The Grisly Murder of Aliahna Lemmon

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29th June 2021  •  4 min read

In December of 2011, nine-year-old Aliahna Lemmon was left in the care of a local sex offender. During her stay in his mobile home, she vanished...


The Grisly Murder of Aliahna Lemmon

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In December of 2011, police in Fort Wayne, Indiana, were alerted to a missing child with physical and emotional problems: nine-year-old Aliahna Lemmon. According to Allen County Sheriff Ken Fries, Aliahna and her two sisters had been left at the home of a family friend and they had been there for around a week. Aliahna’s mother, Tarah Souers, had been recovering from the flu and had entrusted a family friend to care for her three children in his mobile home.

The family friend was 39-year-old Michael Plumadore. He had met Aliahna’s grandfather, James Lemmon, when they were both serving time in jail for sex crimes. Just a couple of months before Aliahna went missing, Plumadore had posted a photograph of her and her two younger sisters on his Facebook profile, referring to them as his “three little princesses.”

According to Plumadore, he had last seen Aliahna at around 6AM at his mobile home on the 22nd of December. He then left to go to a gas station around a mile away to purchase a cigar. Surveillance footage at the gas station would confirm that Plumadore had been there. “I had deadbolted the door,” he said. “When I got back, all the girls was here.”1 Plumadore smoked his cigar and then went back to sleep until around 10AM. He said that when he awoke, he saw a pile of her clothing by a chair where Aliahna had fallen asleep the night beforehand but she was nowhere to be seen.

Police would state that they believed that Aliahna vanished from the home at some point between these four hours. They also stated that miscommunication between Plumadore and Tarah resulted in Aliahna not being reported missing until 8:45PM that night. According to Tarah, Aliahna had a history of sleepwalking and she had feared that she had wandered out of the mobile home while asleep.

A search party was assembled and missing person fliers were printed and distributed throughout the area. They described Aliahna as having blonde hair and freckles, standing at around 4 feet 4 inches tall and weighing around 40 pounds. Police wouldn’t issue an Amber Alert, stating that there was no evidence that she had been abducted.2

After two days passed and there was still no sign of Aliahna, the FBI were called in to assist in the search. The mobile home park where she had vanished from was known as a haven for registered sex offenders. In a tragic coincidence, Aliahna herself had been the victim of a sexual assault when she was seven-years-old. Despite this, her mother had left her in the care of a known sex offender.3

Plumadore and Aliahna’s family would sit down with the media to speak about the disappearance in a bid to generate interest. As they discussed her disappearance, Plumadore held up a small drawing Aliahna had made on a piece of paper. It was a heart with the words: “I love u Miek.” Plumadore said that Aliahna had told him: “That’s one way I spell your name.” He said that the night before Aliahna vanished, she had been having nightmares and said that she wanted to go home. He said that he explained to her: “Honey, you know it’s 2, 2:30 in the morning. We’ll get with mommy in the morning.”4

Just the following day, it was announced that Aliahna had been found dead and Plumadore had been arrested and charged with her murder. It would be uncovered that Plumadore had bludgeoned Aliahna to death with a brick and then dismembered her. He had hidden her decapitated head in his freezer along with her hands and feet and then disposed of the rest of her remains nearby.5

Following Plumadore’s arrest, he made a full confession to the murder and he spared none of the grisly details. He told investigators that Aliahna was standing on his front porch when he came up behind her and smacked her over the head with a brick and continued to do so until she was dead. He said that after she died, he placed her body into trash bags and stuffed her into the freezer. The following day, he used a hacksaw to dismember her body and would lead investigators to a nearby dumpster where he had hidden most of her remains.6

The Grisly Murder of Aliahna Lemmon

Early the following year, hundreds of people turned out for the memorial for Aliahna, which was held at the First Assembly of God. During the service, she was fondly remembered by her loved ones. J. Michael Caywood, the principal at Holland Elementary School where Aliahna was a pupil, said that she was “a friend to everyone, happy, smiling, she never held a grudge.” At the front of the church, a large photograph of Aliahna was flanked by a tie-dyed t-shirt which was decorated with written messages to her.7

In May of 2012, Plumadore pleaded guilty to the murder of Aliahna. He said to Superior Court Judge John Surbeck: “I repeatedly struck her in the head with a brick. She died… I cut Aliahna Lemmon up with a hacksaw and put the parts in a freezer. I then took the rest down to the Marathon station and put them in a dumpster.” In pleading guilty, Plumadore saved himself a death sentence. He was sentenced instead to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He never revealed a motivation for the grisly murder.

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Footnotes:

  1. Associated Press, 26 December, 2011 – “FBI Joins Search for Missing Indiana Girl”
  2. Associated Press, 24 December, 2011 – “Search Launched for 9-Year-Old Girl in Fort Wayne”
  3. News & Politics Examiner, 31 December, 2011 – “Slain Girl Aliahna Lemmon Sexually Assaulted at Age of 7”
  4. News & Politics Examiner, 2 January, 2012 – “Plumadore Says He’s No Angel”
  5. St. Paul Pioneer Press, 26 December, 2011 – “Baby Sitter Beat, Dismembered Indiana Girl”
  6. News & Politics Examiner, 30 December, 2011 – “Prosecutors Charge Male Babysitter, 39, in Brutal Slaying”
  7. The News-Sentinel, 6 January, 2012 – “Hundreds Attend Memorial”

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Ausash
Ausash
2 years ago

Yep sure the flu. The mother was probably smacked off her face. She should be in jail for leaving her kids with a known sex offender

Barbara E Campbell
Barbara E Campbell
2 years ago
Reply to  Ausash

There is no evidence the mother was abusive, that she was naive maybe but not abusive.
Doesn’t it make sense he thought the sex offender only abused boys, or maybe really believed he never sexually abused anyone due to a lack of physical evidence of such. There are questions about what she actually knew or heard or was naive enough to believe.

Haley Roemhild
Haley Roemhild
2 years ago

She was negligent, which is abuse.

Mary
Mary
1 year ago
Reply to  Haley Roemhild

Most mothers – if not all – are negligent at one time or another. Its called being a human being!!

Roman
Roman
1 year ago
Reply to  Mary

Leaving your child, who is already a victim of past sexual abuse, in the care of a man your sex criminal father met in prison, who was also serving for sex crimes, is not “negligence”.

So I will agree it was not negligence. It was child endangerment, which is a million times worse.

Trinity
Trinity
3 months ago

Her mother was never abusive that was my best friend her mother was loving

Emma
Emma
2 years ago

The mother is disgusting. Who places their children with known sex offenders. This is the most upsetting disgusting thing ever

Star
Star
2 years ago

Never disclosed his motive! Really!!! How many brain cells does it take to realise he had been sexually assaulting her and when she said she wanted to go home poor little mite, he killed her to stop her telling her mother. He should have fried!!🤬🤬🤬

Barbara E Campbell
Barbara E Campbell
2 years ago
Reply to  Star

That is an intelligent theory to derive at, but apparently there was no evidence that while brutally killed and dismembered that she was sexually abused. No mention of evidence of sexual abuse just a brutal murder of a precious vulnerable child which the murderer tried to hide by dismembering and freezing the identifying body parts from the rest of the body. The why we can assume of course, it is entirely feasible she had been abused or witnessed his abuse of the other children, but where is the evidence, that hard DNA evidence that there was a sex crime at… Read more »

Abby
Abby
2 years ago

SA doesn’t always leave physical evidence

Dee
Dee
2 years ago

This guy is going to have a very difficult time in prison! There is a code that paedophiles get the absolute crap beating out of them every time an inmate gets a chance. This guys should be medically castrated too!

Mary
Mary
1 year ago
Reply to  Dee

NOT in women’s prisons. Women who molest and mutilate and kill become “mom” in prison and very well liked. That is sicker than the brutal act itself. Just one example,,,,,that insane monster who tortured Silvia Likens to death for a month or more! The torture was so bad, you will probably not find some of it online. I did read a bonified report on it. there was one thing this forty something year old woman – also a mother – did to this sixteen year old little girl that would make all of you so mad and sick, you would… Read more »

Sasha
Sasha
2 years ago

B*tch shut up

HopeisEVIL
HopeisEVIL
2 years ago

Are you serious? As a victim of SA, I say you need to seek counseling. As a psychologist, I say you need to see a psychiatrist. You are a textbook example of experiencing Stockholm’s Syndrome, You are a victim. He was a CHILD MOLESTOR. The best example should have been, the man got caught peeing outside in front or near a child…. and even then you should not leave your child with a known sex offender. As a parent, the decisions you make for your children…. can cause damage to your children, but in the case it caused death.

Missy B.
Missy B.
2 years ago

Barbara. You need serious help, it was never your fault & NO I will NEVER emphasize w/that so called mother or YOU, you NEVER leave your kid(s) in the care of ANY pedophile for ANY reason!!!!! STUPIDITY at its FINEST!!!!

Trinity Souders
Trinity Souders
2 years ago

Ya..it was kinda fucked up to leave them with him.

Jayne
Jayne
2 years ago

The mother is just as guilty.

Mary
Mary
1 year ago

she looks no more than 4 years old!

Ljduck
Ljduck
1 year ago

I was just thinking about this and wondering where the other 2 little girls ended up. I attended school (a trade school after high school) with the mother of Aliahna, and recall meeting Aliahna as an infant. She wasn’t well taken care of and I remember her being in a stained onesie and full diaper, she also just seemed dirty and I remember being irritated at the state of the babies cleanliness or lack of i suppose. Also to think about a 4’4”, 10 yr old weighing only 40 lbs?!? That’s ridiculous, did no one notice the neglect or at… Read more »

Ljduck
Ljduck
1 year ago

I knew the mother and had met Aliahna as an infant, she was neglected from the time she was born.

Deanna Olenick
Deanna Olenick
1 year ago

You definitely ain’t no victim of s.a from this family member and if you are you a sick p.o.s for leaving your children with him maybe your a child molester yourself and wanted to see if he would touch your children maybe you get off on that stuff. You sick son of a bitch. You should have had your children taken away from you a very long time ago

Lindsey Martin
Lindsey Martin
5 months ago

Look on mycase.in.gov – Plumadore actually never had a previous sex charge but I’m sure there’s a Shit ton of offenders who have never been caught before.

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