Two teen girls who were reported runaways from a Mesa, Ariz. group home were found dead in a water retention basin in the area Saturday, according to officials.
Mesa police identified the bodies as 15-year-old Kamryn Meyers and 17-year-old Sitlalli Avelar. There is no official cause of death declared yet, but based on evidence, authorities deduced the bodies had been in the water for a while before being discovered.
Foul play is suspectedbut not yet confirmed, police toldAZ Family Newsin Phoenix, Ariz.
The teenagers were discovered when a man walking his dog spotted what he at first thought was amannequin in the waterand called authorities to investigate, according toWAFB News.
The two girls had been staying at a group home near the basin, and had been reported missing on Jan. 7, the news outlet said
NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING & EXPLOITED CHILDREN
According to its website, the home hopes to provide a “comprehensive focus of moving abused and neglected children towards self-sufficiency.”
Brad Miller, an attorney for Powerhouse, told ABC15 that the girls had ahistory of leavingprevious group homes.
“They’re not allowed to lock these children in these facilities. So oftentimes the children are free to leave,” Miller told the outlet.
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One of the girls had been living at the Mesa location for a month, while the other had logged two months there, he said.
Meanwhile, local police are tirelessly working to put the pieces of what happened together.
Mesa Police Det. Richard Encinas told Fox 10: “Our detectives have not stopped working on this case since Saturday. We don’t wait on a medical examiner’s report to kind of guide us in a direction. Our investigators have beengoing nonstopat this since it happened.”
“Most of us have children, most of us have teenagers around that age so we definitely feel the effects of that,” he added.
source: people.com
