More than a year after 3-year-old Nola Dinkins was falsely reported kidnapped at gunpoint, another person has now been convicted in the case that began as a frantic missing-child search and ended with investigators discovering the little girl was already dead.

Cedrick Britten, 45, the former boyfriend of Nola’s mother, was found guilty Sept. 8 on three charges connected to the child’s death and the effort to conceal what happened.

But the verdict was complicated.

Jurors did not convict Britten of the most serious charges accusing him of directly participating in Nola’s fatal abuse.

Instead, after roughly five hours of deliberations, they found him guilty of accessory after the fact to first-degree murder, neglect of a minor, and disposing of a body in an unauthorized place. He was acquitted of the remaining charges he faced.

The decision came after an approximately two-week trial in Cecil County, Maryland, during which prosecutors and defense attorneys presented sharply different versions of what Britten knew — and when he knew it.

At the center of both versions was the same haunting question:

After Nola died inside the home, what did Britten do next?

The Case Began With a Kidnapping Story

On June 10, 2025, Nola’s mother, Darrian Randle, went to police in Delaware with an alarming story.

She claimed her 3-year-old daughter had been abducted at gunpoint in New Castle County.

The report triggered a large-scale search involving multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.

But the kidnapping never happened.

Investigators eventually determined that Nola had died the previous day at a home in North East, Maryland, where Randle and the child had been living with Britten.

The false kidnapping report prompted Delaware authorities to ask Maryland State Police to visit that residence.

When troopers arrived, Britten walked them through the house.

One officer later testified that the home smelled strongly of bleach and that Britten seemed unusually calm considering he had supposedly just learned that his girlfriend’s daughter had been abducted.

The defense emphasized that Britten nevertheless cooperated with police and allowed officers into the residence.

Within hours, the kidnapping story began falling apart.

Nola’s Mother Eventually Admitted What Happened

Randle later told investigators that she had repeatedly struck Nola with a belt on June 9.

According to court records, the child eventually became unresponsive and stopped breathing.

Randle said she called Britten into the room and that he attempted CPR.

Nola could not be revived.

What happened after that became central to Britten’s trial.

Prosecutors said Britten knew Nola had been killed and then helped Randle conceal the death rather than contacting authorities.

Court records described the child being wrapped in plastic and placed inside a suitcase.

The suitcase was initially kept at the residence before eventually being removed. Police later recovered Nola’s remains from a vacant area adjoining Britten’s property.

Britten was accused of helping Randle dispose of the body.

Randle, meanwhile, was tried separately.

In June 2026, a Cecil County jury convicted her of first-degree murder and child-abuse charges in Nola’s death. She is scheduled to be sentenced in October and faces the possibility of life in prison.

Prosecutors Said Britten Knew More Than He Admitted

During Britten’s trial, prosecutors argued that his explanation did not fit the evidence.

Their case went beyond the disposal of Nola’s body.

They also questioned how Britten could have lived in the household without recognizing what they described as serious signs of neglect.

Evidence presented during the case indicated that Nola had lost approximately seven pounds in the month before her death.

Prosecutors asked jurors to consider whether it was believable that Britten knew nothing about the conditions affecting a 3-year-old living in his home.

They also challenged his account of the hours after Nola died.

The state’s position was straightforward: even if jurors were not convinced Britten participated in the fatal assault itself, they should find that he knew a murder had occurred and helped hide what happened afterward.

Ultimately, the jury accepted at least part of that argument.

Britten Told Jurors He Was Afraid

The defense painted a very different picture.

Britten testified during the trial and denied being responsible for Nola’s death.

He said his relationship with Randle had become unstable and maintained that he was shocked by what happened to the child.

According to reporting by the Delaware News Journal, Britten testified that he initially believed Nola had died because of a preexisting head injury rather than because Randle had fatally assaulted her.

He also offered an explanation for why he did not immediately reveal Nola’s death to authorities.

Britten said he feared Randle might harm their unborn child if he went to police. At the time, she was approximately seven months pregnant.

His attorneys attempted to place responsibility squarely on Randle, who had already been convicted of Nola’s murder.

CBS Baltimore reported that the defense argued Britten did not know what had happened before he was called to the child and was as shocked by her death as anyone else.

Jurors ultimately rejected the allegation that Britten was responsible for the most serious crimes charged against him.

But they also rejected the idea that he bore no criminal responsibility at all.

Three Guilty Verdicts — and Several Acquittals

Britten originally faced 10 counts by the time his case reached the jury.

On Sept. 8, jurors returned guilty verdicts on only three.

The most serious conviction was accessory after the fact to first-degree murder, meaning the jury concluded that Britten assisted after the murder had already occurred.

That felony carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

He was also convicted of child neglect and improperly disposing of a body.

The distinction is significant.

Britten was not convicted of murdering Nola.

Nor did jurors find him guilty of the most serious child-abuse counts that could have exposed him to much harsher penalties.

But the verdict establishes criminal responsibility for what happened around and after the little girl’s death.

His sentencing is expected in December.

Nola’s Family Wants Her Remembered for More Than the Case

As the criminal proceedings have continued, members of Nola’s family have repeatedly tried to shift attention back toward the child herself.

Her grandmother, Velma Dinkins, has described Nola as a bright little girl with a strong personality — a child who knew what she liked and was not afraid to make it known.

After Randle’s conviction, relatives said they wanted people to remember Nola’s smile and the way she lived, rather than allowing the circumstances of her death to become her entire story.

That becomes especially important as the case moves through another round of sentencing hearings.

Randle awaits sentencing for murder.

Britten now awaits punishment for the three crimes the jury concluded he committed.

The legal outcomes are different because the juries found their roles were different.

But both cases grew from the same sequence of events.

A 3-year-old died inside a Maryland home.

Instead of authorities immediately being told what had happened, her body was concealed.

Then a fabricated kidnapping story sent investigators searching for a child who was no longer missing.

She was already dead.

More than a year later, two trials have now produced two very different verdicts.

Randle was convicted of killing her daughter.

Britten was cleared of the most serious accusations against him — but jurors concluded he still crossed a criminal line after Nola’s death.

And for Nola’s family, the courtroom victories cannot change the simplest and most painful fact of the case:

She should have had the chance to grow up.