17-year-old girl’s body found near Frederick trail

The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death of a 17-year-old girl who was found in a wooded area off of a trail behind Briargrove Court on Saturday.

The sister of a 17-year-old girl identified her as Ty’kerria Dawson from Hagerstown.

Dawson’s body was found by a passerby around 5 p.m. that day by Isabelle Weissend.

“When I saw her, I screamed and she didn’t even flinch. She wasn’t moving or anything,” Weissend recalled. “My eyes just went to her face first,” she said.

Weissend and her mother left red roses and a Happy Birthday balloon at the scene Sunday, which would have been Dawson’s 18th birthday. She recently graduated from Antietam Academy in Hagerstown.

Investigators are calling her death as a homicide investigation and noted she was injured, but they declined to specify how she’d been injured.

The trail where Dawson’s body was found runs along a stream near several homes. Nearby resident Linda Blum said the area is usually quiet.

“Kids often play in there… we hear kids all the time,” she said, adding her own kids used the trail to walk to and from school for years.

Dawson’s body has been transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Baltimore for an autopsy.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help cover Dawson’s funeral expenses.

The sheriff’s office is asking anyone who might have any information that could help them in their investigation to call (301) 600-4017. Anonymous tips can also be left at (301) 600-4131.