Alezauna Carter
Someone has been arrested in the murder of Alezauna Carter, 13, police said. Officers aren’t yet saying who this person is.
The arrest was reported on Saturday by The Philadelphia Inquirer. Sources were also cited by FOX 29. The Philadelphia Police Department did not immediately respond to a Law&Crime request for comment.
Alezauna’s death remained a mystery for months. As previously reported, she was reported missing in November 2020, last seen on October 12 in southwest Philadelphia near the 7100 block of Theodore Street. Her mother said in a vigil that she had run away. There were “situations” that made it so Carter “was not able to be home,” her mother said, as paraphased by Fox 29 Philadelphia. She ran away several times from parental and guardian care, police said.
“She was a strong girl, but she didn’t deserve this,” said her mother Trisha. “Not at all.”
Alezauna was discovered in April of this year, shot in the mouth in a first-floor apartment on the 1500 block of Overington Street in the neighborhood of Frankford, which is in the northeast section of Philadelphia.
Police have previously released surveillance imagery, which they assert shows a suspect.
Alezauna Carter
“There’s nothing you can do as a parent to prepare you for something like this,” said grandfather William Orr, according to WPVI. “We all live down South Philly and southwest, so I have no idea how she managed to find her way down to this neighborhood.”
[Screengrab showing Carter via Jaclyn Lee]