15-year-old girl's death raises questions about security and supervision at group home
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The death of a 15-year-old girl who went missing from a group home in McKeesport only to be found dead in the apartment of a man she barely knew is raising questions about the system entrusted with protecting young people like her.
Kazyiah Thomas' life ended shortly after she allegedly met a store clerk at the Dollar General store in McKeesport. Police confirm she and that man went to his nearby apartment, where she died of an apparent overdose.
"A 15-year-old minor was found dead in this man's home, and he has not been arrested. He has just been questioned," said Fawn Walker-Montgomery of Take Action Advocacy Group.
KDKA-TV tried to speak with the man in question, but he wasn't at the Dollar General store on Wednesday. County homicide detectives visited his apartment again on Wednesday morning, but he wasn't there either.
Thomas' death raises concerns about security and supervision at the group home where she had been missing for more than a week. It's one of a half-dozen run by FamilyLinks for young people without biological or foster families.
"They let somebody go out when they wanted to and if they didn't care about them, they'd just let them leave," said a former resident who was friends with Thomas.
The friend said it was common practice for men to pick up the girl residents at night and take them home. She said she never went but the other girls told her they would sometimes get drugs in exchange for sex.
Sheehan: "They would go to guys' apartments?"
Former resident: "And do what they wanted to."
Sheehan: "They would exchange sex for drugs?"
Former resident: "Yeah."
Sheehan: "That's what you think or that's what you know?"
Former resident: "I know that some kids did have sex with guys and did get weed."
FamilyLinks is a non-profit organization contracted by Allegheny County Human Services for services to at-risk youth. Citing confidentiality, neither agency would comment on Thomas' death or the community's concerns.
According to its website, FamilyLinks assisted more than 660 young people last year with a variety of needs, including providing some supervised housing and care. Walker-Montgomery is calling for an investigation of the group homes.
"These are kids we're talking about, and they're coming and going doing," Walker-Montgomery said. "Drugs and lord knows what else. What the hell is going on?"
According to her friend, Thomas had been using hard drugs and her case worker from Children Youth and Family Services told her she was to go into treatment. In response, Thomas left the group home and had been on the streets for a week or more.
KDKA-TV confirmed a private investigator hired by CYF had been tracking her with an electronic monitoring bracelet when she died in the man's apartment. Her friend said she called her from Dollar General.
"She met somebody, told me they were going to do drugs and everything," the girls said. "She told me I have to go and I'll call you when I get there, and I never got the phone call."
"I told her not to go," she added. "I kept telling her don't go with him, you don't know him."
County police are investigating Thomas' death. Though they believe she died of a drug overdose, they are awaiting a toxicology screen and a report from the medical examiner.