On July 27, 1828, she was indicted for the murders of five slave children also owned by Prior – Ann, Billy, Nancy, Nelly, and Phebe.
According to the indictment, she pushed the children "into a certain collection of water of the depth of five feet and there choaked [sic], suffocated and drowned, of which they instantly died".
[2] One author has suggested that by killing the children Annice was "depriving her owner of no fewer than five potentially valuable properties", thus striking out against "the curse of involuntary servitude".
[1] There has been some speculation that Annice was the mother of another female slave of the same name, who was lynched in Clay County in 1850 for the attempted murder of her owner.
[4] In 1976, Clay County erected a memorial plaque at Tryst Falls (near Excelsior Springs), identifying it as the location of the drownings.