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Teenager’s high hopes dashed in grave yard murder
posted (August 4, 2014)
There's a whole lot of news to report on tonight: we have the story of three weekend murders - including the savage killing of a 16 year old girl in the cemetery, plus BML workers went on a major offensive against City Hall today and threw garbage in front of the mayor's office, and of course, the UDP held its municipal convention yesterday - where thousands of party supporters voted for ten candidates.

We start with the murder of Chryslin Gladden - a 16 year old who recently graduated from Wesley High. She was preparing to go to UB - but on Saturday morning a killer snuffed out that dream with extreme cruelty: the teenager was knifed to death.

Her family was inconsolable when the body was found on Saturday morning. Daniel Ortiz was there:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
That's the first time this morning that the family of 16 year-old Chryslin Gladden saw her lifeless body. Their grief and anguish played out in a public space, in the cemetery of all places as they tried to process that she'd been taken away from them.

But, that was after more than 2 hours of her body being on the ground in the Lord Ridge Cemetery. She was found with multiple stab wounds, and her face was swollen to the point that it was unrecognizable.

The police worked diligently to process the scene, with evidence markers laid out to show how the crime might have happened.

The crowd had gathered very early, and though several from the public tried in vain to identify her to police, she remained a "Jane Doe" until police moved her from the crime scene, and got ready to transport her to the morgue.

Her family member, who asked to appear off-camera, told us that he could have been the first to on the scene earlier that morning to identify her, but he wasn't because it was unthinkable to him that he would find his loved one murdered in this fashion.

Voice of: Family member
"The unfortunate thing about was that I got the information earlier in the morning that she went out and she didn't come back in, so I was actually on my way over to where Chryslin lives because I don't really live at the family house anymore. I honestly passed the Lord Ride Cemetery and I saw the commotion of people running into the Lord Ridge Cemetery but I wasn't really paying much focus to that. My thing was getting home and finding out exactly how to trace the steps of Chryslin the previous night, so it was very unfortunate and it really hit me hard in the sense that If I took the time to stop I actually would have been the first family member to identify my cousin because that's actually on route to my home from where I actually live."

And now, both the family and the police are now trying to trace her steps leading up to the final moments of her life.

Voice of: Family member
"Actually the information that I got was that she spoke to her mom about going out to visit a couple of friends. She is just out of fourth form and still going through the little timing of fourth form and sixth form whereby she is just finding her way. She told her mom that she wasn't going to be gone long, so everything is really a surprise after what unfolded that night."

Daniel Ortiz
"Do you guys know where she went? Where she ended up?"

Voice of: Family member
"After everything that's when we more or less found out exactly what transpired the night in regards to where she was located at different points in the night but in regards to her going out - it was just a general statement she gave to her mother that she is going out with a couple of friends and that's general what we got from it."

Very little is known at this time, and what we understand is that she did go to see her friends, and was supposed to have taken a taxi home. Hours later, she was discovered with multiple stab wounds.

Voice of: Family member
"It was definitely a surprise. I think the first everybody in the family felt definite sadness beyond compare. A lot was actually happening from Chryslin at the moment, she was just on the point of going to 6th form. She had just finish up 4th form. I think frustration bundled with a lot of questions bundled with a lot of loss love in regards to losing a love one is was what will run to the entire family. We are a family of results and the law enforcement officer are definitely working towards getting results. However at the end of the day who comes to justice or not we are going to still work towards results."

Daniel Ortiz
"If you has an opportunity to just talk or even see this individual who is accused of this crime, what is the first reaction that you would exhibit?"

Voice of: Family member
"God bless you."

Her body was found in the Lord Ridge Cemetery just after 6 on Saturday morning. She had suffered multiple stab wounds to the left side of the neck and face. Police say that they found the suspected murder weapon, a bloody 10-inch knife, and they also discovered a flask of liquor.

Also of note is that we've learned that police had initially detained a police officer for questioning about Gladden's murder. He's still detained - and this evening, we have learned, so is a young female.

The police detention is noteworthy because she's posted pictures of herself while wearing a police uniform hat on her Facebook account. Police promised to grant us an interview today, but the commander from precinct 2 told us that the investigation was evolving and he had to postpone that interview until tomorrow.

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