Police: Body in Minnesota appears to be missing 2-year-old
This
photo provided by the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office shows Dariaz
Higgins on Saturday, March 16, 2019. A child's body found wrapped in a
blanket along a Minnesota highway is believed to be that of a missing
2-year-old girl whose mom police have said was fatally shot by Higgins,
her former pimp, authorities announced Saturday. (Milwaukee County
Sheriff’s Office via AP)
MILWAUKEE
(AP) — A child's body found wrapped in a blanket along a Minnesota
highway is believed to be that of a missing 2-year-old girl whose mom
police have said was fatally shot by her former pimp, authorities
announced Saturday.
The
discovery of the child's body came hours after officials had put out a
plea asking "the entire nation" to help find Noelani Robinson, whose
father, Dariaz Higgins, is charged with killing her mom in Milwaukee on
Monday. Police had said the child could be anywhere because her parents
had traveled through numerous states.
An
off-duty public works employee found the body that's believed to be
Noelani's while driving home Friday night, Milwaukee Police Chief
Alfonso Morales told reporters. The body was inside a blanket off the
shoulder of Minnesota Highway 218 north of Austin, about 300 miles (483
kilometers) west of Milwaukee, Morales said.
The
Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said in a statement Saturday
night that Higgins had stayed at a hotel in Austin at some point in the
past week.
How
and when the child died is not yet known. An autopsy has not been
conducted yet, but authorities believe the death did not occur in the
last 24 hours and that the girl "had been there for quite some time,"
Morales said.
He would not comment on the condition of the body, but the BCA said the child died from blunt force trauma to the head.
Asked
whether authorities believe Higgins was responsible for the child's
death, Morales told reporters, "That's where the criminal investigation
is shooting for. It's just too early to tell."
Authorities
have not disclosed a motive in the death of the girl's mom, 24-year-old
Sierra Robinson. Police said Higgins was Robinson's pimp and they had
been romantically involved but were no longer together. Robinson had
left Noelani with Higgins when she moved to Las Vegas last month but
wanted her back, authorities said.
Higgins,
34, is accused of fatally shooting Robinson and wounding one of her
friends. Police arrested him Wednesday and prosecutors have charged him
with first-degree intentional homicide. Online court records do not list
an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
The
friend told police that Higgins had been living in Miami when he agreed
to meet Robinson in Milwaukee to return Noelani to her. However,
charging documents list a Milwaukee address for Higgins.
According
to those documents, Higgins, Robinson, and her friend spent time
driving around together in Milwaukee doing drugs Monday, before Higgins
took them to an apartment building where he told them Noelani was.
Authorities have not said whether they believe Noelani was there at the
time. Prosecutors said Higgins shot Robinson and her friend when they
got out of the car.
An Amber Alert had been issued for Noelani but was canceled Saturday.
Morales
had suggested Friday that Noelani could be in the hands of human
traffickers, but declined to provide details for why investigators
believed that, other than to say, "That's the world that these two
individuals lived in, the victim and the suspect."
The chief said Saturday that his department has sent two detectives to Minnesota.
"This
is our job, and the closure is not the closure we like to find. But ...
it's something that we have to come out and do," Morales said.
.
