Authorities in Pennsylvania have determined that the dismembered remains discovered at the end of last month belong to a transgender adolescent who was reported missing.
Last Monday, the Pennsylvania State Police and the Mercer County Coroner’s Office verified that the body pieces discovered on June 25 in Shenango River Lake, a reservoir located in northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania, belonged to 14-year-old Pauly Likens Jr.
According to authorities, Likens was last seen early on June 23 at a public park in Sharon, Pennsylvania, her birthplace, which is located roughly 15 miles east of Youngstown, Ohio. Two days later, on the same day that unidentified human remains were found nearby, she was reported missing.
On Wednesday, the coroner’s office determined that the remains belonged to Likens. According to the police, “sharp force trauma to the head” was the cause of death, and “some type of cutting instrument” had severed her body.
According to court filings, DaShawn Watkins, 29, was detained last week to Likens’ death and charged with first-degree murder, aggravated assault, abusing a body, and tampering or fabricating physical evidence. If proven guilty, Watkins can receive the death penalty or a life sentence in prison.
A request for comment from Likens’ family was not immediately answered by Watkins’ attorney, and attempts to get in touch with them were not successful.
In recent days, Pamela Ladner, the director of the Shenango Valley LGBTQIA+ Alliance, an LGBTQ advocacy group in Mercer County, communicated with Likens’ family, who verified Likens’ gender identity. According to Ladner, Likens’ mother is “in complete and utter shock,” asking solitude and putting pressure on the police to accuse Watkins of committing a hate crime.
“The extreme brutality with which Pauly was killed, then dismembered, placed in bags, and dumped into the river, among other locations,” Ladner remarked. The ability to accomplish something like that alone radiates a great deal of hate.
Authorities do not currently believe that anti-transgender prejudice was the driving force behind the homicide, according to Mercer County District Attorney Peter C. Acker, although this could change as the investigation continues. “One of the most heinous crimes I’ve seen in 46 years of practicing law,” he said of the murder.
“I have fragments of a 14-year-old murder victim’s body; she was brutally murdered, her head severely injured. I desire justice,” Acker declared. “People are free to express themselves and support any viewpoint they choose, but, quite honestly, the first thing we need to do is convict this person of the basic crimes.”
According to a criminal complaint released by NBC News, Likens was at a friend’s house the night before she vanished and left to walk home between 9 and 9:30 p.m. Authorities are alleged to have been informed by her friend that Likens spoke with her on Snapchat a few hours later, at approximately 2:30 a.m.
According to the complaint, authorities used security footage and cellular data to link Watkins to Likens and the crime scene.
According to the complaint, a video appears to show Likens waiting for someone on the day she went missing, between 3 and 3:40 a.m., at Budd Street Public Park, which is next to the reservoir where her body was discovered. The complaint states that at approximately 3:40 a.m., Likens’ cellphone last made contact with nearby cell towers before its service was disconnected. Likens’ phone is still missing.
Around the time that Likens’ phone ceased contacting cellphone towers, Watkins’ automobile was seen moving to and from the vicinity of the park on footage from nearby businesses, according to the criminal complaint. Watkins can also be seen straining to carry a heavy duffel bag and trash bags into and out of his flat in footage taken that morning, June 23, and the day after.
The complaint further states that tests conducted on Watkins’ flat revealed the presence of blood in several places, including the bathroom and beneath the flooring. The complaint claims that on the day that Likens vanished, Watkins also purchased a cutting saw. One of the saw’s replaceable blades was missing when Watkins’ flat was the scene of the police recovery last week, the report stated.
According to the complaint, Watkins admitted to having sex with a person he met on the well-known gay dating app Grindr the morning Likens vanished when he was examined by officials last week. The same person, whose description matched Likens’, was a sexual partner of Watkins’, who informed police the person never returned to his apartment. When questioned by the authorities on the bulky bags he brought into and out of his apartment, Watkins claimed that they were holiday belongings from a month earlier that he had forgotten to take out of his car.
On July 25, Watkins is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing.
A vigil for Likens will take place in Sharon on Saturday, according to Ladner.
