The 15-year-old daughter of an anti-violence activist was found dead in South Carolina after missing for roughly three weeks, with police suspecting she was kidnapped, according to authorities.
Sanaa Amenhotep was found dead Thursday after a near three-week search, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott announced Thursday.
We’re deeply saddened by this loss of a young life and we know the entire community feels it too. Please lift up the family of Sanaa Amenhotep in prayers of comfort as they cope with this devastating loss. Please hug your children and let them know you love them. – Sheriff Lott pic.twitter.com/MABNpwWz83
— Richland County Sheriff’s Dept. (@RCSD) April 29, 2021
“She’d been murdered. I can’t tell you how tragic and sad this case is,” Lott said. “I know deputies and police officers are not supposed to get emotionally involved in cases but there’s no way that when we work a case like this that our people don’t get emotionally attached to the case and then when you have an ending like this, that it doesn’t affect them.”
Lott said Amenhotep was reported missing by her mother on April 5 after she left her house in Columbia with two males, since identified as Jaylan Wilson and Traveon Nelson. Lott said it appeared “she probably left voluntarily to begin with” but then it “turned into a kidnapping.” (RELATED: Police Hope $50,000 Reward Will Help Crack Cold Case Of Murdered 15-Year-Old Girl)
Wilson has been charged with kidnapping and Nelson has active kidnapping warrants out, according to Lott.
HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN? Treveon Jamar Nelson is wanted for kidnapping in connection with the missing persons case of Sanaa Amenhotep. Anyone with information is asked to submit a tip to Crime Stoppers at https://t.co/vpbEOdqfLS, 888-CRIME-SC, or call 911. pic.twitter.com/EGXeKABfau
— Richland County Sheriff’s Dept. (@RCSD) April 29, 2021
“We need him,” Lott said in reference to Nelson. “We’re gonna find him.”
Her body was found in Lexington County. Lexington County coroner Margaret Fisher said “she was found in a wooded area” and that the scene was “very difficult” for the coroner’s office as she held back tears.
Lott said it appeared her death was related to gang activity but did not provide additional details.
A Facebook account that appears to belong to Amenhotep’s father Sharif Malik Amenhotep, a Newark, New Jersey activist with Brick City Peace Collective expressed grief.
“My first heir Sanaa Mahari Amenhotep I can’t believe she gone from us you shattered the hearts of my entire family the pain I will never be the same.”
Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka called Amenhotep’s death an “inexplicable loss that defies imagination.”
“No parent should ever have to bury their child,” Baraka said.
“Mr. Amenhotep works tirelessly to increase justice and reduce violence in our neighborhoods through our Brick City Peace Collective, helping us to re-imagine public safety and prevent tragedies such as this from taking place in our very own community,” the mayor added.
“We hope that the South Carolina authorities can bring the suspects in this case to justice. Our entire city is joining with the Amenhotep family in their grief and pain.”
