Crime

'That Was My Baby': Arrest Made After Body of Slain Girl, 14, Was Found on Roadside

Neveah Foster's body was found less than a mile from the Dallas apartment she shared with her mother, who said her daughter had run away the previous day

Published on December 17, 2021 05:53 PM

Police who answered a call early Wednesday about a dead girl found fatally shot on a roadside in Dallas have arrested a 22-year-old man for the teen's murder.

The victim was identified on her mother's Facebook page and by the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office as 14-year-old Neveah Foster.

"I am torn up inside because that was my baby," said the mother, Jessica Foster, reports KDFW. "But to know that someone took her from me is what makes it so much harder to swallow."

She continued: "It's already a hard enough pill to swallow to know my child is not coming back."

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Dallas police said in a news release that the call reporting a body on the side of Merrifield Road, in the West Oak Cliff neighborhood, came in about 3:25 a.m.

The victim was dead at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds, police said.

On Thursday they arrested Tyrone Davis in connection with her murder. Nothing regarding a motive nor how they tracked down the suspect was immediately released.

Davis is being held at the Dallas County jail with his bond on the murder charge set at $1 million, PEOPLE confirms through online jail records.

An attorney who might speak on Davis' behalf was not immediately named, and no plea has been entered.

Jessica said her daughter, who she said struggled with mental health issues, previously had run away from the apartment they shared less than a mile from where Neveah's body was found. She said the teen ran away again Tuesday without taking her medication with her, reports KDFW.

Neveah did not consistently attend school due to her mental health issues, the mother said, but typically returned home within a day of disappearing, according to the outlet.

"She was a 14-year-old child," Jessica said, reports the TV news station. "What could she have done to anger someone that much that they felt they had to shoot her? And multiple times?"

"I don't get it," she said. "I don't understand."

Police asked anyone with information to contact Det. Boz Rojas at 214-681-1786 or via email at boz.rojas@dallascityhall.com.