'Was She Lynched?' Civil Rights Attorney Benjamin Crump Raises Questions About Death Of Mikayla Miller
HOPKINTON (CBS) - At the start of the wooded path in Hopkinton leading to the spot where 16-year-old Mikayla Miller's body was discovered, a friend planted a sign Wednesday. It said "What happened to Mikayla?"
Her mother, Calvina Strothers, says in her mind, suicide is impossible, even though that's what the Medical Examiner officially ruled it.
WBZ has obtained emails and Facebook messages from a lawyer representing a friend of Mikayla Miller. In those messages, it shows someone asking a Hopkinton guidance counselor and a Miller family member for help saying she was worried about Mikayla's mental health.
"I know the truth, and it's not what they say," said Strothers. "It's not their kid, so they don't care, but that is my child and I will fight tooth, nail, until the day I leave this earth."
Those were her words during a telephone news conference with George Floyd's family attorney Benjamin Crump, who's now setting his sites on Mikayla's case. "Was she lynched," asked Crump. "And if she was, why aren't we saying that?"
Moments before the news conference, Hopkinton Police released dash-camera video of officers responding to a 911 call from a jogger.
"I have a caller on the line who believes that there is a deceased male hanging from a tree there," said the dispatcher.
"I'm in the middle of the woods," said the jogger. "I'm like halfway to his body."
It was the day after Mikayla's mother says the girl was jumped by some other teens. While a Hopkinton Police spokesperson says one is the grandchild of a former police officer who died 20 years ago, none has current ties to the department.
David Johns, who heads the National Black Justice Coalition, also spoke at the news conference. "Mikayla was found standing upright, not hanging, with a belt tied around her neck, which was tied to a tree that is not tall enough nor sturdy enough to withstand her body weight," he said.
The Massachusetts Department of Children and Families has an open case on Mikayla Miller's mother dating back to March of 2020. When asked about that, activists said prosecutors are keeping the case open out of revenge for her speaking out about the death investigation.
