Teen who escaped DJJ was involved in murder of 13-year-old in Columbia
A 16-year-old charged in the January murder of a 13-tear-old girl in Columbia escaped Department of Juvenile Justice custody Sunday evening, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said in a Thursday press conference.
The escaped teen was found later on Sunday with help from the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, the City of Columbia Police Department and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division
She was in the car with her mother, Savannah Mills, 39, when she was found. The car also contained two guns, one of which was reported stolen out of Richland County, Lott revealed.
“You can’t get a worse example of a parent than what you see right there,” Lott said.
Mills’ daughter was one of two arrested in the January murder of Ka’Niyah Baker, who was “beaten to death, stabbed and burned,” Lott said. The Columbia Police Department previously described the murder as “gruesome” and “monstrous,” The State previously reported.
The teen was charged with escape, and is currently detained at the Juvenile Detention Complex in Columbia. Mills was charged with aiding the escape of a prisoner and charged with a capital offense, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and possession of a stolen pistol.
Mills is being held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center with a $10,000 bond for aiding in the escape and a $150,000 bond for possessing the stolen gun.
Mills was the seventh mom recently arrested in the county for helping their child commit a crime, Lott said during the conference.
“It comes from the home, and it comes from the parents,” he said.
