DNA Confirms Remains In Burned Home That Of Mariha Smith
DETROIT (WWJ) - A DNA test has confirmed that 5-year-old Mariha Smith, missing since last Sunday, was indeed the girl found dead in a burned home on Detroit's west side.
Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office spokesman Dennis Niemiec confirmed to WWJ Newsradio 950, Friday, that a DNA test to determine the identity of
the burned girl was positive for Mariha.
He said the girl's family has been notified.
Earlier this week, the Wayne County Medical Examiner said homicide by asphyxia the cause of death. The report indicated she died before her body was badly burned in the abandoned house on Waverly Street. Her body was found Monday.
Police believe Smith was abducted from a home on Burlingame, not far from that abandoned house. The child was last seen by her mother at about 3 a.m. Sunday on the floor of her sister's home. Konesha Smith said her oldest daughter was sleeping with her two younger brothers and sister in front of a fan in a front window. Smith says she slept on a nearby couch.
When she woke at 10 a.m. Sunday, Smith said, she assumed her daughter was watching TV with the other kids, but about noon she noticed her daughter was missing.
A Detroit Police investigation continues.
