2 Young Girls Found Dead in Florida Canal

Residents say mother Tinessa Hogan had been offering to baptize people
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 24, 2021 4:09 AM CDT
Mother in Custody After 2 Girls Found Dead in Canal
Lauderhill Police Chief Constance Stanley speaks during a news conference, Wednesday, June 23, 2021, in Lauderhill, Fla., after two young girls were found dead in a canal a day earlier.   (Michael Laughlin/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)

Police are looking into reports that the mother of two young girls found dead in a South Florida canal was offering to baptize people in the canal a day earlier. Lauderhill police Lt. Mike Bigwood identified the sisters during a Wednesday evening news conference as 7-year-old Daysha Hogan and 9-year-old Destiny Hogan. Investigators identified the girls’ mother, Tinessa Hogan, as a possible person of interest. She has been taken into custody, but no criminal charges have been filed, the AP reports. Destiny's body was spotted Tuesday afternoon outside a condominium complex in Lauderhill, which is near Fort Lauderdale. Daysha's body was found just before 9pm, not far from where the first body was located.

Bigwood confirmed that the family had lived in the area where the bodies were found. There were no records of child welfare workers responding to the home. At first, authorities did not suspect foul play because the first girl showed no signs of trauma. After the first body was found, detectives walked the length of the canal that runs behind the Habitat II Condominiums, but did not find anything else. Then, at 8:45pm, police received a 911 call from someone who spotted the second child's body. On Tuesday afternoon, detectives knocked on doors in the neighborhood, asking neighbors for help. Several residents told investigators about a woman, later identified as Tinessa Hogan, who was offering to baptize people in the canal on Monday. The girls were last seen near the canal with their mother Monday evening, Bigwood said.

(More Florida stories.)

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