Kansas authorities arrested a man on Tuesday for allegedly raping and murdering a 5-year-old girl at a wooded homeless camp, according to the New York Post.
The Topeka Police Department has charged 25-year-old Mickel W. Cherry with the rape and murder of Zoey Felix, who was found on Monday with life-threatening injuries at a gas station and rushed to a nearby hospital, where she passed away.
The girl’s mother had allegedly kicked her and other family members out of their house about two weeks ago, leaving them homeless, the outlet noted.
5-year-old Kansas girl raped, murdered after mom kicked her out of the house https://t.co/DF2FdYdElF pic.twitter.com/xRdlU4idCO
— New York Post (@nypost) October 5, 2023
Some neighbors reportedly said the suspect once lived in the same house as Zoey, her father, and her sister. (RELATED: Tennessee Teacher In Custody For Allegedly Raping Boy At Her Home)
Neighbors also reported that Zoey did not attend school and often wandered around unsupervised. However, the community rallied together to ensure she had basic necessities such as clothing and food.
“Everybody on the block took care of Zoey. Everybody loved Zoey, except her parents,” one neighbor said, per the New York Post.
In the weeks leading up to Zoey’s death, neighbors made several reports to the Kansas Department for Children and Families about the young girl’s horrible living conditions. But the department reportedly did not intervene at all.
“I just reported the neglect that was going on,” another neighbor said, per the outlet. “She’s always dirty, no food unless some of us fed her, but they didn’t obviously take it serious.”
Kansas state lawmakers are now seeking answers from the Department of Children and Families, with one calling the department’s lack of response “unacceptable” and another saying, “We really need a deep dive on why the system is failing,” according to the New York Post.