A DEAF 15-YEAR-OLD PENNSYLVANIA GIRL, WHO HAD BEEN MISSING SINCE JANUARY 17TH, WAS FOUND FACE DOWN AND DECEASED WITH OBVIOUS SIGNS OF TRAUMA ONLY BLOCKS AWAY FROM HER HOME. (PHOTO).

 "They not only delayed assigning a detective, at one point when we were reaching out, they (law enforcement) said 'we don't work weekends'.”

A grieving family and shocked community is completely and understandably outraged.

A deaf 15-year-old Pennsylvania girl, who had been missing since January 17th, was found face down and deceased with obvious signs of trauma only blocks away from her home. The 15-year-old girl does have family in Illinois. Her biological mother lives in Illinois and provided DNA so the 15-year-old could be identified.

There are many unanswered questions in the mysterious disappearance and death of 15-year-old La'Niyah Clark and the mishandling of her case by the Wilkes-Barre police department. 

On Saturday, February 21st, police were called to the report of a d*ad body at 55 Thayer St. in South Wilkes-Barre. 

When police arrived on the scene, they discovered a naked minor female face down in a pile of snow. There was purple bruising on her face, back, and arms.  The deceased girl also sustained two obvious cuts and had a rope like item around her right wrist. 

La'Niyah Clark was discovered deceased behind a parked Chevy Colbalt, next to a commercial garage that is leased by Antoine Clark. Antoine Clark is La'Niyah's adoptive father and was the last known person in contact with her. He is also the person who made the initial missing person's report to Wilkes-Barre PD.

Officers on scene also discovered a purple handled pair of scissors and a MAC knife near the body. Authorities say that the body appears as if it had been there for some time.

 However, the caller, a man who sub-leases a portion of the garage, says he was at the garage between February 13th through the 17th ....and he is sure the body wasn't there at that time. 

Now, the family are questioning Wilkes-Barre PD's initial response to the report of her missing and they are wondering if she might still be alive, had the case been handled differently. 

The family says that although they first reported La'Niyah missing Saturday, January 17th, the police didn't assign a detective to the case until the following Thursday. That was a very long four days for the family; a family just praying to find their missing 15-year-old loved one.

They say even after having a detective on the case, there was zero lack of urgency. They believe police immediately decided she was a runaway despite multiple factors that contradicted their assertion. One important factor was the teen girl had laid out her clothes for school and had nothing packed. 

La'Niyah was deaf and a minor and should have been listed as "missing and endangered" immediately. Many in the community wonder why an Amber Alert wasn't issued. Many members of the community said that if they had known a 15-year-old was missing, they would have been looking for her right away. 

The Wilkes-Barre Police Department published a missing persons post on their Facebook on January 23rd, almost a full week after receiving the initial report. They did not send out a media release regarding La'Niyah's disappearance until February 10th. This is not how police departments typically handle missing teenagers, especially if they are deaf or have another obstacle they live with. Almost always, even if law enforcement believes a teen is a runaway, they will post about it as quickly as possible, and sometimes they do include that they believe the teen is a runaway. Regardless, the first 48 hours are the most important. But this young girl was treated almost as if she was invisible and her disappearance didn't matter. 

The family and supporters in the community gathered outside of the Wilkes-Barre Police Department on Wednesday, February 25th, carrying signs and chanting "justice for Lala" in a sign of frustration at the handling of the case. 

The unsettling quote used at the beginning of the story is from Ameerah Woods. Ameerah is La'Niyah's adoptive mother and La'Niyah was reportedly heading to her house on the 17th after leaving Antoine Clark's home on the 17th. She was stunned that law enforcement would not help over the weekend. 

Ameerah and Antoine are split up but live around the corner from each other and the children go back and forth from their homes frequently. 

"La'Niyah had prior history of running away, which doesn't matter, because that was in the past, and this was the here and now," Woods said when commenting on her dissatisfaction with police response to La'Niyah's disappearance. 

There have been no arrests in the case at this point, although authorities did surround a four-unit apartment building on New Alexander Street, about a half mile from where the body was found on Tuesday. There was reportedly individuals at the address connected to La'Niyah. There is also an individual living in the residence with a history of r@pe and S/A. Police however have declined to say whether anyone living at the address is a suspect. 

Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to call Wilkes-Barre City police detectives at 570-208-6699.

We hope this family and community get the justice for La'Niyah's homicide that they rightly deserve.