A mum told of her shock after a best friend asked her for help when she was arrested over the killing of her son. Kristian Harris, from Mississippi, was abused and murdered by Makallie Durham, 25, on September 15, 2022. She has been jailed for the rest of her life after pleading guilty last month. And now the toddler’s mum Justin Hurd, 23, has told how she received a text message from Durham after being arrested by Alcorn County police and wanted her help. And she furiously said to Durham that for her sake it was better that the police got to her first .

She reportedly said: "And I said, 'Your a** should go [to jail]! Because why my babies got bruises all over them? You better hope they take you before I get there'." Police were called to the home of Durham’s boyfriend after he said that Kristian was unconscious. He and his little sister K’Helani had been in Durham’s care for several days. And Justin was told that Kristian was being rushed to hospital. She claimed that when she arrived at the hospital that staff made it difficult for her to see her child as they were trying to keep her “calm”. She told the Mail: “So, they were trying to keep me calm, calm enough to get to my kid, and then they would tell me the full details.” And she added that her mother - Kristian's grandmother - wasn’t even allowed to see him.

Justin continued: “So, when I got to my son [at the hospital], it was like 12:02 when I walked into that room. And I just started praying because I knew my baby was dead.” At this point her thoughts turned to her daughter who had also been under the care of Durham and she struggled to get information from the police, she alleged. “And I’m like yeah - the whole time, my baby was in the room sleeping. Bruises all over her face, all over her abdomen and chest,” she said. Durham was accused of hitting Kristian in the head on three occasions, September 9, 12 and 13, 2022, in the indictment, according to Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

She was also accused of striking K'Helani 'in the face or head' three days in a row - from September 11 to 13. Justin told how Durham had the two children for a whole week and that her boyfriend handed over CCTV footage which authorities were able to use to find out when the abuse began. And so Justin found out that during this period the children visited the boyfriend’s home as well as Durham’s mum and dad’s homes. It was not unusual for children to spend so much time with the babysitter, she said, but this was the first time that she had ever seen bruises or any other marks.

“Like, you couldn’t pay me at the time to believe she was just capable of thinking or doing anything of that nature,” Justin added. The mum believes she knows when the abuse started though as Durham allegedly said on the week of the murder that Justin could drop off the children at their grandparent’s home - but she refused. “And she was like, ‘You know I love your kids. I would never let anything happen to your kids’,” Justin recalled. “And from that moment forward, I believe that’s when it started. When she made that statement.”.