KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A missing 24-year-old woman was found dead Wednesday in Kansas City, Missouri, according to police and her family.
Police said Wednesday night that a decomposing body was found in a vacant lot at East 28th Street and Brighton Avenue.
Lavette Kelley, whose daughter Kenisha Washington went missing in September, said that police confirmed her daughter was found dead.
Washington was last seen on Sept. 27 near E. 42nd Street and Sterling Avenue.
Kelley got the call about her daughter right before Thanksgiving. On Thursday, she was surrounded by family, though it didn't feel like a holiday. Instead of laughter at the dinner table, there were tears.
"It's the principle. You're supposed to give thanks. How can I give thanks when my daughter's not here?" she said.
Kelley last saw her daughter on Sept. 27.
"She gave me a kiss. I got to give her a kiss (for the) last time. At least she was happy," Kelley said.
Washington was spending time with family that day, lying on her mom's loveseat.
"That was my little diva. She meant the world to me," Kelley said.
Kelley said that before she left the house, her daughter called someone and said she was getting ready to go "make some money." Kelley believes whoever was on the phone with Washington knows what happened to her.
Kelley said police identified her daughter through DNA and her tattoos. Kelley was told her death is being investigated as a homicide but doesn't know how it happened.
The Jackson County Medical Examiner's office did not find any obvious signs of foul play, so the cause of death is still undetermined, police said Thursday.
For two months, Kelley has been out putting up fliers for her daughter, pleading for someone to speak up.
"She probably was saying, 'Mama, what's taking you so long?' But I was out there. I didn't know where to look. I didn't know where to look at. And she was out there in the snow," Kelley said.
Police haven't released any information about possible suspects or where they believe she died.
"Is this what people do, they kill people's family like they don't have nobody that loves them? That's crazy. And everybody think it's cool by not saying nothing. Well, whoever thinks it's cool, I hope they don't ever have a daughter or have a kid that they have to bury at the age of 24," Kelley said.
Anyone with information about Washington or her death is asked to call police or the TIPS Hotline.
