LAUDERHILL, Fla. — The day after two girls’ bodies were discovered in a canal, police canvassed the Lauderhill neighborhood across the water asking for information about a woman whose behavior was so alarming, she was detained by officers and sent away in an ambulance.
The woman appears to be at the center of the investigation Wednesday. According to neighbors interviewed by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the woman was swimming in the canal Monday. Several neighbors said they had seen the woman with a Bible near the canal.
Police circulated a flyer with her picture, asking if anyone knew who she is.
Neighbor Marie Williams said the woman asked her if she could baptize her children in the canal.
Williams said she declined. She also said she had seen the woman with two girls in a kiddie pool two months ago.
Another neighbor, who didn’t want to be identified, said she filmed the mysterious woman as she was detained by police. She said she could hear the woman shouting Bible passages and saying such things as, “I am God” and “I am the devil.”
Police said Tuesday night that they were aware residents had raised concerns about a woman with a Bible near the canal.
The first girl was found about noon Tuesday in the L-shaped canal behind the Habitat II Condominiums in the 5900 block of Northwest 21st Street. The second girl’s body was found about 8:45 p.m. in the 2100 block of Northwest 59th Way.
Police scheduled a news conference for Wednesday evening to provide details about the investigation.
Questions abound: Why was the one girl discovered by a 911 caller nine hours after police pulled the other girl’s body from the water? Who are the the two girls and how did they end up in the canal? And why isn’t a parent or guardian looking for them, since police say there are no missing persons reports for girls that age?
The two locations are about a seven-minute walk apart. The canal is in the shape of an L. One girl was found on the side that goes north and south, and the other girl was found on the side that runs east to west. On Wednesday morning, two balloons with the word “Princess” were on the bank where the second girl was discovered.
Both girls were described as Black and are thought to be between the ages of 10 and 13. The first girl was less than 5 feet tall and wore her hair in short twists. She was wearing short jean shorts and a grey T-shirt with the word, “Dance” in rainbow-colored lettering, police said.
The second girl was wearing a tan top and flowered pajama-style bottoms, police said.
No parents, family members or guardians have come forward saying their loved ones are missing, something troubling to police.
After the first girl was found, police walked the entire length of the canal searching for clues. Police Tuesday said there were no overt signs of foul play but did not come out and say it was an accident and not a homicide. Condo residents told investigators the girls were last seen together Monday though that could not be confirmed, police said.
Divers did not go in the water after the first girl was pulled ashore because they had absolutely no reason to believe there could have been another body in water, said Michael Santiago, a lieutenant with the Lauderhill Police Department.
Homicide detectives are investigating until a cause of death is determined by the Broward medical examiner.
Homicide detectives are always called to the scene as precaution when a person is discovered dead and there are no clear witnesses to what may have caused the death, Santiago said.
Bodies in water eventually sink and then, depending on a number of matters having to do with physics, they will resurface. Santiago said police searched the area on foot visually.
“If there was another body floating in that water when we were out there, we would have seen it,” Santiago said.
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