Two teenagers in South Carolina, ages 16 and 15, are charged with murder after allegedly bludgeoning, stabbing, and then burning a 13-year-old girl inside a vacant house in what cops call a “gut-wrenching” killing that “shocks the conscious.”
“Brutal, heinous, violent, gruesome, monstrous, and disturbing. “These are the words I’d use to describe this murder investigation,” said Columbia Police Chief William “Skip” Holbrook during a press conference Saturday.
The victim, Ka’Niyah Baker, was discovered dead in a “structure fire” at a vacant home on Cardamon Court in Columbia last Wednesday night, according to the Columbia Police Department.
She had been reported missing on January 12, with the last sighting being approximately 20 miles from where she was discovered.
“The manner of death was not an accident,” Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford stated at Saturday’s press conference. “Ka’Niyah was bludgeoned, stabbed and burned.”
According to Holbrook, Baker was born and raised in Sumter and was most recently placed in foster care in Columbia.
She and the two suspects have all been “runaways,” Holbrook said, with each going missing within the last two months after leaving their homes.
“The first suspect is a 16-year-old female,” Holbrook explained. “Her last known address was in Columbia.” She was reported missing by her mother on January 12.
She has a history of disorderly conduct, malicious injury, and throwing bodily fluids; she was wanted by the Department of Juvenile Justice (Georgia) for cutting off her ankle monitor on January 12.
She was last enrolled in a local high school in January 2024, but she is now listed as a dropout and a frequent runaway.”
The second suspect was described as a 15-year-old female with her last known address in Columbia.
“She also was enrolled in a local high school as of last December,” Holbrook specified. “She is currently listed as dropped out and she also is a frequent runaway.”
Holbrook described Baker, saying, “She also has a history of running away.” The cause of death was blunt force trauma.
“We expect to pursue justice in this matter,” Fifth Circuit Solicitor Byron Gipson told reporters. A motive has yet to be disclosed.
“When you talk to people that have been involved in committing heinous crimes like this, you’re looking to seek answers and read their reactions,” Holbrook told the audience. “But sometimes, it’s when there are no reactions is what’s most troubling.”
When Baker was first reported missing on Jan. 16, flyers were distributed indicating that she was believed to be in danger, according to local ABC and CW affiliate WIS. She had already died in the fire by that point.
“The young woman’s description matched a few other women who were reported as runaways or missing,” Rutherford told the newspaper.
“So, the reason that the flyer went out for a missing teen, even though this person already deceased, was in the hopes that she was still alive and this was not her.”
Holbrook told reporters that Baker’s murder “has been an extremely difficult case” for investigators to solve.
“This shocks my conscience,” Holbrook said. “We have some work to do on our system. We have some work to do with our young people. There is too much despair. And we need to change that.
