Her family and friends knew Lauren Deis as a sweet, funny girl who loved to play guitar and snuggle with her dog, Snicks.
But tragedy, addiction and time spent in foster care defined the East Liberty girl's life until her violent death. Someone stabbed Lauren, 14, more than 12 times in the torso and neck, wrapped her body in plastic and dumped her near Langley High School.
"We all thought things were getting better for her and that maybe her life was turning around," Lauren's friend, Courtney Granata, 17, said Wednesday. "I guess we were wrong."
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office said Lauren died from multiple stab wounds. Police were investigating whether the teenager, who often ran away and spent time with older men, met a man during the EQT Three Rivers Regatta on the July Fourth weekend.
Detectives searched a home on Glen Mawr Street in Sheraden and removed several bags of items, including a mop and a comforter. Police in Goldsboro, N.C., on Wednesday arrested a man who lives at the home -- Tushon Brown, 35 -- after the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole declared him delinquent for not reporting to officials as required by his parole.
Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Lawrence J. O'Toole sentenced Brown to seven to 15 years in 2002 for his conviction on several charges, including rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated assault and burglary. He was paroled in August 2009, five months after his minimum sentence expired, according to the Department of Corrections.
Magistrate Cynthia R. Howard in Wayne County, N.C., said Brown is scheduled to appear before a judge this morning and that he will be held pending extradition to Pennsylvania.
Lauren, whom friends called "Danni," last posted comments online July 6, the last day she was seen alive on Minton Street, a few blocks from the house that police searched.
"I got a kinda complicated thing going on with someone," Lauren said on her Facebook profile, where she described herself as a bisexual "raver and a smoker." On her MySpace page, where she posted a picture of herself holding a bottle of vodka, she listed her age as 19 and talked about men, smoking and drinking. Her eyebrow, nose and tongue were pierced.
"Life's a bitch and then you die, so (expletive) the world and let's get high," she wrote on Facebook.
Pittsburgh police Cmdr. Thomas Stangrecki believes the killer dumped Lauren's body next to a trash bin a few hours before workers at Langley High found her Tuesday.
"She had a hard life and a lot of problems at home," Granata said. "She bounced around a lot. But she never did anything to anyone, and she was such a great friend and person. She called me 'Big Sis,' and I called her 'Lil Sis.' I can't believe she's gone."
Lauren's sister Rachael, 16, began searching for her July 9, posting a Facebook message asking anyone who might have seen her to call police. She distributed fliers with Lauren's picture around Sheraden.
Lauren's troubles began in 2003, when she was 7 and her father died of an accidental drug overdose in San Diego, relatives said. Lisa Annette Deis, 45, moved her children to Monroeville and then to Churchill. Police arrested Lauren's mother on charges of drunken and careless driving in 2006 and for drug possession in January 2007, court records show.
Lisa Deis could not be reached.
By the time Lauren was 12, police had cited her for underage drinking, relatives and friends said. Placed in Allegheny County's foster care system, she lived and attended school in the Mars Home for Youth.
Last month, she moved home with her mother in East Liberty. But police said she frequently ran away and hung out with friends in the West End. Relatives said Lauren liked to videotape short movies with friends and listen to music.
"It sounds like this poor kid never had a chance," said Dr. Neil Capretto, medical director at Gateway Rehabilitation. "Addiction affects the entire family. Kids who are in that situation have a higher rate of addiction themselves, of medical, mental and health problems and of winding up in foster care. It's a cycle."
Police wouldn't discuss suspects or a motive for the teenager's death. Investigators removed items from the Glen Mawr Street home, but a judge sealed the search warrant. Neighbors said a woman living there with three young sons recently had married. They often saw teens going in and out of the house.
Neighbors and online records identified the woman living there as Jessica Walters. Neighbors said she told them that she sent her children to live with a relative this week because they were not safe in the home. Neighbors said they hadn't seen the man whom she introduced as her husband since Monday.
Rachael Deis posted a memorial on her sister's Facebook page:
"I know your at peace now baby girl Lauren Deis not a day goes by when I won't think about you we all love you so much I promise you they won't get away with this."
