ABERDEEN, Md. — A teenage gang member has been charged in connection to the July 2022 rape and murder of a 20-year-old Aberdeen woman.
What started off as a 911 call for cardiac arrest, soon turned into a gruesome discovery.
Responding officers found Kayla Hamilton strangled to death inside a mobile home at the Rancho Estates on E. Inca Street.
Investigators learned that Kayla was autistic and had recently moved to the area with her boyfriend.
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Police say DNA evidence collected at the crime scene led them to a 17-year-old from El Salvador.
Working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, detectives confirmed the teen is undocumented and a member of the violent MS-13 gang.
Reacting to the arrest from her home in Norfolk, Virginia, Kayla’s mother, Tammy Nobles, told WMAR2News, “It’s been for me, many sleepless nights. My… I never thought I would take this journey on losing my daughter in such a horrific way and so soon. When I found out that it was a juvenile, I was shocked. I was like, ‘A juvenile did this to her?’ Like I was really shocked. I could not believe a teenager could do this.”
The teen suspect was taken into custody on January 15 and is currently being held without bail at the Harford County Detention Center.
So far police have not revealed a potential motive.
