Police Believe Lancaster Teen Was Taken For Ransom
LANCASTER (CBSDFW.COM) - A vigil and march will take place Monday evening in remembrance of Shavon Randle, the 13-year-old girl from Lancaster who was found dead four days after she was taken from her home. As families call for justice, the investigation into Randle's death is far from over.
The Lancaster Police Department has charged two suspects with kidnapping, however, there has still been no word about how Randle died or who might be responsible for her death. It was early Sunday morning that FBI agents discovered the girl's body inside of an abandoned Oak Cliff home.
Police had put out an Amber Alert four days earlier. The search involved both local and federal authorities. Officers also found the body of 19-year-old Michael Titus at the abandoned home along Kiest Boulevard.
He was the last person of interest in this case to be located. Officials have not said how Titus died.
"My child was not responsible for this," said Angel Titus, mother of Michael Titus. "If he was responsible for this, he would not be dead." She has been cooperating with police during their investigation. She said that she is hurting with -- not against -- the Randle family. "I pray that y'all not against me either."
Agents spent all of Sunday going in and out of the Oak Cliff home, collecting evidence. They are promising justice for Randle, something that many people at the scene want to see. Family members and strangers stopped by the crime scene on Sunday to mourn the teen's death.
"I have daughters her age," said Erica Love. "I don't know the story, what's going on, but it touched me."
The Dallas Department of Code Compliance boarded up the home on Monday morning, so that nobody else could go inside.
According to an arrest warrant for one of the kidnapping suspects, police believe that Randle was taken for ransom. Devontae Owens and Laquon Wilkerson are now behind bars in Dallas, arrested late Saturday and charged with aggravated kidnapping. The warrant states that Randle was payback for a drug robbery.
Two additional suspects are in jail on drug charges.
A relative of Randle told authorities that her boyfriend stole a large amount of drugs last Monday. She then received a phone call from a man claiming that he had Randle. The suspects allegedly told the relative, "Give us our s*** back or we are going to kill her."
An anonymous informant told FBI agents that the suspect on the phone was known as 'Trey,' later confirmed by officials to be Owens. The informant also explained that "a male stole his narcotics from Motel 6 and that he was going to kidnap a child to get his narcotics back."
All of this corroborates the story that family members of Titus had been saying: "He robbed them, they retaliated."