“Who are we here for? Who must we stand for? Who must we speak for? Because she can’t be here tonight to speak for herself. This should have never happened. I’m very upset about it. This could have been my granddaughter, my daughter. This is somebody’s child. I’m very pissed off about it. This is what community is about, and we appreciate the support that you’re showing Aliana and her family, and I’m sure they appreciate it. I want you to know that the men and women of the fourth district, our hearts are broken because of this. This is our community, too. One of our girls in this community that this happened to. We’re working very, very hard to find out who did it and bring them to justice.”
January 26th, 2017, Cleveland, Ohio, 4:00 p.m. Aliana DeFreeze still hadn’t come home from school. This was very out of character for the 14-year-old. Her mother, Donisha, called the school to see if they knew anything about where she was or why she was delayed. What they told her made her stomach drop: Aliana hadn’t been to school that day. She had set off at 6:30 a.m., more than enough time to get there, so why hadn’t she turned up? Aliana had last been seen getting onto an RTA bus near the 3,400 block of East 149th Street, the same bus stop her mother walked her to that morning. She would then get off that bus at East 93rd and Kinsman and transfer to a second bus to get to school. She attended E Prep and Village Prep Woodland Hills, where she was in the seventh grade.
“She’s never done this before,” her aunt said. “She’s not known to run away. She’s never run away. She’s never been in any type of trouble. There’s no reason for her to run away from home, so this is very unlike her.”
Aliana had been at E Prep for 2 years, and while she was there, a new system had been brought into place. School administrators would send automatic messages to parents with news to do with their children, including if they failed to show up for school, but her parents hadn’t received any notification. Aliana, who had a developmental disability, was extremely loving and adored her close family, who adored her just as much in return. She was bright and bubbly, never without a smile on her face, and now the community was out in full force trying to find her. Luckily, the buses she traveled on were covered by a network of security cameras, and when they found the footage, there she was, going about her day as normal. So what had happened to her when she stepped off the bus? Then, something caught their eye: a man in a white hoodie was standing behind her, and then followed her.
The temperature was dropping and snow was falling. This was a race against time to find her. Multiple special agents and intelligence analysts were drafted in to help in the search. The investigators needed to establish a timeline by talking to her family, friends, classmates, and teachers. What was her normal routine? The police spoke to everyone in her circle, but nothing of note came up. Houses of her friends and family had also been searched, but she was nowhere to be found. It was now becoming clear that there was a new, disturbing idea they were going to have to look at: had this been a stranger abduction?
A group of officers were dispatched to canvas and search local abandoned houses in the area. This was an enormous task, but the police and community were ready; they were going to search for as long as it took in the freezing conditions to bring Aliana home. A citywide search was now underway and a reward for any information that led to her was offered. But just a few hours later, the news everyone had been dreading would break.
“There has not been a positive identification of the victim found in that house on Sunday night, and until there is positive scientific evidence, we’re not going to announce who that person is. We have a very strong idea based on evidence and things like that of who that person is, and we’ve talked to that family. We’re in constant contact with that family, but until the medical examiner makes that positive identification, we don’t have an announcement for that.”
“In reference to the individual whose remains were found on Sunday night and transported to our office, as the chief said, a positive identification has not been made. Those remains are of a young Black girl, and one of our leading considerations is of the person who was reported missing, the 14-year-old girl.”
There were several abandoned houses near the 9400 block of Fuller Avenue, not far from where she changed buses. As one of the officers went into one of the abandoned houses, he found a body. She was naked and lying in a pool of blood. There was a trail of blood leading to the dining room, and laid out in there on a built-in bench were several tools, including a drill and box cutter. The injuries she had sustained matched these tools. There was also a footprint found. The medical examiner found extensive injuries, including a broken jaw and stab wounds. The injury she had sustained was so severe, the medical examiner was unable to determine an exact cause of death. She also had to be identified via dental records.
The community was devastated. Many left flowers and teddy bears outside of the house in tribute to her. The pain and anger everyone felt was palpable; this was a vulnerable child, one of their own, who was simply making her way to school. Nobody could understand it.
“Who are we here for? Who must we stand for? Who must we speak for? Because she can’t be here tonight to speak for herself. This should have never happened. I’m very upset about it. This could have been my granddaughter, my daughter. This is somebody’s child. I’m very pissed off about it. This is what community is about, and we appreciate the support that you’re showing Aliana and her family, and I’m sure they appreciate it. I want you to know that the men and women of the fourth district, our hearts are broken because of this. This is our community, too. One of our girls in this community that this happened to. We’re working very, very hard to find out who did it and bring them to justice.”
This case was now fast-moving, and before long, there would be more breaking news. February 2017, an arrest was made.
“So let’s stay on this now and ask the question: who is Christopher Whitaker? There are a lot of pieces of the puzzle, so anybody that has any information on this suspect, Christopher Whitaker, his whereabouts over the last week, anybody he may have talked to…”
Whitaker was arrested right here about 4 hours ago at the Villa Arena Apartments on Mayfield Road in Mayfield Heights by Cleveland Police and Federal Marshals. 44-year-old Christopher Whitaker was taken into custody at 7:15 p.m. in Mayfield Heights. He did have a criminal record and was a registered sex offender, having served four years in prison for felonious assault and sexual battery after raping and attacking a woman in 2005.
“Then he grabbed me around my neck and was choking me, and I passed out.”
And 12 years after she was strangled, brutally raped, and left unconscious in her own home, emotional and physical scars remain.
“When they found her body, it was like something came over me and said, ‘Chris did that.'”
Chris Whitaker accused of murdering 14-year-old Aliana DeFreeze and…
In December 2018, the abandoned house on Fuller Avenue was demolished. It’s something that is a scar on top of a scar. The back doors were kicked open, the boards were off the walls; someone got inside the house on Fuller Avenue where Christopher Whitaker raped and murdered their 14-year-old daughter, Aliana. This worries Damon DeFreeze because he believes these vacant homes aren’t safe, and what happened to his daughter could potentially happen to someone else, because lives are at stake.
“People don’t get it. Lives are literally at stake.”
And just one month later, Aliana’s Alert Bill was signed into law. This new law required all schools to alert parents within 2 hours if their child failed to turn up for school. Her family would also go on to file a wrongful death lawsuit. The defendants included Christopher Whitaker, E Prep and Village Prep Woodland Hills, the City of Cleveland, Friends of Breakthrough Schools, and the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. The owner of the house was also named for failing to maintain, operate, and monitor the house she was found in. Their lawyer said:
“Unfortunately, when these cases happen, you have to hold every single person accountable. You can’t let anyone off the hook, and here, everyone played a role.”
The lawsuit alleged that the school utterly and without question breached a critical duty owed to each and every parent to provide notice of a missing child. It was also argued that the City of Cleveland and its employees breached their duties by failing to monitor and prevent illicit activities in abandoned properties, including the one her body had been found in. The family was seeking $50 million in compensatory and punitive damages. They would later reach a settlement of a reported $1 million.
The work of Aliana’s family in the wake of her murder has been nothing short of incredible. They have gone above and beyond to ensure that her name continues to live on through the good work they do and their service to their community. In her memory, her family started the Aliana DeFreeze Let’s Make a Change Foundation, a nonprofit organization to help low-income families, and it also aims at tackling the issue of abandoned homes and safe routes for children to get to school.
“Tonight, Aliana DeFreeze’s family will be helping other families around the holiday season. They’re partnering with Toys for Tots to hand out toys to children who might not otherwise get many gifts this year.”
Ariel DeFreeze is Aliana’s cousin; she tells me she’s keeping her spirit alive by giving others a safe place to grieve and work through their trauma. She’s doing this through creating the Centers for Counseling and Trauma Recovery. You may have seen Walls of Love around Cleveland, or even around the country; they’re filled with essential items to help people in their time of need. And today, they celebrated a really special milestone: the 500th wall, and one dedicated in honor of Aliana DeFreeze.
Aliana DeFreeze was a bright, creative, joyful young girl who should have had her whole life ahead of her. The grief left in the wake of her murder is something no family should ever have to endure, and yet, in the face of that pain, her loved ones have chosen action. Through education, advocacy, and community engagement, they’ve built a legacy in her name, one that protects other children and keeps her light alive. This was a crime that should never have happened, but from its devastation has come a call for change, and that, perhaps, is the most powerful testament to someone who should still be here.
Disclaimer : This content may be created by AI for entertainment purposes. Any resemblance to real persons, events, or places is coincidental.
