15-Year-Old Arrested In Death Of 14-Year-Old Girl
14-Year-Old's Body Found Near Dumpster, 3 Weeks After Reported Missing
POSTED: Wednesday, July 23, 2008
UPDATED: 10:53 am EDT July 25,2008
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Police have arrested a 15-year-old boy in the killing of 14-year-old Neica Gibbs. Gibbs' decomposing was body found outside a trash bin in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday night.
Detectives said Gibbs and the 15-year-old boy had gotten into an argument on June 28.
The girl had been reported missing since June 29. That's when her grandmother and legal guardian, Barbara Queer, said she was supposed spend the night with her aunt, Linda Pendegrass.
Police said Gibbs' body was found wrapped in a blue tarp next to the trash bin, located in the 2700 block of Southwest Sixth Drive -- the same street where she was supposed to be staying the night she went missing.
Lorraine Bogges was cleaning up the trash left on the ground outside the bin when she found Gibbs' decomposing body.
On Thursday, a purple teddy bear marked the spot where the girl's body was found.
Police had been investigating several leads, including Gibbs' MySpace.com page, which was last updated Tuesday.
The heading on Gibbs' page reads: "UM GONE N B**** I AINT NEVA COMMING HOME."
Local 10 learned that detectives were at the trailer park inspecting a hole underneath the home where the girl's body might have been hidden.
Neighbors reported smelling a foul odor, but police said no one notified them about it. Anthony Mack said he believed someone put the body under the trailer and moved it when the odor became too strong.
“It’s totally sinister, it’s totally ridiculous, whatever happened to her I’ve seen the hand of evil.” said Pastor Wayne Manning of the Omega Church on Sunrise Boulevard. He said Gibbs worshipped there three times a week and he showed Local 10 video of the young girl 'Praise Dancing' during a recent service.
Police on Thursday also responded to criticism that they didn't do more to find Gibbs.
"The family's been in consistent contact with us, and we had no reason to believe that there was any foul play or the child was endangered," Fort Lauderdale police Sgt. Frank Sousa said.
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