A 5-year-old Kansas girl was reportedly raped and murdered at a homeless encampment in the woods after neighbors said her mother had kicked her and other family members out of their home.
Zoey Felix was found at a gas station with life-threatening injuries on Monday, according to the Topeka Police Department. She was taken to a hospital, where she died.
Mickel W. Cherry, 25, was arrested Tuesday and charged with murder and rape of a victim under the age of 14, local media outlet WBIW reported.
He was being held on $2 million bail.
Neighbors said the suspect had at one time lived in the same house as Zoey along with her father and sister.
Neighbors say the boy’s mother kicked them all to the sidewalk about two weeks ago, forcing them to live in a camp about a mile away, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.
Zoey Felix was found with life-threatening injuries at a Topeka gas station on Monday.gofundme
Zoey had a turbulent life at home, according to neighbors, who often saw the young woman running around unsupervised.
Her community worked together to help keep her bathed, clothed and fed, neighbors said.
They said she wasn’t attending school.
Neighbors said the suspect had at one time lived in the same house as Zoey along with her father and sister. FOX43
“Zoey didn’t deserve to be in anyone’s woods,” neighbor Sharon Williams told KSNT.
“This is your home right here. She has one, two, three, four, five people who would do anything for her.”
Neighbor Shaniqua Bradley said Zoey often stopped by her house for a bite to eat while wandering around the neighborhood.
Zoey had a turbulent life at home, according to neighbors, who often saw the young woman running around unsupervised.FOX43
“It was always ‘Can I stay? Can I stay?’” Bradley said of the girl.
“Normally, when a child insists on staying like this, something is going on at home.”
Bradley and other neighbors said they made numerous reports to the Kansas Department for Children and Families in the weeks before her death, citing deplorable living conditions in Zoey’s home, which lacked running water and was filled with feces.
Her community worked together to help keep her bathed, clothed and fed, neighbors said. They said she didn’t go to school.FOX43
But nothing was ever done, they said.
“I just reported the neglect that was going on,” Williams said.
“She’s always dirty, she doesn’t have food unless some of us feed her, but they obviously didn’t take that seriously.”
Mickel W. Cherry, 25, was arrested Tuesday and charged with murder and rape of a victim under 14 years old. Shawnee Co. Department of Corrections
Two or three weeks ago, Zoey’s neighbors realized she was gone, according to the Capital-Journal.
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They were devastated to learn that she had been killed.
“Everyone on the block took care of Zoey,” said Sheryl Tyree, who doesn’t live in the neighborhood but spends a lot of time there.
“Everyone loved Zoey except her parents.”
Kansas state legislators demand answers from the Department of Children and Families.
“We have to do more,” said Senator Oletha Faust-Goudeau.
“This is unacceptable”.
“We really need to dig into why the system is failing,” said Sen. Molly Baumgardner.
According to court documents reviewed by the Capital-Journal, Zoey’s mother pleaded guilty in March to aggravated assault causing bodily harm with a deadly weapon on a child born in 2018.
The boy was identified with the initials “ZF.”
If a child dies as a result of abuse or neglect, DCF has seven business days to release a summary of any previous abuse reports reviewed by the agency under the Kansas Open Records Act, according to the newspaper.
Topeka Police Chief Bryan Wheeles would not confirm whether authorities had any prior contact with the family or their relationship with the suspect.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn