Father charged with first-degree murder, child abuse
Mother hopes to find missing 2-year-old girl
DETROIT – A Detroit man who claimed carjackers kidnapped his toddler three months ago has been charged with her murder, MyFoxDetroit reports.
32-year-old D'Andre Lane has been charged with first-degree murder and child abuse, even though the body of two-year-old Bianca Jones has not been found.
Lane was also charged with child abuse. Police say their investigation revealed Bianca was abused on the day of her disappearance.
Bianca has been missing since December. Lane claimed he had been carjacked, and the assailants drove away with Bianca still in the backseat.
Police say Lane killed his daughter while abusing her, and the alleged carjacking was a cover-up for the toddler's murder.
Searchers scoured the neighborhood looking for Bianca after Lane reported her missing, but there was no sign of her. Meanwhile, witnesses reported seeing Lane abuse his daughter, and he reportedly failed a polygraph test.
The girl's mother, Banika Jones, says she still holds out hope her daughter is alive despite the charges against Lane, with whom she was previously in a relationship.
"Bianca is alive. No one has given me any indication to the contrary, and I'm going to keep hope and keep that faith and keep searching for her until I find her," she said.
Lane, who was already in jail after violating a personal protection order in a different case, will be arraigned Thursday.
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