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Caution Tape

Source: Richard Williams Photography / Getty

Fairfax, Virginia, police have a “person of interest” in the death of a 16-year-old young woman: Her ex-boyfriend.

According to TIME, in a press conference last week, police spokesman Richard Perez said that the unnamed 17-year-old is currently in custody and charged with assaulting Jholie Moussa. He is also a suspect in her death.

Jholie’s mother, Syreeta Steward-Hill, told NBC Washington that her daughter was a perfect target for “predators.”

“I knew she was like a predator’s dream because she was just so little and dainty and kind and sweet and timid,” she said.

“I was so afraid.”

As we previously reported, last month Jholie’s body was found two weeks after she went missing, less than a mile from where she was last seen.

Her parents claimed that when they first reported their daughter missing, the authorities shrugged it off. They told them Jholie probably ran away and registered her into the National Crime Information Center database as a runaway juvenile.

“Based on the facts of the case, there is nothing that indicates that Moussa is in any danger,” county police previously said in a statement.

The day Jholie disappeared, she seemed distracted after school her twin, Zhane Moussa, told NBC 4 Washington.

“She was doing my hair and then she stopped, for a good minute, to text some more. Then, out of nowhere, she was like, ‘I gotta go, I gotta go!’” she said.

After she left, Zhane said sent her a text message and got a weird response.

“She texted me that she was going to Norfolk,” Zhane said. “And I’m, like, isn’t that more than 3 hours away?”

Sadly, they never saw her alive again.

Hundreds gathered on Feb. 1 to celebrate Jholie’s life. According to FOX 4 DC, family members and friends offered up memories of her during her Celebration of Life. In addition, her stepfather and sister spoke to the congregation.

“It’s a sad day, but that’s okay,” family friend Natasha Brown told FOX 5. “She’s where she needs to be and we are happy that we do have some closure. The family is doing well. Everybody is hanging in there, just one day at a time.”

In the meantime, Jholie’s mother stressed that she is going to be advocate for girls like her daughter.

“In addition to being Zhane’s mother and Jholie’s mother, I’m now going to strive to be a voice for so many families that — a child will walk out the door and never come home, and they’re just labeled as runaways, and they’re dismissed. And that’s not OK.”

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