A 13-year-old Michigan girl who was found dead on Monday reportedly came to school with injuries months before her death.
Kayleene Hairabedian, who was Keimani Latigue’s sixth-grade English teacher, told the Toledo Blade that she regularly came to school with injuries last year. Hairabedian said she and other teachers reported this to authorities, though it is unclear if they ever intervened.
“She would have welt marks on the back of her neck, back, and stomach,” Hairabedian told the publication. “She was constantly bruised. She was fearful of going home.”
READ: Slain 13-Year-Old Girl Was Raped, Nearly Decapitated & Had Hands Cut Off
Latigue vanished from her Toledo home on March 17. A week later, she was found dead on the second floor of a burned-out house. Lucas County coroners said she died from multiple incised wounds of the neck. According to FOP official Brian Steel, she was raped, had her hands severed, and her throat nearly cut off.
On Monday, the day Latigue’s body was discovered, an arrest warrant was issued for her father, Darnell Jones, 33, for child abduction. He is now charged with murder, felonious assault, and third-degree felony abduction.
Before his arrest, Jones said he last saw Latigue on March 16 after she called and said she was afraid to be home alone. However, police said Jones provided inconsistent accounts of his correspondence with his daughter or her whereabouts.
Reports indicated that Latigue lived with her grandmother for the past five years. The grandmother reported Latigue missing on March 18, a day after she came home and found the house in disarray.
Jones’ arraignment was originally scheduled for Wednesday. However, it was postponed because he remains hospitalized for a gunshot wound he sustained in Tuesday’s SWAT standoff in Columbus that ended with his arrest.
A motive in Latigue’s murder remains undisclosed. The Toledo Blade reported that Jones is in stable condition.
[Feature Photo: Handout]
