The infant daughter of a murder suspect and the man she allegedly killed was turned in to authorities Sunday, safe and sound.

Marilyn Rose Harris, 14 months, was missing after her mother, Stephanie Meares, was arrested for murder early Thursday.

"The baby is fine," said Lt. Larry Guyton of the Bladen County Sheriff's Department.

Meares refused to tell officers where the child known as Baby Rose was hidden. A relative of Meares's current boyfriend brought the baby to deputies, according to Bladen County Sheriff Steve Bunn. Authorities do not know exactly where the baby was kept, Bunn said, but she appeared in good health.

One of Meares' relatives has custody of the child, Bunn said.

Meares had a first court appearance Thursday and is being held in Women's Prison in Raleigh.

The 28-year-old woman was a prime suspect in the June 2004 killing of Baby Rose's father, Robert Paul "Porky" Jackson of White Oak. Jackson was shot once in the back of the head at close range.

Authorities questioned Meares several times, and she disappeared shortly before warrants for her arrest were issued in December. The case was spotlighted by the television program "America's Most Wanted with John Walsh." Meares went to a relative's home in Cumberland County last week and contacted authorities, volunteering to turn herself in.

Guyton and State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Janet Storms brought Meares back to Elizabethtown. The woman refused to divulge the whereabouts of her child.

Meares is scheduled for a probable cause hearing in Bladen County Superior Court Feb. 22.

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