Missing Kansas Teen Found Dead in Her Car, Days After Murdered Boyfriend Is Found Dead Outside Church
Wichita Police Department/Facebook Kaylah Blackmon
A Kansas teen has been found dead two days after Wichita police warned she "may be in danger" following the murder of her boyfriend.
Police who located the body of 18-year-old Kaylah Blackmon in her missing Ford Escape SUV in an apartment parking lot on Thursday did not reveal how she died.
"I will forever have a hole in my heart, but will tell lots of stories to keep her memory alive so her baby sister will know who she was," her mother, Angelia Stephen, told The Wichita Eagle.
On Tuesday, in both a news conference and press release, authorities asked for the public's help to locate Blackmon and her vehicle after her boyfriend, 17-year-old Michael Beasley, was found dead in the grass outside an abandoned Wichita church Monday morning.
RELATED: Police Say Missing Kansas Teen May Be in Danger After Boyfriend, 17, Found Slain
A passerby who spotted Beasley's body approached to see if he needed help, but after finding him unresponsive, the person alerted 911. First responders pronounced Beasley dead at the scene.
Although the caller reported a shooting, according to police, department spokesman Charley Davidson would not confirm Beasley's manner of death, saying it was too early in the investigation to share details.
Nonetheless police said they were treating Beasley's death as a homicide.
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Blackmon's vehicle, with her body inside, was located about six miles from the church in the apartment complex parking lot by a lieutenant on patrol, police said.
They offered no other details.
"The investigation is ongoing, and investigators are still working to determine the circumstances of what occurred in this case," police said in a news release on Thursday.
An aunt of Blackmon's, who asked not to be identified, told the Eagle: "She was just a typical, funny kid growing up. Cracking jokes, spending time with family."
The aunt said family members had no comment on the boyfriend.
After earning her high school diploma at Kansas Connections Academy a semester early last year, Blackmon worked as a paraprofessional at Wichita Friends School and talked about enrolling in beauty school, her family told the newspaper.
Stephen said her daughter changed her hair color every few weeks, and wore tattoos that she said were meant to represent family members -- butterflies for her grandmother, an elephant for her mom.
Blackmon left home around 5:30 p.m. Sunday with a promise to return and help bathe her newborn sister, for whom she'd been excited to buy "so many clothes, shoes and toys," Stephen said. She never came back, reports the Eagle.
"She was the best daughter, sibling, (granddaughter) and friend anyone could have asked for," said Stephen.
A friend of the family created a GoFundMe page, and police asked anyone with information to contact detectives at 316-268-4407 or Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.
