A little girl was killed by her babysister.
FORT WAYNE -
A babysitter and trusted neighbor has confessed that he bludgeoned a 9-year-old Indiana girl to death with a brick then dismembered her with a hacksaw, hiding her head, hands and feet at his home and dumping the rest of her remains nearby, police said Tuesday.
Allen County sheriff's investigators said in an affidavit that 39-year-old Michael Plumadore admits he killed Aliahna Lemmon on Dec. 22.
According to the affidavit, Plumadore told police that after beating Aliahna to death, he stuffed her body into trash bags and hid her in the freezer at his trailer. He said he later chopped up her body and stuffed her remains into freezer bags.
Police said Plumadore told them he had hidden Aliahna's head, feet and hands at his trailer and that he had discarded her other remains at a nearby business. Police obtained a warrant to search his trailer on Monday and found the body parts.
A judge ordered Plumadore held without bail or bond at an initial hearing Tuesday, sheriff's department spokesman Cpl. Jeremy Tinkel said. He has yet to be formally charged in Aliahna's death.
Aliahna and her two younger sisters were staying with Plumadore because their mother had been sick with the flu.
The girl's relatives told the newspaper that Plumadore had cared for Aliahna's ailing grandfather until his death early this month and was living in her grandfather's mobile home.
"He was a trusted family friend," Aliahna's step-grandfather, David Story, told The Associated Press late Monday, saying he was surprised by the arrest.
Plumadore told The Journal Gazette on Sunday that Aliahna disappeared from his home Friday morning while he was sleeping after having gone to a gas station about a mile away to buy a cigar. Authorities have said the store's surveillance video shows him there about that time.
More than 100 emergency workers searched for her Saturday around the rundown mobile home park where Aliahna and Plumadore lived and FBI agents were there Monday.
Sheriff Ken Fries said investigators questioned Plumadore on Friday and Saturday and that he was arrested Monday after being interviewed by detectives for several hours more.
"The story just didn't make sense to our investigators or to me when I first heard it," Fries said Monday night. "I thought this is the guy we needed to focus on. If we are going to find her, he's going to be the one who has the answers for us."
A babysitter and trusted neighbor has confessed that he bludgeoned a 9-year-old Indiana girl to death with a brick then dismembered her with a hacksaw, hiding her head, hands and feet at his home and dumping the rest of her remains nearby, police said Tuesday.
Allen County sheriff's investigators said in an affidavit that 39-year-old Michael Plumadore admits he killed Aliahna Lemmon on Dec. 22.
According to the affidavit, Plumadore told police that after beating Aliahna to death, he stuffed her body into trash bags and hid her in the freezer at his trailer. He said he later chopped up her body and stuffed her remains into freezer bags.
Police said Plumadore told them he had hidden Aliahna's head, feet and hands at his trailer and that he had discarded her other remains at a nearby business. Police obtained a warrant to search his trailer on Monday and found the body parts.
A judge ordered Plumadore held without bail or bond at an initial hearing Tuesday, sheriff's department spokesman Cpl. Jeremy Tinkel said. He has yet to be formally charged in Aliahna's death.
Aliahna and her two younger sisters were staying with Plumadore because their mother had been sick with the flu.
The girl's relatives told the newspaper that Plumadore had cared for Aliahna's ailing grandfather until his death early this month and was living in her grandfather's mobile home.
"He was a trusted family friend," Aliahna's step-grandfather, David Story, told The Associated Press late Monday, saying he was surprised by the arrest.
Plumadore told The Journal Gazette on Sunday that Aliahna disappeared from his home Friday morning while he was sleeping after having gone to a gas station about a mile away to buy a cigar. Authorities have said the store's surveillance video shows him there about that time.
More than 100 emergency workers searched for her Saturday around the rundown mobile home park where Aliahna and Plumadore lived and FBI agents were there Monday.
Sheriff Ken Fries said investigators questioned Plumadore on Friday and Saturday and that he was arrested Monday after being interviewed by detectives for several hours more.
"The story just didn't make sense to our investigators or to me when I first heard it," Fries said Monday night. "I thought this is the guy we needed to focus on. If we are going to find her, he's going to be the one who has the answers for us."
Replies
so much tragedy and loss......
Yes this is really Sad But What I don\'t understand is why this mother left her child with someone that she hardly knows The man looks evil and mean from the picture that I saw of him on the news.
This is why I don\'t let anyone but my own mother who obviously I know the parenting style of look after my children, everyone says im over the top but it is so not worth the risks, The poor girl must of been terrified as he attacked her, this breaks my heart and makes me pull my daughters in even closer, so awful