Autopsy shows girl not pregnant
The crime was so horrific, so deranged, it was almost impossible to write about at the time. But yesterday 22-year-old Christian Ferdinand was sentenced to 29 years to life for murdering 14-year-old Shaniesha Forbes whom he was convinced was pregnant but who would not get an abortion.
“After telling Ferdinand that she was pregnant and would not get an abortion, [Ferdinand] smothered the teen with a pillow, sprayed the corpse with Axe body spray and ignited it,” wrote John Marzulli for the New York Daily News. “Then he stuffed Shaniesha inside a suitcase and tossed it into Gerritsen Creek. Several days later she washed up on the beach. An autopsy determined the victim was not pregnant.”
Ferdinand was found guilty late last year of “Mimi’s” murder and when he was sentenced Wednesday, all his protestations of innocence to state Supreme Court Justice Neil Firetog fell on deaf ears. The family had to listen while Ferdinand said, “I never put a hand on a female in an inappropriate manner”; that “I would never kill someone over an abortion”; and that “My condolences to the family, but I didn’t kill Shaniesha.”
According to Marzulli, Forbes’ cousin Kerri-Ann Thomas said
Shaniesha was known as “Mimi” and they would never see her wear a Sweet 16 dress or go to college.”He (Ferdinand) was 20 years old, the age most people consider to be a man but it’s obvious he is no such thing.”
Sandra Price, Shaniesha’s mother, was so upset after the sentencing she had to be taken from the courthouse in a wheelchair.
Shaniesha, a freshman at The Academy for Young Writers, was found dead on Gerritsen Beach on January 6, roughly three miles from her home. “She had vanished in January after leaving her Flatlands home, saying she was going to school,” according to reporter Hannington Dia, reporting in May 2013,
Daniel Miller is responsible for nearly all of National Right to Life News' political writing.
With the election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency, Daniel Miller developed a deep obsession with U.S. politics that has never let go of the political scientist. Whether it's the election of Joe Biden, the midterm elections in Congress, the abortion rights debate in the Supreme Court or the mudslinging in the primaries - Daniel Miller is happy to stay up late for you.
Daniel was born and raised in New York. After living in China, working for a news agency and another stint at a major news network, he now lives in Arizona with his two daughters.
