This week, police found the body of a 16-year-old girl suspected of human trafficking outside an Orlando home.
At the age of 15, De’Shayla Ferguson escaped a Department of Children and Families office in Orlando, where she was being placed with a family for the night because she was due in court the next day.
Ferguson was found dead next to a car on Monday, two months after her disappearance and four days after her 16th birthday.
Ferguson’s killing is being investigated by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, but no arrests have been made and no suspects have been identified.
According to an Orlando Police Department report obtained by WESH-TV, Ferguson was a ward of the state and a “habitual runaway.”
Ferguson is also alleged to have been involved in a “human trafficking case in Orange County,” but no additional information was immediately available.
The document indicates Ferguson last appeared at DCF’s South Kirman office on Aug. 12
Ferguson got into an argument with staff while waiting for placement and left.
DCF workers searched for her but were unable to find her.
There was a missing persons report filed and the teen’s information was posted on the website of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
At this time, it is unclear how or where Ferguson spent the last two months of her life, nor why she was killed.