A text message sent by Patrick Stallworth just 10 days after the body of 3-year-old Kamille “Cupcake” McKinney’s body was found in a Jefferson County landfill read, “I’m sorry I did this. It was an accident. That poor baby’s family.’’

Prosecutors in the federal kidnapping case against Stallworth on Monday said that text message, sent by Stallworth to one of his family member’s while he was locked up in the Jefferson County Jail, is just one piece of evidence they will use to prove that the suspect and girlfriend, Derick Irisha Brown, carried out the 2019 abduction that left Kamille dead.

Another piece of evidence, said Lloyd Peeples, chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Criminal Division, will be a statement Stallworth made to a nurse.

There will be data from Google and T-Mobile, as well as evidence taken from surveillance cameras, license plate readers and multiple witnesses, Peeples said.

“What’s this case about? Unfortunately, this case is not about 3-year-old Cupcake McKinney’s short but sweet life,’’ Peeples said in opening statements in the trial against Stallworth.

“This case is about finding justice for Kamille McKinney.”

Stallworth’s attorney, Derrick Collins, said his client is innocent and blamed the entire ordeal on Brown.

“She’s the author behind all of this,’’ Collins said in his opening remarks. “He’s professed to the world his innocence.”

Stallworth, 42, and Brown are both charged federally with kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap a minor.

Brown’s trial is set for Nov. 14 in federal court in Tuscaloosa. The U.S. Department of Justice previously ruled it will not seek the death penalty in the federal charges.

Both still are charged with capital murder in state court. No state trial dates have yet been set.

The trial began Monday with jury selection.

A panel of 13 women and three men were seated to hear the case against Stallworth. Of those 16 jurors, four will serve as alternates.

Peeples delivered the opening statements on behalf of the six federal prosecutors on the case. Chief U.S. District Judge L. Scott Coogler is presiding over the trial.

Peeples started by telling the jury about Kamille, who he described as a loving little girl who enjoyed playing with her brother and cousin, watching Peppa Pig and playing with bubbles.

“All the things that you would expect from an innocent and sweet 3-year-old girl,’’ Peeples said.

“Unfortunately, we will not spend much time in this trial talking about Cupcake and the happy moments she shared with her family and friends,’’ the prosecutor said.

“We won’t do that because the United States has the burden of telling you the story about Cupcake’s worst day, her last day. We will have to tell you about the final hours of Cupcake’s life.”

Peeples talked about the massive law enforcement search for Kamille that ended when her body was found in a construction dumpster at the landfill.

That dumpster had been taken from an apartment complex next to Stallworth’s apartment building.

“Investigators at that landfill found the body of Kamille McKinney, which had been discarded in one of those dumpsters,’’ Peeples said. “Thrown away in the trash and left alone for 10 days.”

Peeples said the evidence will show that a search of Stallworth’s apartment turned up a mattress with a plastic cover on it. That mattress, he said, contained DNA from Stallworth, Brown and Kamille.

“We will also show you pictures from when Kamille’s body was found and of the autopsy on her body, pictures that no person should have to look at, pictures that Kamille’s mom still hasn’t even seen,’’ he said.

The prosecutor said they will also present evidence that when Kamille died, she had methamphetamine, Trazadone and Benadryl in her system.

And, Peeples said, the jury will hear statements made by Stallworth, who he said gave conflicting information during his five interviews with police.

After Kamille’s body was recovered, he said, Stallworth “admits to knowing things that only Cupcake’s kidnapper would know.”

In the defense’s opening statement, Collins told jurors that prosecutors have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Stallworth was involved in Kamille’s kidnapping.

“They can’t,’’ Collins said. “The government’s case has doubt all through it.”

“This man didn’t do what they’re alleging,’’ he said.

Collins said the blame for Kamille’s kidnapping falls on Brown, a mother of six who lost all of her children to the custody of DHR.

“She had gone without her children over a year,’’ he said, adding that Brown had begun to use drugs and had become violent.

Stallworth’s only mistakes, he said, were in loving Brown and lying to police.

“He lied to the police about seeing the child at the apartment,’’ Collins said.

He did so, he said, because he loved Brown.

Kamille’s mother was the first and only witness to take the stand Monday.

She described for the jury their activities that day at the football field, and later at her cousin’s house at Tom Brown Village.

She said she discovered Kamille was missing when she told her son – Amari – to get Kamille because it was time to leave.

“He came in panicky and said he couldn’t find her,’’ Thomas testified. “I found her shoes. I knew something was wrong.”

Thomas’s cousin called 911 while Thomas continued to look for Kamille.

“I felt sick to my stomach,’’ Thomas said. “Confused. Frustrated. I was just sick to my stomach.”

Testimony will resume Tuesday.

The trial is the latest chapter in an ordeal that began when Kamille was abducted Oct. 12, 2019, while at a birthday party in Tom Brown Village.

Kamille’s disappearance gripped the city for 10 days until her remains were found the night of Oct. 22 in a trash dumpster at a Jefferson County landfill.

An autopsy conducted by the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office showed Kamille had died of asphyxiation by suffocation.

The exam also turned up toxic levels of methamphetamine and antidepressant Trazodone. The levels of the drugs indicated Kamille had ingested the drugs, and not just been exposed to them.

Testimony from previous hearings showed investigators removed a plastic covering from a mattress that was in the living room where the couple lived in Center Point.

That covering showed blood in several places and testing of that blood showed a mixture of DNA belonging to Stallworth, Brown and Kamille.

Stallworth and Brown, who were in a dating relationship for about a year before their arrests, have since blamed each other for Kamille’s death.

On that Saturday, Kamille and her mother had spent the day at Kamille’s brother’s football game. Afterward, they went to Tom Brown Village to visit family.

There was a birthday party taking place there, and Kamille and brother joined in the festivities.

While the party was taking place, Peeples said, Stallworth and Brown drove their Toyota Sequoia to Tom Brown Village, where Stallworth gout out of the SUV, spoke to several children and offered them candy.

A short time later, Stallworth and Brown drove away, taking Kamille with them back to the couple’s apartment on Shadowood Circle.

Only Kamille’s shoes were left behind at Tom Brown Village which the girl’s mother would later find.