Investigators say 26-year-old Ki-Shawn Crumity, met the teen on Snapchat, offering to help her and promising adoption by a “trusted adult.”
NEW ORLEANS — A 13-year-old girl from Baker, Louisiana, who was reported missing last week, has been found alive — hidden inside a box in the basement of a Pittsburgh home — after a dramatic, multi-state investigation that led to several arrests.
Pittsburgh police say they found the teen Thursday night inside a home on Davis Avenue in the city’s Brighton Heights neighborhood.
Neighbors described a chaotic scene as SWAT, FBI, and U.S. Marshals filled the street and surrounded the home before moving in.
“An amount of policemen, SWAT, FBI, U.S. Marshals up and down the road. And then I saw a girl — looked like a girl, very small — being pulled out and taken to the right, where the ambulance was,” one neighbor said.
Another neighbor added, “It makes me happy that they were making that arrest. It’s scary, though — just crazy, unnerving… I’m glad they got the guy.”
According to an arrest affidavit, 26-year-old Ki-Shawn Crumity is accused of keeping the girl hidden in his basement for several days. Investigators say he met the teen on Snapchat, offering to help her and promising adoption by a “trusted adult.” Instead, police say, he provided her with alcohol and edibles and sexually assaulted her multiple times.
Authorities say the girl’s journey stretched from Louisiana to Georgia, then to Washington, D.C., before she ultimately ended up in Pittsburgh with an adult woman. Investigators believe all three slept in the same basement bed before police arrived.
The U.S. Marshals Service says the rescue was the result of a week-long investigation that began after Louisiana State Police requested assistance in locating the missing child. That collaboration led to additional arrests, including 62-year-old Ronald Smith, who was taken into custody in Columbus, Georgia.
Smith is accused of simple kidnapping and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile. Investigators believe he and another man drove the girl from Baton Rouge to Georgia before she was placed on a bus headed north.
Crumity is currently being held at the Allegheny County Jail on charges of child trafficking, statutory sexual assault, indecent assault, and corruption of a minor. Police say the child is now receiving medical care and support.
The case remains under investigation, with authorities warning that additional arrests and charges are likely.
Agencies involved in the rescue include the U.S. Marshals Service, FBI, Louisiana State Police, Baker Police Department, and Pittsburgh Police.
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