REINA FUNDERBURK - 3 yo (2003) - Hinds County MS

A New York woman who told authorities she killed her young daughter
and dumped the body in a wooded area near Jackson's old Greyhound
station may never stand trial after a Hinds County judge ruled she is
insane.Tina
Funderburk, 33, had been under indictment for killing her 3-year-old
daughter, Reina, while traveling through Jackson on June 25, 2003. The
girl's skeletal remains were found three months later.A
Ridgeland psychiatrist testified Monday at Funderburk's competency
hearing in Hinds County Circuit Court that she suffers from
schizophrenia and hears voices."She
is taking two schizophrenia medications, and that's a lot," Dr. Mark
Webb testified. "She is better than she was six years ago, but she
still thinks her daughter is alive. She is still being controlled by
illusions. It is my professional opinion that she is incompetent to
stand trial."Webb said Funderburk hallucinates and believes her pillow and radio and television programs talk to her.Circuit
Judge Tomie Green ordered Funderburk sent to the State Hospital at
Whitfield unit for those determined to be criminally insane.Funderburk
told police she left her daughter in a swampy area near the old bus
terminal on Jefferson Street. She was traveling with her daughter and
1-year-old son on a bus trip from New York.The
3-year-old's body was found in September 2003 when Funderburk
pinpointed on a map where she left the child. Authorities said
Funderburk once told them she had smothered the child prior to placing
her in the woods.But
a year after the child's remains were found, an investigator for the
Sheriff's Department testified Funderburk said she had left the child
alive. Funderburk maintained she lost her way when she went back to get
the child.Funderburk
said she stayed in the woods for several hours after killing her
daughter, leaving at dusk and walking with her son to I-55, where they
hitchhiked to Pensacola, Hinds County Sheriff Malcolm McMillin said at
the time. She was arrested in Pensacola on child neglect charges when
the boy was found with more than 200 mosquito bites.
Authorities say Funderburk eventually returned to New York, where
she contacted the girl's father and told him she had abandoned their
daughter in Meridian. The bus made stops in Meridian and Jackson.The
child's father told Funderburk he was going to take her to Mississippi
to search for the girl, but Funderburk jumped from the moving car with
her son in her arms when she realized he was taking her to a police
station, officials said.She was being held on a child endangerment charge when she confessed to killing her daughter, police said.New York authorities contacted McMillin on Sept. 11, 2003, and officers began searching for the girl.Webb said he doesn't believe Funderburk will ever be competent to stand trial."She is a danger to herself and others, and, if she is out of jail, I would really be concerned," he said.Assistant
District Attorney Winston Thompson asked that Funderburk undergo a
mental evaluation every year, which Green placed in her order, to see
whether she ever will be competent to stand trial.Funderburk's
attorney, Assistant Public Defender Matt Eichelberger, said his
client's mental condition is more severe than usual cases seeking
incompetency.