Human remains show 17-year-old was killed by boyfriend in 2021, NC sheriff says
A 5-year-old missing person’s case took a sinister turn this week when investigators revealed the missing teen had been killed in 2021 and her body hidden in woods near North Carolina’s Cape Fear River.
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The girl’s boyfriend at the time has been arrested as a suspect, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office says.
Kabron Markel Thaggard, 22, is accused of killing 17-year-old Laniyah Danyell Whitted during an argument at a home on Deep Creek Road in Fayetteville, investigators say.
Whitted was reported missing on Nov. 23, 2021. Her whereabouts remained a mystery until July 30, when human remains were found in a wooded area in the 1300 block of Deep Creek Road. The remains were identified as Whitted on Aug. 3, officials said.
An arrest warrant reports she was fatally shot on Nov. 19, 2021, as she and Thaggard were at the home of an acquaintance. He was 18 at the time.
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“Thaggard and Whitted were involved in a verbal domestic dispute. Thaggard pulled a handgun and shot Whitted,” the warrant says.
Thaggard was arrested Aug. 3 and has been charged with first-degree murder and concealment of a body, the sheriff’s office said.
“While this outcome is heartbreaking, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office is grateful that Laniyah has been found and identified, allowing her family to finally have answers after years of uncertainty,” Cumberland County Sheriff Johnathan Morgan said in a Facebook post.
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Fayetteville is about a 65-mile drive southwest from downtown Raleigh.
