John Jefferson
Inset: Victim Ka’Niyah Baker (Columbia Police Department/WLTX/YouTube). Background: The vacant home where Ka’Niyah Baker’s body was found in a fire (WLTX/YouTube).
Two teenagers in South Carolina, ages 16 and 15, are facing murder charges for allegedly bludgeoning, stabbing and then burning a 13-year-old girl inside of a vacant house in what cops are calling a “gut-wrenching” killing that “shocks the conscious.”
“Brutal, heinous, vicious, gruesome, monstrous and disturbing. These are the words I’d use to describe this murder investigation,” said Columbia Police Chief William “Skip” Holbrook at a press conference Saturday.
Ka’Niyah Baker, the victim, was found dead in a “structure fire” at a vacant home on Cardamon Court in Columbia last Wednesday night, according to the Columbia Police Department. She had been reported missing on Jan. 12, with the last sighting of her being listed at a location roughly 20 miles away from where she was found.
“The manner of death was not an accident,” said Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford at Saturday’s presser. “Ka’Niyah was bludgeoned, stabbed and burned.”
According to Holbrook, Baker was born and raised in Sumter and was most recently in foster care in Columbia. She and the two suspects all have a history of being “runaways,” Holbrook said, with each of them going missing over the past two months after leaving home.
“First suspect is a 16-year-old female,” Holbrook said. “Her last known address was in Columbia. She was reported missing by her mom on Jan. 12. She has a history of disorderly conduct, malicious injury, throwing bodily fluids; she was wanted by the Department of Juvenile Justice (Georgia) for cutting off her ankle monitor around Jan. 12. She was last enrolled in a local high school in January 2024 and she’s currently listed as dropped out and she is a frequent runaway.”
The second suspect was described as a 15-year-old female whose last known address was in Columbia as well. “She also was enrolled in a local high school as of last December,” Holbrook said. “She is currently listed as dropped out and she also is a frequent runaway.”
Describing Baker, Holbrook said: “She also has a history of running away.” Her cause of death was blunt force trauma.
“We expect to pursue justice in this matter,” Fifth Circuit Solicitor Byron Gipson told reporters. A motive has yet to be released.
“When you talk to people that have been involved in committing heinous crimes like this, you’re looking to seek answers and read their reactions,” Holbrook said. “But sometimes, it’s when there are no reactions is what’s most troubling.”
When Baker was first reported as missing, flyers were sent out on Jan. 16 saying she was believed to be in danger, according to local ABC and CW affiliate WIS. At that point, however, she had already been found dead in the fire.
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“The young woman’s description matched a few other women who were reported as runaways or missing,” Rutherford explained. “So, the reason that the flyer went out for a missing teen, even though this person already deceased, was in the hopes that she was still alive and this was not her.”
Holbrook told reporters that Baker’s murder “has been an extremely difficult case” for investigators to work on.
“This shocks the conscience to me,” Holbrook said. “We’ve got some work to do with our system. We’ve got some work to do with our young people. There’s too much despair. And we’ve got to change that.”
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