It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 6:33 am

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 9 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Janiya Thomas Murder
PostPosted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 1:13 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:03 am
Posts: 6177
Location: Fort Worth
This child has been missing for a YEAR and authorities did not know. :(

Police believe to have found body of missing girl
FOX 13 News Staff | Updated October, 18 2015, 10:17PM EDT


Image

Bradenton investigators believe they have found the body of a missing 11-year-old girl who hasn't been seen since 2014.

A medical examiner will determine if the remains are confirmed to be Janiya Thomas.

The girl's mother, Keishanna Thomas, is being held in jail after refusing to tell authorities where her daughter is located.

Janiya Thomas has not been seen August of 2014, according to Bradenton police.

Authorities first learned of her disappearance on Friday, when the Manatee County Sheriff's Office Child Protective Service went to her mother's west Bradenton apartment to remove Janiya and her four siblings from the home.

More at link: http://www.fox13news.com/news/local-news/34983433-story


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Janiya Thomas Murder
PostPosted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 1:17 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:03 am
Posts: 6177
Location: Fort Worth
Image
Keishanna Thomas (mother)
taken into custody for contempt of court
(days before child was found)


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Janiya Thomas Murder
PostPosted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 1:36 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:03 am
Posts: 6177
Location: Fort Worth
She was found Sunday night in a freezer.

This PRESS CONFERENCE is VERY informative with details as to what transpired when, how CPS got involved and what led up to the discovery of Janiya missing.

Authorities only found out she was missing this week!


http://www.wtsp.com/videos/news/2015/10/18/74201924/


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Janiya Thomas Murder
PostPosted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 4:27 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:03 am
Posts: 6177
Location: Fort Worth
Mother of missing Bradenton girl Janiya Thomas charged with aggravated child abuse
By Kate Irby | Bradenton Herald | October 19, 201
5

MANATEE -- Keishanna Thomas, the mother of the 11-year-old girl who has gone missing and is presumed dead, has been charged with aggravated child abuse for an incident last month involving her 12-year-old son, according to the Bradenton Police Department.

As part of the investigation of the case, deputies with the Manatee County Sheriff's Office's Child Protective Investigations unit Friday went to the family's apartment at the Village at Cortez, 4880 51st St. W., to remove Thomas' five children.

Only four were found, and Thomas was arrested when she refused to talk about her daughter Janiya's whereabouts.

"Following the incident in September, we were asking the mom for three weeks where her other children were, and she said the 2-year-old and 11-year-old were with relatives," said sheriff's office spokesman Dave Bristow. "She had the 2-year-old the next day, but then said the 11-year-old was with relatives in New Jersey and was out of state. She kept leading us on, so that's why we took her in."

Two days later, on Sunday, a girl's body was found Sunday in a freezer at the home of Thomas' mother and sister, but authorities have not confirmed her identity.

More at link: http://www.bradenton.com/news/local/crime/article40081161.html


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Janiya Thomas Murder
PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 5:08 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:03 am
Posts: 6177
Location: Fort Worth
Note: Keishanna Thomas is in the Manatee County Jail in lieu of $200,000 bond and is charged with child abuse, aggravated child abuse and abuse of a dead body.

Body in freezer identified as Janiya Thomas
By Katy Bergen | HeraldTribune.com | October 26, 2015, 1:55PM


MANATEE COUNTY - Circuit Judge Scott Brownell dismissed contempt of court charges against Keishanna Thomas on Monday, after prosecutors informed him that medical examiners have confirmed her daughter, Janiya Thomas, is dead.

[...]
"It is Janiya Thomas," Brownell said Monday.

Thomas, 31, was jailed on Oct. 16 for refusing to help welfare officials find her daughter, who friends and family hadn't seen for more than a year. She has since been charged with child abuse and the abuse of a human body, after relatives found a body in a freezer Thomas delivered to their home a few days prior.

Brownell said now that Janiya's whereabouts are confirmed, the contempt of court charges are irrelevant.

"There's no reason to detain her further in this (specific) case."

More at link: http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20151026/article/151029741


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Janiya Thomas Murder
PostPosted: Sun Nov 01, 2015 3:30 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:03 am
Posts: 6177
Location: Fort Worth
Bradenton meeting: Janiya Thomas child murder suspect Keishanna Thomas was abused as a child
By Bradenton.com | October 28, 2015


BRADENTON -- The feeling expressed in the Straight Talk community meeting Tuesday night was of hope and people desperate for change.

Some people at the meeting shared stories about Keishanna Thomas, including claims of her abuse. Some claims read a lot like what the Florida Department of Children and Families report the mother of five did to her own children.

In the packed room full of people from the Bradenton community, emotions ran high.

"We've got to get together. We've got to come together and know one another," yelled one man.

All the people there said they're concerned about the case and the future of children who might be in similar situations.

"Yes, she needed help. Yes Janiya's in a better place. But what we gonna do to help everybody else's kids?" said one woman in the crowd.

Some people at the meeting were strangers. Some were directly connected to Janiya Thomas' family.

Beverly Bell said the abuse in this family goes back generations. She says she watched Janiya's mother, Keishanna, grow up and was also abused as a child.

"It kills me and it hurts me to my heart because I knew the little girl. I knew what she went through. I knew what was done to her," she said about Keishanna.

More at link: http://www.bradenton.com/news/local/article41732259.html


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Janiya Thomas Murder
PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2015 5:03 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:03 am
Posts: 6177
Location: Fort Worth
Janiya Thomas' mother formally charged with abusing daughter and her dead body
By Jessica De Leon | Bradenton Herald | November 5, 2015

Image
Keishanna Thomas' attorney attempted to waive
her appearance before Circuit Judge Scott Brownell
for a dependency petition arraignment hearing, but
Brownell said it was not an option, and ordered
Thomas to enter the courtroom.
(Tiffany Tompkins-Condie)


BRADENTON -- The State Attorney's Office has formally charged Keishanna Thomas with abusing her 11-year-old daughter Janiya and abusing her dead body, which was found in a freezer on Oct. 18.
[...]
Assistant State Attorney Art Brown confirmed Thursday afternoon that the two charges involving Janiya have been formally filed.

The medical examiner's office has yet to release results of an autopsy on Janiya's body.

"The investigation in the death is still ongoing," Brown said.

More at link: http://www.bradenton.com/news/local/crime/article43229376.html


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Janiya Thomas Murder
PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 10:52 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:03 am
Posts: 6177
Location: Fort Worth
Alarming DCF report on Janiya Thomas case released
By Haley Hinds | Fox13News.com | November 24, 2015, 8:33PM


BRADENTON (FOX 13) - There's alarming new information in the case of a missing Manatee County child whose body was found inside a freezer.

The Florida Department of Children and Families spent the last month reviewing the case of Janiya Thomas. DCF has some critical things to say about how the Manatee County Sheriff's Office handled the days and months leading up to the gruesome discovery.

According to the report, MCSO's Child Protective Services investigators had many red flags that could have potentially saved 11-year-old Janiya's life, or, at the very least, alerted them months ahead of time, that she was missing.

Case files dating back to the early 2000s paint a picture of a little girl who said she "loves school" and whose favorite subject was science.

Fast forward to November 2015, and a DCF report is questioning how Janiya's life could have been saved. Relatives found her body inside a freezer on Oct. 18th. It was a freezer owner by her own mother, Keishanna Thomas.

According to the new report, Thomas' history with CPS dates back to 2000, when she was 16, and nowhere to be found to give consent for her premature baby to get medical treatment. Through 2015, the mother of five was investigated for family violence, physical abuse and neglect.

The report shows that over the years, there were doctors who confirmed scars left by burns and beatings with extension cords. There were investigators concerned by a controlling mother who wouldn't let them take pictures of her kids. And finally, it was an allegation of abuse that made them stop and question where Janiya actually was. That was September 23.

For weeks, Thomas could not prove Janiya was safe. Siblings told an investigator that their mother said Janiya was "at God's mom's house." Despite all that, the case was closed October 12th.

It wasn't until a supervisor with Safe Children's Coalition/Cornerstone sent an email saying, "I'm very concerned about this child's safety." A missing child alert was issued October 16th.

More at link: http://www.fox13news.com/news/local-news/53910257-story


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Janiya Thomas Murder
PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2015 12:35 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:03 am
Posts: 6177
Location: Fort Worth
Janiya Thomas' eldest sister told investigators girl was tied, dunked in water in bathroom, never seen again
Two months after Keishanna Thomas was arrested for not disclosing the whereabouts of her 11-year-old daughter, Janiya, she was indicted for first-degree murder.
By Jessica DeLeon | Bradenton Herald | December 15, 2015


BRADENTON -- Janiya Thomas' eldest sister told investigators she saw their mother tie Janiya up and dunk her head in water inside the bathroom she was regularly locked in.

Afterwards, the bathroom was cleaned, the door was open and Janiya was never seen again.

Between Sept. 25 and Oct. 16, Keishanna Thomas visited her oldest daughter in foster care and told her not to tell investigators anything about Janiya.

Janiya's brother also recalled coming home one day -- believed to be in January or February this year -- to discover Janiya gone, and the bathroom cleaned out.

An autopsy -- while inconclusive in the matter of death -- has revealed 11-year-old Janiya weighed only 44 pounds at the time of her death, her right leg had been broken two to fours weeks before her death, and there were marks on her hands and feet indicative of being tied.

A grand jury indicted Keishanna Thomas on Tuesday with first-degree murder, abuse of a dead body and aggravated child abuse charges. Details of how investigators believe Janiya died were included in court documents released after the indictment.

The grand jury handed up the indictment after convening for only about three hours, according to Assistant State Attorney Art Brown.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Thomas could be sentenced to death or to life in prison. Brown said he has not decided whether he will pursue the death penalty.

Thomas, 32, will appear in court at 1 p.m. Wednesday for a first-appearance hearing to face her new charges. She will be held without bond, according to the charging documents.

More at link: http://www.bradenton.com/news/local/crime/article49845505.html


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 9 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 223 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Jump to:  
cron
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group