The mother of a 16-year-old Massachusetts girl who died from suicide last month has an open case of child abuse.
The Boston Herald reports that Calvina Strothers, 41, was charged with assaulting a teenage child last year.
Mikayla Miller died from strangulation on April 17. Police found her with a thin belt looped around her neck and tied to a small tree branch. She died just steps away from the $3,800-a-month apartment she shared with her mom.
Strothers and activists blamed 5 white teenagers, including Mikayla’s ex-girlfriend, for murdering her.
The child abuse charges are outlined in a Hopkinton police report dated March 6, 2020. The report doesn’t name Mikayla, but she is Strothers’ only child.
The whole story always helps.
I’m sure her family would love a taxpayers payday though. https://t.co/hRhy3UeZxI
— L. Doe (@doe_lolaj) May 10, 2021
A worker at a local fast food restaurant called police to report a teenager had been struck in the face by her mother.
According to the report, the mother and child began to argue while riding in a car. Strothers pulled the car over and “began to hit her,” striking her three or four times with an open and closed fist.
The officer noted that the daughter had a split bottom lip and was bleeding.
The teenager told the officer that the argument started when she came home and noted Strothers throwing items around the room. She then allegedly hit Mikayla with a baseball bat before the teen ran away.
The officer spoke with Strothers who said she hit the teen to “defend herself,” according to the police report. The officer observed that Strothers didn’t have any marks on her from the fight.
Strothers was arrested and posted bail on April 17, 2020. Her next court date is July 23, 2021.
The officer called DFCS who removed Mikayla from the home. The 15-year-old was placed in temporary custody of the state.
Strothers raised over $53,000 in a GoFundMe account created to fund an “independent investigation” into Mikayla’s death.
Strothers is accused of neglecting and physically abusing Mikayla — a member of the LGBT+ community — and leaving her home alone for weeks while visiting her boyfriend in Chicago.
