Amid a tragic and mind-boggling turn of events, a 14-year-old boy was charged with murder for allegedly killing his missing 10-year-old stepsister. Little Na’Mylah Turner-Moore was missing from her stepfather’s Saginaw, Michigan, home in the early hours of Tuesday, August 30, prompting her stepfather to call Na’Mylah’s biological father, who in turn called Saginaw Police. It took only a few hours for police to locate Na’Mylah’s body in an abandoned and overgrown lot not far from her home.
Police later arrested Jameion Peterson, 14, Na’Mylah’s stepbrother, and charged him as an adult for open murder. It is unclear what lead police to Jameion, but he was arrested without incident. Na’Mylah’s mother, Melonzine Turner, was at the hospital recovering from two stomach surgeries when her daughter was reported missing. Turner insisted on leaving the hospital to help search for her daughter and arrived at the scene still in her hospital gown and slippers only to discover that police had just located the body of her little girl. In addition to her stomach surgeries due to Crohn’s disease, Turner had just given birth to twins a few months ago. She now has to bury her eldest child.
Turner’s description of her daughter is heartbreaking, as she recalls her daughter’s love of dancing and taking care of other people. But she also points out that the loss is not just for herself, but especially for Na’Mylah’s younger siblings:
“My baby was everything,” Turner said. “She was jolly, smiley-faced. She had personality. She had so many friends. Everybody wanted to be around her. She just was lovable…[Dancing] was her thing, dancing and TikToking.”
Na’Mylah became a “second mother” to her younger siblings and stepped in to help cook for them and put them to bed. “She just wanted them in her face all the time,” Turner said. “She just wanted to love on her sisters and brothers because she knew she was the oldest.”
#Breaking The stepbrother of a 10-year-old girl who was found murdered in Saginaw shortly after being reported missing has been charged for her murder, according to the Saginaw County Prosecutor’s Office. https://t.co/o4iUFhIrNw
— WNEM TV5 News (@WNEMTV5news) September 1, 2022
As True Crime Daily reports, Turner’s Crohn’s disease led Na’Mylah to dream of becoming a doctor. Turner told local news outlet MLive that her daughter would often tell her, “Momma, I’m gonna take care of you. I’m gonna be a doctor.”
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Turner is devastated that Jameion Peterson, the 14-year-old whom she regarded as a son, is responsible for her daughter’s death. In an odd twist, Turner had ended the relationship with Peterson’s father some time ago, yet her daughter used to go to her former stepfather’s home from time to time. Na’Mylah was at the Peterson home the night before she was found murdered because the school year had just begun, and the bus picked her up outside each school morning.
Na’Mylah’s birthday is on Sept. 18 and would have turned 11. Her school, Stone Elementary School in Saginaw, issued a statement upon learning of the 10-year-old’s tragic death:
“Na’Mylah Turner-Moore was a fourth-grade student that was well liked by her peers and was a leader at Stone School, known for organizing recess activities during lunch and recess. She really enjoyed art class and spending time with her friends. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family. We will miss Na’Mylah very much.”