A Florida mother has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder more than three weeks after the bodies of her young daughters were found floating in a canal near Fort Lauderdale.
Tinessa Hogan, 36, was taken into custody Tuesday night at Florida Medical Center in Lauderdale Lakes, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Hogan was being held without bond at the Broward County Jail after refusing to come before the judge to answer to the charges, the Sentinel reported.
An arrest warrant has been sealed to protect the integrity of the investigation, which is ongoing.
Credit: Broward Sheriff's Office
Credit: Broward Sheriff's Office
Hogan, who has been under psychiatric care since the grim discovery, was first questioned as a person of interest in the case but was not charged until this week.
Her daughters, Destiny Hogan, 9, and Daysha Hogan, 7, were found hours apart on June 22 in a canal behind a condominium complex in Lauderhill.
Reports said Hogan was spotted a day earlier swimming in the canal with the children, carrying a Bible and offering to baptize people in the neighborhood, according to the Miami Herald.
It was the last time the girls were seen alive.
Their bodies were found the next day more than eight hours apart in the same L-shaped canal that runs directly behind homes located on NW 21st Street, not far from Florida’s Turnpike, reports said.
Authorities have not yet revealed how they died.
Destiny’s body was spotted just after noon on June 22, and Daysha’s body was found just before 9 p.m. about 500 feet from her sister near the Habitat II Condominium in Lauderhill, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
Notably, the girls were never reported missing.
The following morning, Lauderhill Police Lt. Mike Santiago acknowledged investigators were frustrated and had not developed any suspects in the case.
But after detectives knocked on doors in the neighborhood and asked the public for help, Hogan’s name surfaced along with reports of her being seen in the canal on Monday evening.
A neighbor discovered the first body floating in the waterway about noon on June 22 and called 911.
“It shocked me ... I froze, then I started to cry,” Lawana Johnson said, according to CBS News.
From there, detectives walked the length of the canal behind the community but did not immediately find anything else.
But about 8:45 p.m., police received a second 911 call reporting the second girl’s body, which was spotted about 500 feet away in the same canal, reports said.
The first girl was wearing jean shorts and a gray T-shirt with the word “Dance” in rainbow-colored lettering, police said. The second girl was wearing a tan top and flowered pajama pants, police said.
There was no early indication of trauma or foul play, which initially stumped investigators.
“We can’t determine at this point if they’re related, because it’s just, the juvenile was just found,” Santiago said at the time. “However, detectives are trying to piece the puzzle together.”
Police were able to obtain photographs of the family, which they used to ask neighbors for more information.
The family lived in the area, and the mother was known to neighbors by the name Precious, according to Lauderhill Police Lt. Mike Bigwood.
There were no records of child welfare workers ever being called out to the family’s home.
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