The case surrounding 40 Cal’s missing daughter Saniyya Dennis was ruled a suicide by Erie County District Attorney’s office. However, the family of Dennis has issued a statement disputing that this is true. D.A. John Flynn told reporters that they sifted through phone records and security footage before coming to that conclusion.
“An exhaustive search and review of the evidence has been done and it appears that this poor girl took her own life,” said Flynn. “Without a body, without an autopsy being done, we’re never going to definitively know. All I can do is present you with what I have and what I presented … everything that I had … to her parents.”
The family of 40 Cal’s daughter said that the D.A.’s findings and announcements were not consistent in a statement to New York Amsterdam News.
“Upon careful review and consideration of the allegations presented by District Attorney Flynn regarding the issues surrounding the disappearance of Saniyya Dennis, we respectfully disagree with his presentation and were shocked by his assertion that he shared information with our family regarding her disappearance and his findings of suicide,” the statement reads.
In a statement to People, the African American Juvenile Justice Project said that they were working with Dennis’ family to find out what really happened. They reportedly have evidence that back up the family’s belief that she didn’t die by suicide. Sherri Jefferson, the executive director of AAJJP, told NYAN that the police said they had video of Dennis at Niagara Falls where they said she committed suicide. The AAJIP said that the police only provided the family with a photo — an unclear one, at that.
“If in fact she went to Niagara Falls, one of those cameras would have picked her up,” Jefferson said. “Are they suggesting that in an area that has 12 million tourists annually not one person saw her there? Not one person can attest that they saw her there? How is it with all of these entities there nobody had one piece of evidence to produce to this family to show this is where she is?”
A spokesperson for the Eerie County District Attorney’s Office said, “The Erie County District Attorney’s Office shared the findings of the investigation with Saniyya’s family on May 5. As previously stated, our office, along with our partners in law enforcement, have found no evidence of any criminality in this case.”
She’ll share more updates on the case.