LaTania Janell Carwell Had Little To No Chance Of Survival After Her Mom Tanya Tripp Met And Married A Convict Leon Tripp In Prison In 2011, Then Moved Him Into Their Home In April 2015 When He Was Paroled. Leon Became Almost Instantly Obsessed With 14 Year Old LaTania, And When Tanya Caught On, She Became Jealous Of Her Own Daughter And Began Plotting Her Demise.
Like many children, LaTania was a good kid who trusted her parents and was very obedient to them. She was mannerable and polite, and was embraced and accepted at school, church and wherever else she goes. She was doing excellent at TW Josey Comprehensive High School, as she wanted to become a doctor, and she knew what it would take to accomplish that goal. She was focused and excited about her future, but that all fell apart when her mom moved Leon Tripp into their home.
Instead of seeing her husband as the perv he is, Tanya began seeing her own daughter as her competition and wanted to crush her. So she plotted with her husband to get rid of her, and they hired hitmen thrice to get rid of her – twice in 2015 and once in 2016. But when that did not pan out, Leon began counting down the months to weeks to days until LaTania would turn 16. And the day she did, he took her.
On July 16 2017, a day before her birthday, after LaTania and her family attended Easter Sunday church, they then close out their evening with a cookout. And when it was over, their family and friends all left and Latania and family turned in for bed. But by morning, LaTania was nowhere to be found.
She seemed to have vanished without a trace.
You see Leon knew his wife no longer cared about or wanted LaTania, so although the plan was for him to get rid of her and return home, he had other plans. He wanted to run away with LaTania and make her his woman. So when he did not return by the eve of July 17th, Tanya became worried and called 911.
She then lied to authorities about what happened, then began making media rounds crying and pretending to be a worried mom…
….Until, weeks later when she was caught with her husband in Atlanta Georgia, and both were immediately arrested for kidnapping.
When detectives questioned 35 year old Tanya Tripp she maintained her story that Leon left the house on April 17, at around 1:30am to go help his friend Maurice who was stuck on the side of the road with vehicle issues, over 15 miles away in Clarks Hill South Carolina. And he took LaTania with him so she could help him with the GPS navigation.
But when they questioned 38 year old Leon Tripp, he told them there was no Maurice. He said he and LaTania went to Atlanta from Augusta, and he gave her money to take a bus back home to Augusta.
After weeks of community search and authorities investigating, LaTania’s body was found at an abandoned house in Augusta Georgia on March 8, 2018, about 2 miles from the home they all shared.
Leon and Tanya Tripp have since been denied bail, and they remain at the Richmond County Jail awaiting their trial, which has been constantly postponed due to Leon seeking to have his case dismissed. He had confessed to his horrendous crimes, before his lawyer stepped in and had the court render his confession, inadmissible at trial.
But the District Attorney Natalie Paine has enough evidence to prosecute him, and seek the death penalty. As she cites in the Superior Court motion:
“Leon allegedly killed his step-daughter, 16-year-old Latania Janell Carwell, during the act of another felony, and the crime was outrageously vile, and the murder involved torture.”
Tanya chose to marry a man who was in prison serving time for aggravated assault and cruelty to children from 2009 to 2015, which created the scenario she found herself in. And sadly her daughter paid the ultimate penalty for her carelessness.
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