By Kristen Mitchell
Tampa Tribune
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — After three teenagers drove into a cemetery pond in a stolen car and died, police officers were dispatched to locations throughout St. Petersburg to break the news to the girls’ loved ones.
On the morning of March 31, Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived at Ashaunti Butler’s grandmother’s house. When Monica Elias pulled up in a vehicle a short time later, she became emotional — she knew it had to be her granddaughter in that car.
Pinellas County sheriff’s officials this week released documents regarding their investigation into the deaths of the three teenagers, Butler, 15; Dominique Battle, 16; and Laniya Miller, 15, who stole a car on March 30 and drove it around Pinellas County before driving into a pond in Royal Palm Cemetery, southwest of the Interstate 275 interchange at Gandy Boulevard, authorities said.
The vehicle, a 1998 gold Honda Accord, was reported stolen by Damian Marriott, who told police he offered to give the girls a ride across town, but needed to stop off at a Wal-Mart first. He left the girls in the running vehicle, and when he came back, the car and its occupants were gone.
After trying twice that evening to stop the Honda, deputies followed the vehicle as it turned into the cemetery and drove into the pond at about 4 a.m. Deputies went into the pond after the sinking car, but abandoned their efforts because of the muddy water and excessive plant growth. After the four-door sedan was towed out of the pond hours later, investigators determined the girls drowned.
Butler and Miller would have turned 16 this week. The three girls, all sophomores at different local high schools, were described as best friends by many acquaintances.
Following the tragedy Sheriff Bob Gualtieri pointed out the teen’ criminal histories, which included seven arrests among them for grand theft auto in the last year. In a subsequent news conference, attorneys Michele Whitfield and Will Anderson said the sheriff misrepresented Miller’s criminal history, and that Marriott’s story was not thoroughly investigated.
The lawyers were hired by Miller’s mother, Natasha Winkler, who said her daughter was a beautiful person and dreamed of working as an lawyer one day.
Deputies went to the home of Kristine Hayes, Miller’s grandmother, who had legal guardianship of the teen, on the morning of March 31. Upon hearing what had happened, Hayes was “extremely emotional and visibly shaken,” investigative documents say.
Battle’s mother, Yashica Clemmons, was told of her daughter’s death at noon on March 31, when deputies went to a Taco Bell restaurant in South Pasadena where she worked. Clemmons was able to identify her daughter, describing a tattoo of Clemmon’s name on her thigh, and became “extremely distraught and began crying and screaming,” when told Dominique had died, documents say.
Because none of the girls was wearing a seat belt, Gualtieri said investigators could not determine who was driving the car, but investigative documents identify Dominique as the possible driver; her body was the only one found in the front seat.
Sheriff’s officials released the crash report and in-car video of the initial fleeing and eluding incident in Clearwater, followed by and the second incident that began at U.S. 19 and Ulmerton Road and ended at the cemetery. Dive team logs, patrol radio transmissions, reports from on-scene investigators and the stolen vehicle incident report taken by the St. Petersburg Police also were released.
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