Serenity McKinney’s father received a text message claiming his daughter, 4, was missing, was at SUITCASE just days before her body was found

JUST days before police found the body of missing 4-year-old Serenity McKinney, her father received cryptic texts claiming his daughter was “in a suitcase”.

“I know someone who knows where your daughter is,” one woman texted Dave Justice at 2:37 a.m. Wednesday.

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His daughter Serenity McKinney never see or hear the word Christmas 2020.

Late Friday, her body was found in a wooded area in Bullitt County, Kentucky, about an hour from Shelby County, where Serenity was reported missing in January.

Her biological mother Catherine “Abby” McKinney cut relationship with her family in 2021 and was with boyfriend Dakota Hill.

Both McKinney and Hill charged with murder and abusing corpses on Saturday, according to prison records.

Justice spoke to The Sun on Friday night about the text exchange and said, “I just want my daughter at home.”

At the time, he didn’t know the police had found his daughter’s body.

“That’s the worst thing anyone can hear in my shoes,” Justice said. “She texted me again 12 hours later still harassing me.

“I think it’s an account being used like an account for real people, but I can’t say for sure who it is, but I believe she knows who had her.”

He said that he had never met this woman. The only previous contact he had with her was in January because she had one of Justice’s friends’ phones.

Justice reported the strange interaction to the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, which is leading the investigation.

A body matching Serenity’s description was found in a wooded area near the Jefferson County-Bullitt County line.

Trooper Sharp said the finding was due to ‘good old-fashioned police practice, use of technology and cooperation with state police and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.’

Officials confirmed to The Sun, Serenity’s biological mother, Catherine “Abby” McKinney, and her mother’s boyfriend, Dakota Hill, have been charged with murder and abusing a corpse.

Kentucky State trooper Scotty Sharp told The Sun: ‘In general, cadaver abuse is when a body is moved or hidden or tampered with but we can’t go into specifics about this case.’

SERENITY’S MOTHER AND FRIEND

Serenity was last seen with her biological mother Catherine “Abby” McKinney and boyfriend Dakota Hill before she went missing.

They severed ties with her family by blocking them on social media and changing their phone numbers, which Serenity’s grandmother called “unusual behaviour”.

After a year of suffering, the little girl was reported missing in January.

McKinney and Hill were “uncooperative” during police questioning, and they later fled the state after an arrest warrant was issued.

They were tracked to Thomas County, Kansas and eventually was arrested.

But Serenity was not with them, and remained missing.

Shelby County Sherrif’s office “is aware of reports of defendant and co-defendant suspected of abuse and neglect,” according to an arrest warrant obtained by The Sun through an open records request.

“An emergency custody order has been served on the defendant, and she refuses to release the child or the location to the child. Under the order, the child will be placed in public custody pending an investigation.”

REASONS INTERESTED US

Serenity’s grandparents said they were also worried about McKinney, who “black eyes and swollen face” in July 2021, friends said.

She and Hill lived with Keahna Paige Green and her boyfriend from July 2021 to September 2021, but Serenity was not with them, Green said in an earlier interview.

Hill, who knew Green’s boyfriend while playing Xbox, said he and McKinney were homeless and asked to be with them in their Kentucky home.

“When they came in, I saw that she had two black eyes and a swollen face. I thought he did something to her, but she was adamant that Dakota didn’t do anything,” Green said.

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