Inset: Kymberli Bowden (High Point Police Department). Background: Guilford County Jail, High Point, N.C. (Google Maps).
North Carolina authorities announced this week that a woman is now behind bars for the death of her 13‑year‑old daughter.
Forty‑five‑year‑old Kymberli Bowden faces a first‑degree murder charge for the October 2025 death of her daughter, whose name remains undisclosed, according to the High Point Police Department.
Police arrested Bowden on Oct. 30, 2025, adding two felony child‑abuse counts and one count of concealment of death. She has stayed in custody ever since.
The case opened when officers responded to a welfare‑check request at a home on East Farris Avenue in High Point, a city about 17 miles southwest of Greensboro.
Inside, officers discovered the 13‑year‑old girl deceased and a 13‑year‑old boy suffering from severe malnutrition, law enforcement reported.
Police said Bowden “failed to provide adequate food and medical care” to her daughter, causing serious bodily injury and death, according to an arrest warrant obtained by NBC‑affiliated WXII in Winston‑Salem.
An autopsy ruled the girl’s death a homicide, citing acute necrotizing pneumonia and inanition,essentially exhaustion, malnutrition, or starvation,combined with caregiver neglect, WXII reported.
Investigators also described the interior of the home as filthy.
Regarding the boy, law enforcement noted Bowden “allowed him to remain in a residence filled with trash, rotting food and unsanitary conditions,” leading to “serious psychological injury and mental harm constituting serious bodily injury.”
Authorities emphasized that warning signs had been mounting.
In total, police logged six service calls to the residence during the month the girl died, according to reports from Fox affiliate WGHP and CBS affiliate WFMY.
Earlier that month, a resident called police to decline a welfare check after officers expressed concern over an unusual silence from the children, police said.
On the day the girl was discovered, a caseworker for a “medically fragile” child phoned dispatch to complain that Bowden repeatedly canceled scheduled visits with child‑welfare officials, law enforcement noted.
Officers knocked on the front door that morning, received no answer, and, hearing no movement inside, left the scene.
However, they returned shortly afterward.
Hours later, a family friend alerted police that they could see an unresponsive child through a window at the residence.
Police and firefighters then forced entry and found the teenage girl dead, officials said.
“Our hearts break for everyone impacted by the tragic death of this child, and our thoughts are with their family, friends and community,” the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services stated. “NCDHHS supports county departments of social services by conducting case reviews of child fatalities for deaths related to maltreatment from a parent or caretaker.”
Bowden remains detained at Guilford County Jail without bond.
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