Florida mom pleads not guilty in death of daughters found in canal
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Tinessa Hogan, who faces two counts of premeditated murder in the deaths of daughters Destiny, 9, and Daysha, 7, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Hogan, 36, didn’t appear in court Tuesday. Her attorney, Erin Veit, entered the plea on her behalf.
Hogan is being held at the Broward Jail, where she’s been since her July 14 arrest. Veit had no comment after the hearing.
Hogan was placed under psychiatric care on June 22, the same day her daughters were found dead in a Lauderhill canal.
Lauderhill police got a call that day about a child’s body floating in a canal. But when officers arrived at the sprawling working class neighborhood off Sunrise Boulevard, the usual signs of a tragic, accidental drowning just weren’t there.
The little girl, later identified as Destiny, wore her hair in braids. She had on denim shorts and a gray T-shirt.
When police pulled her from the water and placed her on the grassy bank, they saw multiple scratches around her mouth. There was a small laceration near the left side of her lip, according to the police report.
Across the canal that day, in another Lauderhill neighborhood, police saw a woman shrouded in a white blanket. She belted out Bible scriptures. One minute she was claiming to be the devil and the next to be God, neighbors told the Sun Sentinel.
The woman was taken away from her neighborhood by ambulance a few hours after Destiny was pulled from the canal.
It would take several more hours before police learned the woman, Tinessa Hogan, was Destiny’s mother — and by then the body of the second child, Daysha, had surfaced in the canal.
According to police, a search of the Hogan family home in Lauderhill showed few signs of children living there. There were no photos anywhere in the house. Only childlike drawings hinted at their existence.
A woman told police that the night before the bodies of Destiny and Daysha surfaced, she saw Hogan swimming in the canal while holding a Bible. The woman said Hogan swam over to her and offered to baptize her children. The offer was declined.
The idea that Hogan is a religious zealot seemed palpable as more people shared observations. People said Hogan was the type to seemingly pop up out of nowhere to discuss the Bible.
Perhaps most ominous was the report that a woman — believed to be Hogan, but possibly disguised in black shiny wig with long curls — was spotted a week before her girls died holding a sign saying, “Death is the only answer.”
The arrest warrant, Hogan’s arrest paperwork and the probable cause affidavit were sealed for 90 days by Broward Judge Tabitha Blackmon on July 14, while police continue their investigation. Sealing such documents after an arrest is rare.
Anyone who may have information about Destiny, Daysha and Tinessa Hogan is asked to call the Lauderhill Police Department at 954-497-4700. To remain anonymous and be eligible for a reward, call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.
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