07-25-2011, 02:02 PM
i have no confidence in mother's story.
Detroit Free Press
The Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office has ruled a little girl found dead in an fire in an abandoned building died in a homicide due to asphyxiation.
But the identity of the little girl, estimated to be 5 to 7 years old, won't be confirmed until DNA testing results, which could take days, Wayne County spokesman Dennis Niemiec said this afternoon.
"Her skull was crushed and she was burned, but the cause of death was asphyxiation," Niemiec said. "Whatever killed her occurred before the fire."
And while Detroit Fire Department investigators say the girl resembled 5-year-old Mariha Trenice Smith, missing since early Sunday, Niemiec said that cannot yet be confirmed.
"The ID is going to be through DNA, so we don’t have an ID yet," he said.
Mariha's mother, Konesha Smith, 24, said today that someone kidnapped the girl sometime between 3 a.m. and noon Sunday as she slept on the living room floor at her aunt's home near West Davison and Dexter.
"The way I'm looking at it is, someone climbed through the window and took my daughter," Smith said this morning, searching the neighborhood around Burlingame Street. "I can't even close my eyes because my daughter's missing."
A Detroit Fire Department investigator said Mariha's description matches the body discovered at 7:55 a.m. Sunday in the burning, abandoned home a few blocks away at 2918 Waverly.
Investigators also discovered a man bought 57 cents worth of gasoline from a service station on Davison just before the blaze.
Detroit Police Sgt. Eren Stephens said this morning that investigators issued an Amber Alert Sunday night after searching the neighborhood.
She said police do not have verified evidence linking the two cases and are continuing to look for Mariha.
“At this point, we’re searching for the little girl," Stephens said. "I’m not going into details of what we’re doing, but we are looking for the little girl.”
Smith said police asked her to provide dental records for the investigation, and she and members of her family have agreed to take lie detector tests today to rule themselves out as suspects.
Smith said after a get-together at the home Saturday night and into the wee hours of Sunday, Mariha was put to bed on the living room floor with three cousins at about 3 a.m.
Smith said she was asleep on the couch in the same room when someone took her daughter. She didn't realize Mariha was missing -- not watching cartoons in another room with her cousins -- until about 11 a.m.
"They think I'm a suspect right now, and I told them I never had anything to do with my daughter missing," she said. "They said they don't understand how someone can go over your head and take your daughter. I wish I knew! So, hopefully, after I take a lie detector test, they'll get up and start looking for her. I'm praying they've been looking for her."
Smith still hopes her daughter is alive, believing a claim by people in the neighborhood that they saw the little girl walking with a stranger a few hours after the blaze.
mother
![[Image: 35547428001_1078243560001_ari-origin05-a...5547428001]](http://bcdownload.gannett.edgesuite.net/detroitfreep/35547428001/35547428001_1078243560001_ari-origin05-arc-115-1311607921041.jpg?pubId=35547428001)
house burned with dead child inside
![[Image: bilde?Site=C4&Date=20110725&Category=NEW...0&Border=0]](http://cmsimg.freep.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C4&Date=20110725&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=110725014&Ref=AR&MaxW=600&Border=0)
Detroit Free Press
The Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office has ruled a little girl found dead in an fire in an abandoned building died in a homicide due to asphyxiation.
But the identity of the little girl, estimated to be 5 to 7 years old, won't be confirmed until DNA testing results, which could take days, Wayne County spokesman Dennis Niemiec said this afternoon.
"Her skull was crushed and she was burned, but the cause of death was asphyxiation," Niemiec said. "Whatever killed her occurred before the fire."
And while Detroit Fire Department investigators say the girl resembled 5-year-old Mariha Trenice Smith, missing since early Sunday, Niemiec said that cannot yet be confirmed.
"The ID is going to be through DNA, so we don’t have an ID yet," he said.
Mariha's mother, Konesha Smith, 24, said today that someone kidnapped the girl sometime between 3 a.m. and noon Sunday as she slept on the living room floor at her aunt's home near West Davison and Dexter.
"The way I'm looking at it is, someone climbed through the window and took my daughter," Smith said this morning, searching the neighborhood around Burlingame Street. "I can't even close my eyes because my daughter's missing."
A Detroit Fire Department investigator said Mariha's description matches the body discovered at 7:55 a.m. Sunday in the burning, abandoned home a few blocks away at 2918 Waverly.
Investigators also discovered a man bought 57 cents worth of gasoline from a service station on Davison just before the blaze.
Detroit Police Sgt. Eren Stephens said this morning that investigators issued an Amber Alert Sunday night after searching the neighborhood.
She said police do not have verified evidence linking the two cases and are continuing to look for Mariha.
“At this point, we’re searching for the little girl," Stephens said. "I’m not going into details of what we’re doing, but we are looking for the little girl.”
Smith said police asked her to provide dental records for the investigation, and she and members of her family have agreed to take lie detector tests today to rule themselves out as suspects.
Smith said after a get-together at the home Saturday night and into the wee hours of Sunday, Mariha was put to bed on the living room floor with three cousins at about 3 a.m.
Smith said she was asleep on the couch in the same room when someone took her daughter. She didn't realize Mariha was missing -- not watching cartoons in another room with her cousins -- until about 11 a.m.
"They think I'm a suspect right now, and I told them I never had anything to do with my daughter missing," she said. "They said they don't understand how someone can go over your head and take your daughter. I wish I knew! So, hopefully, after I take a lie detector test, they'll get up and start looking for her. I'm praying they've been looking for her."
Smith still hopes her daughter is alive, believing a claim by people in the neighborhood that they saw the little girl walking with a stranger a few hours after the blaze.
mother
house burned with dead child inside