Teen killed while she was talking to her mom on the phone, mother helplessly listened to cries
15-year-old Baleigh Bagshaw, from Utah was brutally killed on Monday afternoon inside her own home while she was talking to her mother on the phones, according to reports.
The teen reportedly arrived home from her Salt Lake City school on Monday afternoon and gave a routine call to her mother to tell her that she had safely reached home, according to police.
Bagshaw's coworkers at an ice-cream shop, who remembered her as a bubbly, sweet and responsible person, said that she checked in with her mother every day after reaching home, Deseret News reported. However, this time, things went awry.
Reports state that someone from inside Bagshaw's house brutally attacked the girl while she was on phone with her mother.
Salt Lake City police Sergeant Brandon Shearer said: "Her mother heard the attack going on and then the phone went dead."
The mother panicked and called her neighbors to check on her daughter. The neighbors eventually found her dead inside the house.
Police officials have not released many details about how the teenager died.
Shearer, while talking to The Salt Lake Tribune, said, "It was a very violent attack. So there‘s quite a bit of evidence, and it’s widely spread throughout the home and throughout the area."
The official added that it is not yet clear how or when the assailant entered the Bagshaws home, reports state.
Police, however, arrested 24-year-old Shaun French on Wednesday in Colorado as a suspect in the killing, according to KSL-TV. Officials had reportedly issued a call for help earlier in an effort to locate French, stating that he might be heading to Ohio, Wyoming or Colorado.
The suspect had reportedly lived with the teenager's family before and officials investigating the case have issued a warrant for French's arrest. Police suspect that the assailant made unlawful sexual contact with the minor girl.
The Deseret News reported that Baleigh worked at a Leatherby’s Family Creamery and was active in the local dog show community.
Her co-worker, Gwendolyn Robinson, said: "She worked very hard. She was a good girl."
A GoFundMe page has been set up by Baleigh's mother to help pay for the teenager's funeral. The page, which has a goal of $11,000, by Wednesday afternoon had already raised an amount of $9000.