Girl, 13, found dead in alley with fentanyl and meth in system as man arrested
Police have arrested a suspect in connection with the case of a 13-year-old girl, whose body was found in an alleyway in June.
Keith Early, 30, was identified as a person of interest by Akron Police investigators and taken into custody a day later with no incidents. He is to appear in court on Wednesday, September 6.
According to reports, Early was transported to Akron and booked into Summit County Jail on "charges of abuse of a corpse and failure to report a crime and obstruction of official business".
The Akron Beacon Journal reported that a chid's body was found just before 1pm Monday in some bushes off the side of Minordy Place, a single-lane road that runs parallel to Arlington Street from Greater Bethel Baptist Church to the East Akron Neighborhood Development Corp.
A Summit County medical examiner was able to finally publicise an autopsy report this week, which found that the girl "died from a toxic mix of fentanyl and methamphetamine". It is not clear how the drugs got into her system and the circumstances around her death are a mystery, with law enforcement barely releasing the information they do have as the case pertains to a minor.
Man in 30s dies after being stabbed in park sparking police probeOriginally, Summit County Medical Examiner spokesman Gary Guenther said: “The autopsy has been completed and results are pending while further testing can be performed. There was no significant trauma noted during the autopsy examination."
Melanie was a student at East Middle School. According to an Akron police report, the girl's father reported her missing the day before she was found. He said the family had issues lately, causing her to run away.
"We all can't believe it," said Debbie Tobias, who taught Melanie in third grade at Glover Community Learning Center. "She was one of those students that you knew was going to go far and had everything going for her."
Jonathan Monahan, who made the 911 call to police, said Wednesday he didn't believe it when his roommate told him a body was in the alley. "I thought he was pranking me," Monahan said. He also told interviewers that Melanie's body 'was askew' in the brush off the side of the road. He described her with a backpack on one side and a purse on the other.
Vegetation lines both sides of the alley and obscures a view of South Arlington Street. The placement of her personal items and her dishevelled clothing led him to believe she had been dumped at the site. When his girlfriend, Lisa Price, joined him, she touched Melanie to see if she was still alive.
"I touched the back of my hand against her cheek," Price said. She said she could tell from the touch that Melanie was dead. "She died alone in the cold with no one," she said. "Nobody should be dumped like a piece of trash."