A South Carolina mother went into an apartment Wednesday morning and found her 17-year-old daughter dead. Destiny Kennedy, a senior at Union County High School, was discovered face down with blood on her body in a home on Chambers Avenue. Police responded around 7:45 a.m.
Dedrick Hay, who is from the Columbia area, is charged with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. According to an arrest warrant, Kennedy was strangled and stabbed in the neck. Investigators say the two knew each other before the killing. Hay was denied bond Thursday and remains in the Union County Jail, while SLED’s Child Fatality and Crime Scene units assist the Union Public Safety Department.
For families across the Suncoast, this kind of story raises a lot of questions about how much we actually know about the relationships in our kids’ lives. What do you tell a teenager about reading warning signs in a relationship? What’s actually worked in your family?
