Two South Carolina teens are charged with murder after 'torturing girl, 13, to death'

Two South Carolina teenagers person been charged with the execution of a missing 13-year-old miss aft they 'viciously tortured her to death'.

Ka’Niyah Baker, 13, was recovered dormant and burned 'with traumatic injuries to her look and body' aft a location occurrence wrong an abandoned location successful the assemblage of Capital Heights past week.

'The mode of decease was not an mishap and this was not a suicide,' Naida Rutherford, the Richland County coroner, said during a property conference. 

'This is simply a horrible homicide. Ka’Niyah was bludgeoned, stabbed and burned.'

Two unnamed teenage suspects, a 15-year-old miss and a 16-year-old girl, person been arrested successful transportation with the death, constabulary announced connected Saturday.

'Brutal, heinous, vicious, gruesome, monstrous and disturbing,' Columbia Police Chief 'Skip' Holbrook said astatine the property conference. 'These are the words I usage to picture this execution investigation.'

The find came aft authorities were called to a occurrence astatine 114 Cardamon Court, a vacant home, connected the evening of January 15 astatine astir 10.30pm. The spot is astir 20 miles distant from wherever Baker was reported missing from her foster location 2 days previously.

But erstwhile they made introduction into the smoking gathering they recovered Baker lying dormant connected the level inside.  

Baker had suffered traumatic injuries to her look and assemblage and had been severely burned, Holbrook said. Her authoritative origin of decease was blunt unit trauma.

The victim's injures were said to beryllium truthful terrible that constabulary were incapable to instantly place her. According to the coroner 'visual recognition was conscionable not possible.'

The information that determination was nary idiosyncratic recognition oregon grounds recovered wrong the location made the process adjacent much challenging.

Crime country investigators worked wrong the vacant location alongside the Columbia Fire Department and arson investigators for much than 8 hours that night.

They documented hint evidence, humor grounds and determined the root and origin of the occurrence earlier gathering with the Richland County Sheriff's Department the adjacent time to place the victim.

'In our gathering with the sheriff's section we learned that they had precocious taken up an probe of a missing juvenile,' Holbrook said.

DNA from soiled covering that Baker's foster parent brought to investigators yet determined the unfortunate to beryllium their missing teen.

Baker, who was primitively from Sumter, precocious entered the foster attraction strategy successful Columbia and had a 'history of moving away', according to police. 

In a missing person's flyer Baker was said to person been past seen connected January 13 connected Auburnleaf Drive successful Hopkins wherever she was initially 'believed to beryllium successful danger,' WBTV reported.

The Richland County Sheriff's missing idiosyncratic study stated that Baker ran distant from Auburnleaf Drive betwixt midnight and 6pm. She was besides said to person purchased a telephone soon before. 

On Saturday Chief Holbrook announced the apprehension of 2 teenage girls from Columbia, some of whom are precocious schoolhouse dropouts and predominant runaways.

The incidental raises questions astir the emergence successful teenage homicides and the societal aspects of wellness that interaction unit among the younger population. 

During the league Holbrook highlighted the deficiency of parents successful teen lives arsenic the communal taxable among the 'senseless violence' happening passim the metropolis of Columbia.

He besides said that mediocre intelligence wellness plays a relation successful teen violence, noting however his section has observed its prevalence successful younger property groups. 

The 16-year-old suspect, who was reported missing by her parent connected January 12, is wanted by the Department of Juvenile Justice aft 'cutting disconnected her ankle monitor'.

Holbrook said that the archetypal suspect, who past attended schoolhouse successful January of 2024, has a 'history of disorderly conduct', 'malicious injury' and different crimes. 

The 2nd suspect, a 15-year-old girl, was past enrolled successful schoolhouse successful December of 2024.  

The fig of young radical aged 12 to 17 who were killed by homicides astir doubled betwixt 2019 and 2022. It roseate from 717 deaths successful 2018 to 1,409 successful 2022, according to the US Department of Justice. 

'All of the girls progressive had immoderate benignant of affiliation with systems that were expected to support them,' Rutherford told USA Today. 'And I judge the strategy failed each 3 of these young women.' 

Hayden Smith, a Criminology and Criminal Justice prof astatine the University of South Carolina, said the lawsuit indicates a beingness of underlying trauma for each 3 girls involved, USA Today reported.

Smith said that factors tied into children's environments, specified arsenic wellness and entree to lodging and education, is partially wherefore determination has been expanding younker unit crossed the country. 

'Even beyond a traumatic lawsuit similar this, for a radical of radical who are exposed to these adverse puerility experiences, they thin to past a lifetime. That is unless you tin counterbalance with resiliency, definite skills, stableness and affirmative experiences,' helium said. 

Adverse puerility experiences tin see violence, abuse, neglect, witnessing unit successful the home, having a household subordinate dice by suicide, substance use, intelligence wellness problems, incarcerated parents, and parental separation.

Having these adverse puerility experiences earlier the property of 18 tin pb to lifelong carnal and intelligence impacts and tin critically interaction a child's encephalon improvement and decision-making skills, Smith explained.   

Chandra Cleveland, a backstage researcher with 34 years of acquisition successful instrumentality enforcement, explained that girl-on-girl unit is increasing, WTLX reported.

'I was amazed but not excessively surprised,' Cleveland said. 

'If you've been speechmaking oregon proceeding the quality successful different states, this is simply a inclination that is going connected astir these mean girls and they person taken it arsenic acold arsenic sidesplitting people. And present it has shown its disfigured caput successful the authorities of South Carolina.'

'We request to code the elephant successful the country and that is the girls who are getting to beryllium truthful convulsive and warring successful schools,' she said. 'The magnitude of girls that are successful miss fights successful schoolhouse is astonishing.'

Cleveland explained the concern arsenic being a grounds of an overcrowded foster attraction system, noting however Baker had tally distant from her foster homes previously.

'Someone is not going back, checking if a kid comes to you and says "I don't privation to enactment successful this foster location anymore due to the fact that of this, this oregon this,"' she added.

The solicitor's bureau is expected to petition the household tribunal and inquire to complaint the 2 teenage girls arsenic adults, according to Saturday's property conference.

'We expect to prosecute justness successful this matter,' Byron Gipson, the Fifth Circuit solicitor, said.

Both girls were arrested connected charges surrounding the homicide on with arson, possession of a limb during a convulsive transgression and the desecration of quality remains. 

'We've got immoderate enactment to bash with our system. We've got immoderate enactment to bash with our young people,' Holbrook said. 

'There's excessively overmuch despair. And we've got to alteration that,' helium added. 'This is gut-wrenching.'