15-year-old boy arrested in death of missing Lauderdale girl

Note

Police had originally reported the girl's age as 13, but records later showed she was 14.

By Joel Marino, Macollvie Jean-Francois and Sallie James | Sun-Sentinel.com

10:05 PM EDT, July 24, 2008

FORT LAUDERDALE - BULLETIN: Police Thursday night announced the arrest of a 15-year-old boy in the murder of Neica Marie Gibbs, the 14-year-old girl whose body was found near a garbage bin Tuesday night in the 2700 block of Southwest Sixth Drive. Police said the youth was an acquaintance of Gibbs.

In a prepared statement released after a 9:30 p.m. press conference, police spokesman Sgt. Frank Sousa said the investigation revealed that on June 28, "Gibbs was inside the boy's residence. The two became involved in a verbal and physical altercation. The altercation resulted in the death of Gibbs. The boy then removed Gibbs body from his residence and placed it behind the dumpster where it was located on July 22, 2008."

Earlier report follows.

Police said today they had no reason to believe a 14-year-old girl who had been missing for three weeks was in any danger, until her body was found near a garbage bin.

Neica Marie Gibbs' body was found Tuesday night in the 2700 block of Southwest 6 Drive.

Police, who have refused to say how Gibbs died, were in daily contact with her family after they reported her missing, police spokesman Sgt. Frank Sousa said. "The missing persons investigator who worked on this case did everything he could do," Sousa said.

Gibbs' body had been sprawled in front of the bin for an extended period, but police would not say how long it had been there.

An Amber Alert was not issued when Gibbs vanished because her disappearance did not meet all the criteria for the alert, Sousa said.

Barbara Queer, Gibbs' grandmother, said today the family was devastated.

"I still can't believe she's gone. I just miss her, I just love her," said Queer, who lived with the girl in Fort Lauderdale.

She said detectives have told her not to talk to the media.

Relatives who were at Queer's apartment said Gibbs attended Sunrise Middle School. They described her as a respectful, quiet child.

Anthony Hodor, an uncle who helped raise Gibbs for the first 10 years of her life, said the family wanted answers from police.

"Once we find out what happened, we will go from there," Hodor said.

Sousa said an autopsy has been conducted but results were not being released yet. He declined to say if the death had been classified as a homicide.

Sousa said detectives had no reason to believe foul play had occurred or that the child was in danger.

Police did not alert the media or put out a "missing persons" poster for the same reasons, he said.

"Last year, Fort Lauderdale had 968 children under the age of 18 reported missing. Everybody except 16 has been solved," Sousa said.

"In 2006, 812 children under age 18 were reported missing. All are solved except four," he said.

Authorities are asking that anyone with information about Gibbs' death call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-5529.

Staff Researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.