Dad charged with 6-year-old daughter’s murder in Buncombe Co

Seth Willis Pickering was arrested in connection with the death of his 6-year-old daughter Lila Pickering, sister station WYFF reported.

Ashley said Seth was a doting dad and Lila worshiped the ground he walked on because she loved her father so much. A judge ordered Pickering to be held without bond until his next hearing on October 3.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the death of a girl on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and they say her father murdered her. His daughter, Lila Pickering, was found dead Friday.

Police said they found Lila’s body inside the vehicle. She was meant to join them Wednesday, but was abducted and allegedly killed by her father on Friday.

The FBI is working alongside the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office and the National Park Service. “She was in protective custody”.

Lila was abducted from her foster home some time after she was picked up from school on Friday, Ashley told Fox Carolina.

A call to the Buncombe County Department of Health and Human Services, which includes protective children services, was not immediately returned.

When deputies learned that the young girl had been taken by her father, they were in the process of triggering an Amber Alert when they learned that he had been found. Capt. John Elkins of the Sheriff’s Office said Pickering was located by accident.

Ashley Pickering (pictured) said she separated from Pickering in May 2015 because he was abusive. Ashley said it had been a nightmare trying to get her daughter back, and never in her wildest dreams did she believe that her child was ever in danger. “She would jump in his lap and smile and laugh and be so happy when he was holding her”.

Lila, born in Orlando, was less than a month shy of turning 7. Ashley’s mother said they had planned to pick her up in just a week to take her back to Florida. “We used to call her Rescue Ranger, because if somebody falls or something like that on the playground, she would want to go over and help them right away”, Pickering said.

‘I had her and she was ideal, ‘ Ashley said.

Ashley revealed Lila was a miracle baby, as the mother suffers from a connective tissues disorder that makes it unsafe to carry a child to full term. She was happy and healthy. She is absolutely lovely’.