MIAMI — In the dark of night, Quatisha Maycock, 5, was dumped in the Everglades to suffer a grisly fate: death by alligators.

The extent of the brutal injuries that Quatisha suffered were at the center of medical testimony presented in the ongoing death-penalty resentencing of Harrel Braddy, who was convicted almost two decades ago of killing Quatisha after kidnapping the girl and her mother.

The girl was alive when alligators mauled her, said Dr. Emma Lew, a forensic pathologist who formerly worked at the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office. But Lew said on Thursday she had “no way of knowing if [Quatisha] was conscious” when gators and other swamp critters bit parts of her body.

Jurors saw the graphic photos of Quatisha, who was missing her left arm and had bite marks on her head and stomach. Lew’s testimony came as prosecutors are trying to prove that Quatisha’s murder was so heinous that it warrants the death penalty.

The Miami jury is tasked with weighing whether Braddy, now 76, should again face execution. Braddy was on Florida’s Death Row from 2007 to 2017, until he was granted a new sentencing trial due to constitutional issues surrounding the state’s death penalty.

Braddy kidnapped Quatisha and her mother, Shandelle Maycock — an acquaintance Braddy met in a church group — on the night of Nov. 7, 1998. Braddy beat Maycock, choked her, put her in the trunk of his car and left her on a deserted stretch of U.S. 27 near the Broward-Palm Beach county line, prosecutor Abbe Rifkin said. Maycock survived — although he didn’t count on her living through the repeated attacks.

Braddy’s motive, Rifkin said, was that he was spurned by Maycock, who had repeatedly rejected his advances. Fearing Quatisha could identify him, Braddy dumped the child — alive — on the side of Alligator Alley. Quatisha’s body was found in a canal days later by fishermen.

Quatisha was still dressed in her Polly Pocket pajamas when she was found.

The girl had bite marks on both sides of her skull, Lew said. The former medical examiner noted that evidence indicates Quatisha was bitten by other marine animals, including a snapping turtle.

‘Sweet like candy’

While Quatisha was missing, Braddy told police that he left the girl alive in a part of the Everglades where he, an avid hunter, had previously fed alligators. He said he didn’t leave Quatisha at her home — or with her mother, whom he choked and left along a desolate roadway — because that “would be child abuse,” Rifkin said.

Quatisha, affectionately nicknamed “Candy,” was excited about starting kindergarten, Rifkin said, showing jurors a photo of a smiling Quatisha.

“She was smart. She was loving. She was sweet like candy,” Rifkin told jurors during opening arguments.

Maycock, Quatisha’s mother, broke down when she recounted on Tuesday the trauma that she and her daughter suffered when Braddy kidnapped them.

Braddy, Maycock said on the stand, locked her in the trunk. When he yanked her out of the trunk, it was pitch black outside, and Maycock shouted, “Why are you doing this to me? What did I do?”

“Because you used me,” Braddy replied in a rage, Maycock testified. “I should kill you.”

Braddy then choked Maycock until he thought she was dead. When the sun rose, Maycock regained consciousness. She said she was disoriented and had been bitten by mosquitos and ants.

Still in a daze, Maycock said she immediately panicked about not knowing Quatisha’s whereabouts.

“Quatisha is dead because Harrel Braddy killed her,” Rifkin said during opening arguments. “Shandelle Maycock is alive by the grace of God.”

Braddy was well-known to law enforcement before Quatisha’s murder. His criminal history included convictions for robbery, kidnapping and attempting to kill a corrections officer by choking him. In September 1984, Braddy escaped from custody three times, overpowering a Miami-Dade corrections officer and four Broward sheriff’s deputies, according to the Miami Herald’s archives.

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