Police officers in Lauderhill, Florida, are handling an extremely upsetting case after finding the bodies of 7-year-old Daysha Hogan and 9-year-old Destiny Hogan in a canal.
What makes the deaths of these two young girls even more upsetting is the fact that their mother, Tinessa Hogan, is now a person of interest in the case, and many signs point to Tinessa knowing what happened. The girls were last seen with Tinessa around 5 p.m. Their bodies were located hours later.
One of the reasons why people are questioning Tinessa is because she was spotted offering baptisms to people in the neighborhood not long before the traumatic discovery of the girls' bodies.
The canal where the bodies were found was located close to a condominium complex. Various people spotted Tinessa in the area offering baptisms, but those interviewed by CBS Miami chose not to participate. Knowing the aftermath of the situation must have led those neighbors to be even more thankful for refusing to take part.
"She was in the water swimming, she had a bible and she told me to come here," one neighbor, Lawana Johnson, said. "I said, 'Why?' She said she wanted to baptize me. She say God told her, I say 'God didn't tell you anything.'" That encounter is quite alarming, possibly suggesting that Tinessa may have had an undiagnosed issue with her mental health.
At the time, CBS Miami couldn't figure if Tinessa had been Baker Acted, which means she would have been put under psychiatric hold. She has yet to be arrested for the crime, as she's currently just a person of interest as the investigation continues to unfold. Investigators did search her home after she was named a person of interest.
Right now, Tinessa is in custody and waiting to be questioned about the case. "She is not in the community right now and we're not at liberty to say where she is," Lauderhill police Lt. Michael Bigwood said, per People. "The mother hasn't been questioned at this point."
The girls' bodies were examined, and it seemed as if there was no obvious foul play on Daysha. But Destiny — whose body was found about nine hours after her sister was located — was in slightly worse shape. Investigators noticed her hands were pale and white, and she seemed to have a white substance on her face.
As the older child, it's possible that Destiny put up more of a fight as she was losing her battle against her killer. Even if the girls fully trusted their mother — if she turns out to be the one who killed the two — it's possible that Destiny was more worried and hesitant about the possible "baptism." It's also unclear if Tinessa may have had a goal to drown someone that day, which may have been why she offered her services.
Another current unknown is whether or not Tinessa has acknowledged the deaths of her daughters. The normal response — under any circumstance — would be extreme grief. And that's one of the many reasons why Lt. Bigwood is hoping to get more information on Tinessa's home life and normal demeanor around her children.
"Any knowledge of the family, the family dynamic, activities that the family engaged in together, just general information about who they were and what their day to day life was like would be extremely helpful," said Lt. Bigwood. He also said that Tinessa didn't have any prior records before the incident. The father of the girls reportedly hadn't been in their lives for years.
Authorities have reported that Tinessa never reported her children missing, which is another reason why she's a person of interest. Most parents try to involve the police as soon as their children are out of sight. But refusing to notify the police makes her behavior all the more suspicious.
"I was more concerned for her," said neighbor Marie Williams to the Herald, per the New York Post. Marie was one of the neighbors who saw Tinessa in the canal around the time when her daughters were last seen. "I should have been more cautious." The girls were found after a very alarming 911 call from someone else in the neighborhood.
"I need you guys to come … to see if there is a little girl's body in the water," the caller said. "I can't tell if it’s a mannequin head, I mean a mannequin body or a body that's been in the water for some days." It is still unclear how long the girls were in the canal.
While there are still a lot of unanswered questions about this case, there has been an outpour of love for Daysha and Destiny worldwide. What happened to them was tragic, and they deserve to still be here today. They seemed to be two loving sisters who likely never thought that their lives would be cut short — especially if their mother had a big part in their deaths.
