The loved ones of a Chicago girl found strangled to death an abandoned Gary, Indiana building made a surprising and emotional appeal to a member of their own family Thursday evening.
Connita Richardson, 17, was found dead Wednesday in an abandoned school in Gary, Indiana.
“She was young, full of life, everybody loved her,” her mother Connie Richardson said.
The Dunbar High School junior lived with her family in Chicago and was last seen visiting her grandfather Sunday on Hyde Park Boulevard. As to how or why she ended up in the Indiana town, her family says they still do not know.
On Tuesday, police got a call about a suspicious person in an abandoned building. Later that night Connita – “Kiki” as they called her – was identified as the young girl officers found strangled to death.
Although authorities are not calling him a suspect, the heartbroken family believes that Connita's cousin – a man newly released from prison – is responsible for her death.
Connita, the middle of five grieving brothers and sisters, is thought to have been with her cousin most recently. Their family is convinced he is dangerous.
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“He did it before, he’ll do it again,” Connita’s cousin Timothy Williams said. “That was last person who she was with. And number two, where she was found was two blocks from where he lives ... We need to find him, because I know he’s not going to stop.”
As the distraught family gathered Thursday, they begged for answers on the girl’s unexpected death.
“Please, turn yourself in,” a sobbing Connie Richarson pleaded. “You know what you did was wrong. You know this. That was your cousin, come on. Family don't [sic] do that.”
As of Thursday evening, police had no suspects in custody.
