Where is 10 month old Lauryn Dickens?/ Mother, Shakara Dickens, found GUILTY of Manslaughter and Second Degree Murder.

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) - Police say a Memphis mother has admitted to giving her baby to a stranger, and not reporting the incident for ten days.

Police believe one of the baby's parents, Lauryn Dickens, knows where she is, and the convoluted situation may be a case of "custodial interference."

Family law books define custodial interference as "the taking or keeping of a child from the custodial parent with the intent to interfere with that parent's rightful physical custody."

Monday, jail records said baby's father, Benjamin Norfleet, was in jail on a building burglary charge. He told police he knows nothing about the baby's location.

But according to an incident report, the baby's mother, Shakara Dickens, told police she talked with Norfleet on September 7 about "the welfare of the child and her not being able to care for the child properly."

The report said Norfleet told Dickens to, "give the child to an unknown female-white."

Dickens said the woman came to her Raleigh apartment complex that day. She allegedly gave the baby to the woman, and has not seen her daughter for about a week and a half.

The woman who allegedly took the baby was described as a white female, 40 to 50 years old, who wears eyeglasses and has gray, shoulder-length, straight hair with a center part. The woman was last seen wearing a buttoned blouse, khaki Capri pants, and white, closed to sandals.

Lauryn Dickens, was last seen wearing a brown onsie with one pink flower and pink dots. She is one-foot, nine inches tall, and weighs just 17 pounds.

Monday, Shakara Dickens did not want to comment for this story. Police haven't issued an Amber Alert, because the mother consented to handing over the baby.

If you know where Lauryn Dickens may be, call Missing Persons at 901-636-4479.

source:http://www.wmctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13185835

:jaw dropping: Why? to a stranger when there are so many worthy couples out there that want a a baby?

Unless she killed the baby and is just covering up her crime.

Or unless the father arranged a sale for the baby through someone he met in prison? That sounds far-fetched but still it could be true.

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) - Action News 5 was the only station on the scene as a police cadaver dog hit on a scent Tuesday afternoon inside an apartment in the Raleigh Village complex on Yale Road where nine-month-old Lauryn Dickens was reported missing by her mother late last week.

"Don't have a comment," said one detective.

Police were tight-lipped about their search warrant, but a crime scene technician removed a number of paper sacks and baby toys from the apartment.

No body was recovered and there was no sign of 19 year-old Shakara Dickens, who claims she gave her baby to a total stranger more than a week before she reported little Lauryn missing.

"She didn't want the baby, apparently," said neighbor Phyllis Davenport.

She and others have tried to rationalize the mother's actions.

"She need to be checked out," said Davenport. "Maybe going through depression and just couldn't handle it."

Copyright 2010 WMC-TV. All rights reserved.
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Maybe I am a pessimist...but my initial reaction was...she killed her.

cherylz wrote:Maybe I am a pessimist...but my initial reaction was...she killed her.

I do not think you are a pessimist. You have good instincts.

She is following in Casey's footsteps. That is what I thought when I read the headline.

Another egg donor gets rid of her beautiful child. R they crazy enough to think they can kill a child and say they gave it to the white woman that came by? Who does she think she is? Gabriel's mother??. This madness has got to stop.

What about this 4 year old boy is missing as well?
They hardly mentioned it. If she is 19 and she has a four year old as well she was pregnant at what 14?
13? Quick! Where are the lawyers like Baez rushing to defend her - where is her dream team of 6 lawyers rushing to defend her. Why havent any stepped up.
What is different between Casey and this woman?
Theres really not going to be any interest in this case in a few days unless NG's show keeps it alive.

Love her or hate her, at least Nancy gets their names on tv.

Yes the Grace show and JVM do that at least and a lot of times I like it when Nancy gives them hell.
Maybe its fake but i get a real satisfaction when they all start stumbling around for answers especially the ones the excuse themselves for their horrendous acts.

Mother of missing baby in custody as Memphis police investigation continues
By Kevin McKenzie
Memphis Commercial Appeal
Posted September 22, 2010 at 12:09 p.m., updated September 22, 2010 at 10:48 p.m.

Amid a storm of media and Internet speculation, Memphis police placed the mother of a missing 10-month-old girl in custody while their investigation continues.

Police arrested Shakara Dickens, 19, at about 6 p.m. Tuesday, according to Shelby County Jail and court records.

Homicide investigators aided by dogs on Tuesday searched Dickens' apartment at the Raleigh Village Apartments, 4992 Yale. They collected items but did not find the missing child, Lauryn Dickens.

Dickens had not been charged but was held in Jail East for women for an aggravated child abuse investigation, according to court records. Police said she was still in custody Wednesday night.

Dickens reported her daughter missing on Sept. 15, telling police that she had given the child on Sept. 7 to a woman she did not know, according to a police report.

Dickens told police that she had spoken with the child's jailed father "about the welfare of the child and her not being able to care for the child properly," according to the report. She told police that the father said a woman would show up at her Raleigh apartment at about 11 a.m. to get the child, and that she gave Lauryn to the stranger.

Dickens described the woman in detail: A 40- to 50-year-old white woman with gray, shoulder-length, straight hair parted in the center. She was wearing glasses, a white button-down blouse, khaki capri shorts and white, closed-toe sandals.

Police contacted the father -- identified in police and court records as Benjamin Norfleet, 19, of Collierville -- and his mother, but learned nothing to help the investigation of the missing child.

Norfleet has been held for months in Shelby County Jail, primarily on vehicle burglary charges and with a bond set at more than $1.1 million, according to jail records.

In April 2009, Norfleet was driving a white Hummer H2 on Shelby Drive near Airways that police were looking for after a rash of vehicle burglaries at Southland Mall, according to court records. Dickens was a passenger in the Hummer.

Police charged both of them with burglary of a motor vehicle, but prosecutors later dismissed the charge against Dickens.

The Internet and national media have fueled broad speculation about Dickens and her missing daughter.

Websites ranging from Justice4Caylee.org -- named for Florida toddler Caylee Anthony, whose mother is accused of murdering her in 2008 -- to an international site called Help Find My Child have publicized and tracked Lauryn's case.

"We're not convicting these people in the media or anything, we're just running a website trying to help kids," said Melissa Ryan, 44, of Oklahoma City, administrator of the Justice4Caylee.org site.

An introduction to a discussion on Tuesday on the Headline News show "Nancy Grace" ended with these lines, according to a transcript: "Why would mommy call the police if she gave her baby away willingly? And why did she wait eight days? Something stinks."

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I also agree that this is very suspicious! We have all heard of too many "mothers" like this whose children suddenly disappear... only to turn up murdered by their own "mothers"!! I really hope that is not the case, but it doesn't sound too hopeful.

Shakara Dickens




Benjamin Norfleet

Thanks for the pictures rainbow.

If people think that Casey's and Elizabeth's case
hasnt made an impact as far as excuses for people
who "dispose" of their children - then all they have to do is pay attention to the news. Every day its happening.

Yes, and sometimes I wonder if these horrific news events should get so much publicity like NG.

However, I have to agree with you, Art, when Nancy gets going and the defense attorneys and such don't know what to say. I just think that she and possibly JVM publicize the heck out of these stories that it gives these stupid young mothers ideas.

Lauryn Dickens: Missing two weeks unreported

Posted on September 22nd, 2010 by Valhall

In a case that at first glance appears to have “shades of Casey” written all over it, a 9-month old baby girl, Lauryn Dickens, has been missing since September 7th – according to her mother, Shakara Dickens. Shakara claims she gave Lauryn up to a friend of Lauryn’s father after speaking with him about it. But Lauryn’s father, Benjamin Norfleet, is sitting in jail and states he knows nothing about the situation. The friend Shakara states she handed Lauryn off to is described, by Shakara, as being a white middle-aged woman between 40 and 50 years of age, with gray shoulder-length hair who wore glasses, a white blouse, khaki pants and sandals.

Memphis police apparently didn’t buy the story. They obtained a search warrant to search Shakara’s Raleigh, Tennessee apartment and took Shakara into custody Tuesday night. Charges have not yet been announced. Technicians were seen carrying evidence sacks out of the apartment along with baby toys during the search.

So aside from giving her baby to a total stranger who apparently does not exist in the baby’s life the way Shakara claims (i.e. “friend” of father), the more disturbing part of this story is that Shakara did, in fact, report Lauryn missing – after 10 days. That, and it is reported a cadaver dog hit on a scent during the search of the apartment.


Layren Dickens

Valhall.

References:

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Tags: benjamin norfleet, lauryn dickens, shakara dickens
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Mother of a Missing 10 Month Baby Jailed - Held on a $2 Million Bond

Posted on September 26th, 2010
by Jan Barrett

On September 15th, 2010 a 10 month old baby girl, Lauryn Dickens was reported missing yet the mother claims she hadn’t seen the child since September 7th according to myfoxmemphis.com.

Shakara Dickens, 19, was arrested and charged with Aggravated Child Abuse and False Reporting. She appeared in court Friday morning and was placed on a $2 Million bond. She is expected to be back in court on October 1, 2010.

Dickson’s cousin, Kayla Davidson claims that Dickson’s actions just doesn’t reflect those of a concerned mother as she spoke up about her cousin and she says she feels that other members of the Dickens family knows a lot more about what happened to little Lauryn than they are telling the police.

Davidson, who also is the mother of a 10 month old, says she grew up with her cousin. She admits she is a bit frustrated with the way the family is handling the disappearance of little Lauryn. She says, “They don’t want to give any statements. They don’t want to talk to the news but why not if it’s anybody in my family or anything like that, I’m going to want answers. I would want to say something and let it be known.”

Dickens explanation about her daughter missing kept changing. At first she said she gave her baby to a stranger. Then she said her parents had her at their home on West Hickory Bluff. Investigators found nothing at the parent’s home when they searched it. Shakara’s mother, Traci Dickson’s home was searched and they collected 108 items as evidence, ranging from baby clothing, blankets, diapers and a play pen to a stuffed purple dinosaur and bunny toys.

Davidson says Shakara has another child, a little boy around 2 years old. Davidson seems to think that Dickens resented little Lauryn since she was born. “She treated Lauryn different because the baby’s father, Benjamin Norfleet, is in jail and he can’t help her, so I guess she blamed Lauryn for it,” said Davidson.

Davidson claims she is pleading with Lauryn’s family to please speak up if they know anything about where the baby is so she can be found. She said, “If she did something, she did. If she didn’t, she didn’t. I mean they should want to get to the bottom of it.”

Davidson also says she can’t understand why her cousin waited so long after her daughter disappeared to report it to the police. “I think she’s disturbed honestly, just a simple word. She’s disturbed.”

A neighbor, Phyllis Davenport says that Shakara apparently didn’t want the baby. “She need to be checked out,” said Davenport. “Maybe going through depression or just couldn’t handle it.”

Lauryn Dickens is described as a black female who is about 1’9’ and weighs about 17 lbs. Her hair is black and she has brown eyes. She was last seen on Sept. 7th, 2010 in Memphis Tennessee. She was last seen wearing a brown onesie with a pink flower and pink dots and she reportedly had a skin rash on both her forearms and he inner knees.

Anyone that has any information about this child and her whereabouts please contact
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST) or they can contact the Memphis Police Department (Tennessee) at 1-901-545-2677. The Case Number is: NCMC1156424.

This baby is precious. She is out there somewhere and someone needs to find her and bring her home. I pray that someone who knows something will come forward with what they know.

So please keep Lauryn in your prayers and also I ask that everyone also keep their prayers going for little Haleigh Cummings, from Florida to be found as well. These children need the public’s help to bring them home. God bless each and every one of them.

Jan Barrett

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Dickens will be back in court October 21st for a preliminary hearing, where the state will have to show probable cause.

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Mother Charged in 9-Month Old’s Disappearance
Updated: Wednesday, 17 Nov 2010, 5:25 PM CST
Published : Wednesday, 17 Nov 2010, 4:55 PM CST

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Police still don't know what happened to little Lauryn Dickens but a Memphis judge is sure her mother had something to do with it. He sent the case to the grand jury Wednesday.

Shakara Dickens is charged with aggravated child neglect and endangerment as well as false reporting. Her daughter has been missing since September.

After hearing testimony from police and the child's father, the judge decided it was enough to move the case forward.

19-year old Shakara Dickens looked and listened to testimony about what happened the day that 9-month old Lauryn Dickens was reported missing.

Lauryn disappeared September 7th, but her mother didn't file a missing person's report until September 15th. Memphis Police Officer Donna Boykin testified about the day Dickens walked into the Old Allen Station and reported giving her child to a stranger.

"She said she had spoken to the child's father a week or so prior before coming into the precinct and she told her baby's father she was having trouble taking care of the child because she already had a three year old and that she needed some type of assistance," said Officer Boykin.

Officer Boykin told the prosecutor Dickens then told her how a white woman allegedly sent by the child's father came to her apartment and picked up Lauryn.

"(Prosecutor) Did she indicate or give you any detail on who the father was sending to pick up her child? (Boykin) No she said a female white appeared at her doorstep to get the child.”

A claim the father, Benjamin Norfleet denies happening. He was brought in from the Shelby County Jail, where he's serving time on an unrelated charge. While his responses consisted of mostly yes and no answers until the prosecutor asked him about the white woman who supposedly picked up his daughter.

"(Prosecutor) if a story has been told by Miss. Dickens where she complained about having trouble (Norfleet) that’s a lie. Do you have any friends or know a white middle aged lady to send to pick up your baby, (Norfleet) No ma'am."

Norfleet testified he hadn't spoken to Dickens since September 1st, when she blocked all of his calls from the jail and he didn't know why.

"To my knowledge she had no problems," said Norfleet.

He says he has no idea where his daughter is. Detectives searched Dickens Raleigh Apartment in September, removing more than a dozen items from the home, and impounded Dickens' mother's car.

Cadaver dogs, sent inside of the apartment, hit on human remains, but still no Lauryn.

Homicide Detective Sgt. Lundy says they're still searching for the child who will turn one next week, hoping for a positive outcome.

"I would love to find her alive, but I don't think that will be the case," said Lundy.

Little Lauryn Dickens' first birthday is later this week. Meanwhile, Shakara Dickens is still being held on a
$2 million bond.

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Good God, Gert!!!!
Where the Hello is this precious baby girl?
You just don't hand over your baby. You just don't kill your baby. You just shouldn't have a baby. Period. End of story.
A baby will not make your life better. A baby will not help keep a man. A baby is not cheap or disposable.
A BABY IS FOREVER, DAMMIT.

Mother of Missing Baby Indicted for Murder

(Memphis 1/24/11) 20-year-old Shakara Dickens now faces first first degree murder charges in connection with disappearance of her infant daughter.

Dickens first reported her daughter Lauryn missing back in September. Lauryn was just nine months old at the time.

Dickens told police that she had given Lauryn to a woman who claimed to have been sent by Lauryn's father who was in jail at the time. The father denied sending anyone to pick up the baby, or even knowing anyone matching the description of the woman Dickens gave police. Investigators say they haven't found any evidence to support Dickens' story. Lauryn Dickens is still missing.

Police originally arrested Shakara Dickens on aggravated child abuse charges two weeks after her daughter went missing. It is not clear what new evidence was presented to a grand jury that led the panel to indict Dickens for murder.

She remains in the Shelby County Jail in lieu of $4,000,000 bail.

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Thanks for the update, Lisette! I wonder if they found the baby's body? Such a sad story...

According to the latest, there is no body, even though the mother has been charged with murder.
Another Casey. Cannot be bothered anymore by the confinement of having a child. Confined because of the babies needs and demands..these "me" "me" mothers begin to blame the child for putting an end to their "good life". Think of the people that would have taken Lauren and would have given her a fantastic home.

Trial Begins for Accused Baby Killer

Memphis, Tn - Jury selection in the trial of a 21-year-old mother accused of killing her baby began in Shelby County Criminal Court on Monday.

Shakara Dickens is charged with the murder of her 9-month-old daughter Lauryn.

Dickens, who sat in court behind her defense attorneys and was introduced to potential jurors, has pleaded not guilty.

When little Lauryn went missing in September 2010, dickens told police she handed Lauryn off to a middle aged woman who was friends with Lauryn's father. She told police she gave Lauryn to the woman September 7, but waited more than a week to report Lauryn missing.

Before dickens was charged with her daughter's murder, police cadaver dogs sent into dickens Raleigh apartment hit on human remains. To this day Lauryn's body has never been found.

If convicted, Dickens is looking at life in prison with the possibility of parole.

The jury of 14, including 2 alternates, was seated around 4:30, 3 hours after jury selection with 56 potential jurors began. There are 7 men and 7 women. 9 of them are African American and 5 are white. This jury will be sequestered.

Jurors will go home Monday night and pack. They are asked to be back in court Tuesday morning for opening statements. Judge Bobby Carter hopes to wrap up the case by the end of the week.

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No body, but mom on trial in baby death

9-month-old girl vanished in 2010; no remains ever found

By Lawrence Buser
Posted March 20, 2012 at midnight

Testimony is set to begin today in the murder case of a young Raleigh mother accused of killing her 9-month-old daughter in 2010, though the baby's body has never been found.

Shakara Dickens, 21, was charged after police said she gave conflicting or misleading accounts of what became of her baby, Lauryn, including that she turned the child over to an unknown woman because she no longer could care for the girl.

Dickens, who has been in jail on $2 million bond, faces life in prison if convicted as charged.

The no-body murder trial will be the fourth such case in Shelby County since 1970. One ended with a guilty plea and two others with convictions by juries.

"No-body cases are always difficult cases to try, but there is a 90 percent conviction rate in cases that go to trial," said former federal prosecutor Thomas "Tad" DiBiase of Washington, D.C., who runs a website dedicated to such cases. "Cases involving infants are often easier to prosecute because no one is going to argue that the baby ran away on its own, as might be argued in an adult case."

Still, DiBiase added, "even seemingly strong cases of infant or toddler murders can go awry as evidenced by the Casey Anthony trial, albeit that was technically not a no-body case by the time of trial."

Anthony was charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, in October 2008, two months before the child's remains were found near the family home in Orlando, Fla. Anthony was acquitted last year after a six-week capital murder trial that drew nationwide attention.

In the Memphis case, Dickens told police that the baby's biological father, who was in jail, sent an unknown woman to pick up the girl after Dickens told him she could no longer care for the child.

The father, however, said he never sent anyone to pick up the child, and records showed Dickens had blocked his calls from jail to her phone.

She reported the baby missing eight days later, on Sept. 15, 2010.

Authorities said no one besides the mother had seen the child since Sept. 6 and that Dickens gave conflicting accounts to family, friends and police.

A cadaver dog reacted to a Nissan Altima that Dickens had been driving and also to her apartment in the 4900 block of Yale, suggesting that a dead or decomposing body had been present.

On Monday, defense attorneys filed a motion seeking to block that evidence from the trial and contended there is little else to support a murder charge.

"There is no body, there is not a shred of blood evidence, not a shred of DNA evidence and no alleged murder weapon," attorneys Murray Wells and Arthur Horne said in the motion to suppress. "It appears that the state will largely base its homicide on a 'barking dog' ... ."

Prosecutors Jennifer Nichols and Reginald Henderson, however, also may present a talking inmate.

Last October, a female inmate wrote the judge and said Dickens stood up in chapel and said, "I did what I'm in jail for."

Jury selection began Monday in Criminal Court before Judge J. Robert "Bobby" Carter.

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Shakara Dickens Trial: Father Of Child Takes Stand

(Memphis) Baby Lauryn’s father Ben Norfleet took the stand Wednesday and says he never sent a woman to get the 9-month-old from Shakara Dickens.
Norfleet was in jail September of 2010 when Lauryn went missing, but Lauryn’s mother Shakara claims Norfleet called from jail and said ‘I’m sending a woman over to get Lauryn to help you out.’
Text messages show Dickens went on to tell other people different stories like she gave lauryn up for adoption and she was with Norfleets parents.
In court Wednesday, Norfleet told jurors when he met his daughter Lauryn he loved her like he’s never loved anyone else.
He also said he didn’t know where Dickens lived so he couldn’t have sent anyone.
Sergeant Kathy Gooden is the lead investigator in Lauryn’s missing person case and broke the news to Norfleet that baby Lauryn was missing.
She said Norfleet took the news hard.
That’s the exact opposite of Dickens who was emotionless during the investigation.
“He was very upset. He apologized. He was very emotional. He asked for a photo that I had of Lauryn,” said Gooden during questioning.
Juaquatta Harris records calls at the jail and says Norfleet did try to call Dickens several times around the time Lauryn went missing, but Dickens had blocked his calls.
She says he called from a cell phone in jail, but investigators cannot trace a call back to Norfleet in her phone records.
Dog trainer Edward Apple also took the stand Wednesday and says his dog, Sam, Picked up scent of human remains at Dickens’ apartment.
Sam also picked up a scent in Dickens’ mothers car.
Sam was brought in as a human remains dog for MPD to search for baby Lauryn.
Tracey Dickens says her daughter shakira Dickens used her car when she was out of town Labor Day Weekens 2010.
Tracey also took the witness stand earlier Wednesdy and said when she got home from her Labor Day vacation, Dickens text her saying she had given baby Lauryn up for adoption to a dentist and his wife.
Tracey Dicken’s called adoption connection to see if that was true and Shakara’s story turned out to be a lie.
Shakara then told her mother a woman was sent by Lauryn ‘s father Ben Norfleet who was in jail.
Shakara told her mom the woman picked Lauryn up a few days earlier.
She said Ben was going to take the baby from the woman when he got out of jail.
When Shakara Couldn’t give any information about this woman, her mom Tracey, made Shakara go to police to fill out a missing child report.
Sgt. Kathy Gooden was the lead investigator in Lauren’s missing person case and asked Dickens what she did after this mystery woman took Lauryn, “She said she sat on the living room floor and she started having crazy thoughts, and then she thought to herself what have I done I’ve just given my baby to a stranger and I asked what she did next and she said she fell asleep.”
Also today, an MPD investigator took the stand to go over Dickens cell phone records from the week in question.
Those texts show Shakara was out clubbing, shopping and thinking about her next tattoo the week baby Lauryn was missing.Sound familiar?
The defense claims those actions are deplorable, but that’s not evidence, and they are sticking to their claim that no murder has happened and this is still a missing child case because no body and no evidence supporting a murder case has been found.

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There's a video at the above link. ~Wrap~

Friend tells of falling out with mother charged with killing her missing baby

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Testimony contradicts Memphis mother's explanations in murder trial

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Lauryn Dickens case: Justice for Lauryn – A conviction
Posted on March 23, 2012 by Valhall

Shakara-I-murdered-my-beautiful-baby-girl-Dickens has been convicted of:

Second-degree murder
Aggravated child neglect
False offense reporting

Pending the sentencing – which could be (should be) as much as 50 years in prison….we may just get to break an egg or two. Awww…what the heck. This is the exact set of convictions someone in Florida should have gotten. AMEN!!

Valhall.

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Shakara Dickens Guilty in Daughter's Death
Memphis, Tn -

After hours of deliberating, a jury has found Shakara Dickens guilty of Manslaughter and Second Degree Murder.I don't think this is right. I don't think she would be convicted of both, would she?
Nine-month-old Lauryn Dickens, the daughter of Shakara Dickens, vanished in 2010, but her body was never found.

Prosecutors argued that Dickens spun a web of lies after her daughter disappeared, waiting a full eight days to file a missing persons report.

Dickens' told police that a white woman in her 40s had come to pick up Lauryn at the father's behest. Shakara couldn't go any further in describing the woman and Lauryn's father denied the claim as well.

The main piece of evidence for the prosecution was a "hit" that police dogs picked up on when searching Dickens' apartment. Though the dogs caught a scent, they did not find any physical evidence.

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Lisette, it depends on the state. So, yes..she could be convicted of both.