A Florida mother has been deemed a suspect in connection with the death of her two young daughters.
Tinessa Hogan, 36, was listed as a person of interest after her two daughters’ bodies were found in a South Florida canal on Tuesday, NBC News reported. Destiny Hogan, 9, and Daysha Hogan, 7, were found dead just eight hours apart in a canal located outside the city of Fort Lauderdale, police said Wednesday.
Lt. Mike Bigwood confirmed that Hogan was not in police custody but police were aware of her location. Bigwood could not elaborate on why Hogan was not arrested due to legal reasons. The two girl’s exact cause of death is still not known as the medical examiner’s office investigates.
“At this point, I would classify it as two suspicious deaths. We are definitely treating it as if it was a criminal investigation,” Bigwood said in a press conference on Wednesday.
The two girls were last seen with their mother around 5 p.m. on Monday. A neighbor said the mother was acting strangely.
“She was in the water swimming, she had a bible and she told me to come here. I said, ‘Why?’ She said she wanted to baptize me,” Lawana Johnson said, according to Newsweek.
A neighbor, identified only as Kenyani, who lives near the canal with his mother said his mother also noticed how strangely Hogan was acting. The next morning, they saw the bodies.
“It was just horrifying and traumatizing,” Kenyani said.
During the press conference, Bigwood said police have received similar information about Hogan being in the canal offering to baptize people in the neighborhood.
“At this time, we are exploring all possible leads. Detectives have been working nonstop since yesterday,” he said. “I think any knowledge of the family, the family dynamic, activities that the family engaged in together, just general information about who they were and what their day to day life was like would be extremely helpful.”