Appeals court upholds life sentence for Bridgeton mother convicted of murder
An appeals court left Nakira Griner’s life sentence intact, closing her challenge in the death of 23-month-old Daniel Griner Jr. The Bridgeton case began with a missing-child report and ended with a murder conviction.
Bridgeton’s most disturbing child-abuse case in recent memory remains a warning about how quickly a missing-child call can turn into a homicide investigation. A New Jersey appeals court upheld the conviction and life sentence of Nakira Griner, the Bridgeton mother found guilty in the killing of her 23-month-old son, Daniel Griner Jr.
The case began on Feb. 8, 2019, when Griner reported her son missing and told police he had been abducted while she was walking to a store. The Bridgeton Police Department launched a major search, and investigators found Daniel’s remains on Griner’s property in Bridgeton, on Woodland Drive, the next day. Prosecutors said the child’s body had been dismembered and burned and that some remains had been hidden under a shed.
An autopsy concluded Daniel died from blunt force trauma and had multiple bone fractures. A Cumberland County jury convicted Griner on Jan. 4, 2023, after a two-week trial, finding her guilty of first-degree murder along with endangering the welfare of a child, tampering with evidence, false public alarm and desecration of human remains. Jurors also found an aggravating factor because Daniel was under 14, which required a mandatory life sentence without parole on the murder count.
Cumberland County Judge Jennifer Webb-McRae sentenced Griner on Feb. 21, 2023, to life in prison without parole for murder, plus a consecutive seven years for desecration of human remains. The sentence ensured that the murder conviction carried the harshest penalty allowed under state law for the age of the victim.
The Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court decided the appeal on June 16, 2025, and rejected Griner’s challenge, leaving the conviction and sentence in place. For Cumberland County, the ruling resolves the criminal case against Griner, but it does not answer the broader public question of whether earlier intervention by local authorities could have changed the outcome for Daniel Griner Jr.
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