nancy Reed was found seriously injured after Lee allegedly put her in a chokehold during an argument, according to court records. The couple’s daughters, 1 and 3, had been in the hotel and later were removed and placed into the custody of Child Protective Services, officials said.

Lee was charged on suspicion of Reed’s death Oct. 19, and investigators found traces of blood throughout Lee’s apartment during a search that day, according to court records.

Reviews of his cellphone data found that he searched, “Is whooping your child a sin,” and “How long it takes for a dead body to smell,” in the days before Nadia went missing, according to court records. Photos on his phone showed the girl with notable injuries on her face; one showed her lying face down with blood and vomit stains around her mouth, according to the records.