ORLANDO, Fla. – A 16-year-old girl who was found dead Monday outside a Pine Hills home was involved in a human trafficking case and was last seen leaving a Florida Department of Children and Families office in August, officials said.
News 6 obtained a missing persons report for Dashayla Ferguson, who was found shot to death near a car on Broken Pine Circle.
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The report shows that Ferguson was last seen Aug. 12 at a DCF office on South Kirkman Road.
Records show she was at the office as a transfer from Seminole County and was to be placed with a family before she appeared in court the next day. Workers said that Ferguson began arguing with staff at the office and left the facility.
The missing persons report shows police released updates in September and as recent as Oct. 18, six days before her death. The report listed Ferguson as missing, a ward of the state and a habitual runaway. They noted that the case was open and active.
It’s unknown why she was shot and left for dead outside a home and who killed her.
According to the report, Ferguson was also involved in a human trafficking case, but the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation would not provide further details.
In a statement, a spokesperson said, “MBI uses the definition of Human Trafficking provided in (Florida Statute) 787.06. MBI will not be providing a comment on an investigation being conducted by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.”
Anyone with information about Ferguson’s death is asked to call the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
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