‘Death is the only way’: Woman’s sign could hold clues in Florida sisters’ deaths, police say

LAUDERHILL, Fla. — Her skirt was long in the colors of black and white. Her very shiny wig of black curls was pulled back into a ponytail. But perhaps what stood out the most and may make people come forward to police in the midst of a death investigation is the sign she carried in her neighborhood recently: “Death is the only way.”

Acting on a tip, one of many that have surfaced since the lifeless bodies of sisters 9-year-old Destiny and 7-year-old Daysha Hogan were plucked from a canal near their Lauderhill home earlier this week, police urge the community to come forward with videos, photos — anything that may depict a woman in costume, or possibly crisis, holding the sign in the neighborhood west of Sunrise Boulevard between 56th Avenue and Sunset Boulevard.

Lt. Mike Santiago said they do not know if the woman holding the ominous sign is the two sisters’ mother, 36-year-old Tinessa Hogan, a person of interest in the girls’ deaths. But police want to talk to her.

Hogan was taken away from her neighborhood in an ambulance Tuesday a few hours after Destiny was pulled from the canal. Witnesses told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that Hogan had been citing Bible passages and also shouting that she was God and the devil before the ambulance came.

Hogan was being detained though she had not been arrested Thursday night. Police in Lauderhill say they have not been able to interview her yet but won’t say if she is being held in a psychiatric facility. The state’s Baker Act allows authorities to commit a person to a mental health hospital for up to 72 hours, which would end late Friday.

A video of police confronting Hogan shows her standing near the canal with a large white blanket draped over her head and body. About seven officers surround her and one pulls the blanket from her as she is brought down to her knees and then stomach.

Police are desperately trying to speak with anyone who had contact with the sisters and their mother to put together a picture of what life was like for Hogan and her daughters. Hogan has no record of living locally and no criminal history nationwide.

“She is leaving a very small footprint,” Santiago said.

Their home at 2028 NW 59th Terrace in Lauderhill showed few signs of children living there, Santiago said. There were no photos anywhere in the house. Only childlike drawings hinted at their existence.

A clearer picture of the timeline of the girls’ death emerged Thursday:

—About 12:10 p.m. Tuesday, 9-year-old Destiny Hogan is found in the canal.

—A few hours later, police make contact with Tinessa Hogan as they canvass the canal banks, though they do not yet know who she is or who the girl in the water is.

—By late afternoon, Tinessa Hogan is identified in an unspecified police database.

—Police then confirm that Tinessa Hogan has two daughters but still did not know whose body was in the canal.

—Tuesday night, police start a secondary parallel investigation for a missing person.

—As police are cross-referencing missing persons reports, 7-year-old Daysha Hogan’s body floats to the surface of the water.

—On Wednesday, Tinessa Hogan’s relatives who live in the Daytona area positively identified the two bodies as Destiny and Daysha Hogan.

Neighbors themselves are trying to piece together what happened just steps away from their homes.

Katie Levance said the neighborhood is almost unrecognizable now. There are no kids playing, enjoying their summer break. There’s quiet and an uneasy feeling.

”There’s nobody,” Levance said. “It feels very eerie.”

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