Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Black-on-black violence: The remains of a 14-year-old girl missing for four months have been found in the wilderness near her home in Portland, Oregon

Yashanee Vaughn was last seen at a Taco Bell in March 2011. Just days later police arrested her 16-year-old boyfriend after he told his father he had shot Yashanee by mistake. Parrish Bennette also claimed that he had hidden her body in the wooded Rocky Butte area, saying they'll never find her there. Her disappearance devastated the community and her mother, Shaquita Louis, led a high-profile campaign to find her. After a three-month search investigators announced that they had discovered the remains of a woman, after Bennette told them where he'd hidden her - only a mile from his home. They were positively identified as Yashanee, exactly four months after she went missing. She died from a single gunshot to the head. Yashanee vanished on March 19, after having dinner with Bennette. Police arrested her boyfriend two weeks later, after he confessed to his father that his gun had gone off by mistake. The day before Yashanee died he had taken a photograph of himself with his cell phone holding a gun. When officers searched his home, they found that his bedroom carpet was soaked with blood which matched Yashanee's DNA, according to court documents. They also found blood on the walls, spattered over furniture and on the floorboards, where it had penetrated through the carpet. Bennette has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter with a firearm.

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