COLUMBIA, S.C. — The search for a missing 13-year-old girl in Richland County has ended in tragedy with a discovery in Columbia on Wednesday and an official identification released two days later.
Richland County Sheriff's Department asked the public for help locating 13-year-old Ka'Niyah Baker, whom they believed could be in danger, but didn't specify why they thought that was the case.
Ka'Niyah Baker was last seen on Auburnleaf Drive, in the Greenlake community off Old Leesburg Road in Hopkins on January 13. They believed at the time she may be in the area of Farrow Road on Beltline Boulevard.
On Wednesday night, the Columbia-Richland Fire Department was responding to a house fire on Cardamon Court when they discovered a deceased person who was later identified as Baker by the Richland County Coroner's Office.
The Columbia Police Department launched an investigation into the incident, describing it as a suspicious death. The initial police report lists the crimes tied to the incident as murder and arson, but additional details were redacted or not included in that report. Coroner Naida Rutherford described the incident as a homicide in a statement identifying Baker as the victim.
No details regarding a suspect or motive have been publicly shared by any agency involved in the investigation.