A Pennsylvania man accused of killing and dismembering a transgender teenage girl he met on a dating app has been indicted on murder and related charges.
A Pennsylvania man accused of killing and dismembering a transgender teenage girl he met through a dating app has been indicted on murder and related charges.
Dashaun Watkins, 29, of Sharon, was indicted earlier this month and is being held without bail in the Mercer County Jail. He was represented at the hearing by the county public defender’s office, according to court documents, but the office said it does not discuss pending cases and declined to comment Tuesday about the case or whether it was representing Watkins.
Watkins was charged with involvement in the murder of Polly Likens, a 14-year-old transgender girl from Sharon who was last seen on June 22 and reported missing by a relative three days later. That same day, police discovered dismembered human remains in and around a lake on the Chenango River, and more remains were found in the area over the next week.
The Mercer County Coroner’s Office determined that Likens, who would have turned 15 on Saturday, died from a sharp force blow to the head before her limbs were dismembered. The manner of death was ruled a homicide.
Watkins has been charged with murder, aggravated assault, tampering with evidence and criminal damage to a corpse, and prosecutors plan to file hate crime charges, but have not yet filed them.
Watkins told police he arranged to meet someone he met through the dating app Grindr on June 22. According to county prosecutors, surveillance footage, social media records and cell phone records show Watkins calling someone to meet up that evening near a canoe launch on the lake.
Authorities said the video also showed Watkins leaving her apartment multiple times in the early morning hours of June 23 with multiple bags and heading to her apartment in a vehicle that was seen near the lake.
Likens’ relatives said the boy was a mischievous boy who dreamed of becoming a park ranger.
“I just want to say that she was a truly beautiful, loving person and the hate needs to stop,” Likens’ mother, Jen McClure, told PennLive.
