LAUDERHILL, FLA. (WSVN) - Police have arrested a mother after the bodies of her two daughters were found floating in a Lauderhill canal.
Lauderhill Police have arrested 36-year-old Tinessa Hogan. She faces two counts of first-degree murder after her daughters, 9-year-old Destiny Hogan and 7-year-old Daysha Hogan, were both found dead in a canal on June 22.
Neighbors and first responders found the girls hours apart near Northwest 21st Street and 56th Avenue.
“I need you guys to come off of 56th in the Habitat area to see if there’s a little girl’s body in the water,” a 911 caller said. “I can’t tell if it’s a mannequin head or I mean, a mannequin body.”
Witnesses said they saw the mother lure her two daughters into the canal days before their death.
A 911 dispatcher asked, “Were there any weapons involved?”
“No, ma’am, she’s just floating upside down,” a 911 caller said.
Neighbors also said she had been acting strange. There was talk of her baptizing her daughters and others in the canal.
“The rumor is there was a lady in the canal trying to get the kids to get baptized and trying to lure them down to the lake,” a resident said.
“She was in the canal,” said a police spokesperson. “She was offering to baptize people in the neighborhood. That is an angle we’re exploring.”
Hogan was in distress when she was found by authorities by the canal, and she was taken into custody under Florida’s Baker Act. Neighbors said she suffered from mental illness.
She was to appear before a judge on Wednesday, but she refused. Her case was sealed for 90 days by a judge, and she was denied bond.
If you have any information on this double homicide, call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a reward of up to $5,000.
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