In September 2010, a heart-wrenching story began to unfold in Memphis, Tennessee, concerning the disappearance of a nine-month-old infant named Lauryn Dickens. At the time she was last seen, she was a small child, standing at 1'9' and weighing only 17 pounds. Lauryn had black hair, which her mother said was styled in two afro puffs, and she had a noticeable skin rash on both of her forearms and on the inside of her knees.
The last reported sighting of Lauryn was on September 7, 2010, and she was said to be wearing a brown onesie adorned with a pink flower and pink dots. She was living with her mother, Shakara Dickens, and her three-year-old brother in the Raleigh Village Apartments. The circumstances surrounding her disappearance, as initially reported by her mother, were unusual and would soon become the focus of an intense investigation.
Shakara Dickens initially told police a perplexing story. She claimed that on the morning of September 7th, she handed her daughter over to a woman she did not know. According to Shakara, this unidentified woman was a friend of Lauryn's father, Benjamin Norfleet, who was incarcerated at the time. Shakara alleged that she had told Norfleet she could no longer care for their daughter, and he had arranged for this woman to take Lauryn until his release. She described the woman as being white, in her forties, with straight, shoulder-length gray hair and glasses. However, Shakara admitted she did not get the woman's name or any contact information. It wasn't until September 15th, over a week after she last saw her child, that Shakara reported Lauryn missing, and only at the insistence of her own mother. In the intervening days, her behavior was seen as unusual; she went to a nightclub, bought new clothes, and altered a tattoo. This, coupled with the strange account of handing her child to a stranger, immediately raised suspicions among investigators.
The investigation quickly uncovered significant inconsistencies in Shakara's story. Lauryn's father, Benjamin Norfleet, denied ever sending anyone to pick up his daughter and stated he didn't know any woman matching the description provided. He also told authorities that Shakara had been blocking his phone calls since the beginning of September. Furthermore, Shakara gave conflicting stories to others, at one point claiming Lauryn was with Norfleet's parents and at another time saying she had placed her for adoption. The police investigation escalated when cadaver dogs indicated the scent of human remains in both the family's apartment and the car Shakara drove. A week after the missing person report was filed, Shakara was arrested and charged with aggravated child neglect, child endangerment, and filing a false report. The official belief of the police was that Lauryn was deceased. The case concluded tragically when, as part of a plea agreement in June 2012, Shakara Dickens confessed to killing her daughter. She admitted that out of frustration with the baby's crying and the stress of not being able to find a babysitter, she had smothered Lauryn. She then placed her daughter's body in a trash bin. Shakara was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and other charges, receiving a 19-year prison sentence. Despite her confession, Lauryn Dickens's body has never been recovered.Last Seen: Sep 7, 2010
