Mar 16, 2008 1:48 pm US/Eastern
Family Mourns Death Of 15-Year-Old Girl
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
There is grief and anger for the family of a 15-year-old girl murdered almost a month ago.
It took investigators three weeks to identify her body, and now they are searching for her killer.
Kathryn Brown reports people close to the investigation say it was a particularly brutal murder, very violent, with many unanswered questions.
The flag at Woodlawn High School flies at half-staff in memory of 15-year-old Tyisha Brown.
"Now she can never fulfill her dreams. Now she's not even gonna be here to see her sweet 16 birthday," said Ashley Young, Brown's friend.
Brown's beaten, broken body was found Feb. 16 lying in the middle of Woodland Avenue in Baltimore City.
Though her family reported her missing to Baltimore County Police, it was three weeks before investigators positively identified her body. It's still not clear exactly why it took so long.
"A lot of people were worried, and then we found out that she had been murdered. I saw a lot of sadness," said Brown's classmate Michael McNeal.
"There's people still crying about it, calling each other up trying to console each other," said a friend.
Friends and teachers describe Brown as a bubbly girl with a bright future and a signature color she wore every day.
"She always wore the same color to school every day. It was mostly red," said Brown's friend Jeremy Buford.
"Just laughing all the time. Always in the hallways. Everybody knew who Tyisha was," said Lauren Morissey.
To Charlene Brown-Baldwin, the owner of the funeral home where Tyisha's body is, the young girl's murder is especially disturbing and a sign of a frightening change in city crime.
"First it was our men, and now it's our women. Things are getting worse," said Brown-Baldwin.
As Tyisha's family grieves her death, they are demanding her killer be brought to justice.
"Why? That's all I want to know is just why. She never deserved none of that at all," said Young.
Baltimore City Police are leading the investigation. They are not commenting on where it stands or whether they have any suspects.
Tyisha's funeral was held Saturday morning at 10 a.m.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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