A sex offender is facing the death penalty after being convicted of raping and murdering a 14-year-old girl.
Christopher Whitaker, 45, was convicted on Tuesday of the murder of teenager Alianna Defreeze whose body was found in an abandoned home in Cleveland, Ohio, in January 2017.
Whitaker, who pleaded not guilty, kidnapped the teenager from a bus stop as she waited for the bus to school.
He took her to the abandoned home where he raped and beat her then stabbed her to death, leaving her body inside.
Christopher Whitaker, 45, (left in court on Tuesday) was convicted of the 2017 rape and murder of 14-year-old Alianna Defreeze who he kidnapped from a bus stop as she waited to be taken to school then assaulted in an abandoned house before killing her
While she was still alive, he used a collection of tools including an electric drill to inflict horrific injuries on her.
Alianna was reported missing by her mother later that day.
Police searched for her for three days before finding her discarded body.
DNA evidence collected at the scene led police to Whitaker.
He confessed to the killing and told police his drug addiction caused him to do it.
At the time of the killing, Whitaker was high on cocaine.
During the trial, his lawyers did not argue with prosecutors’ chain of events but they said he should not be held responsible for the murder because of his state of mind at the time.
Whitaker took Alianna to this home in Cleveland, Ohio, where he hurt her with a collection of tools then stabbed her to death
Whitaker, 45, said he was high on cocaine when he attacked the girl. He was previously jailed for raping and stabbing another woman who survived
Alianna’s body was found three days after she vanished
On Tuesday, a jury rejected that argument and convicted him.
They will now decide his sentence.
After the jury returned their verdict, Alianna’s mother told reporters outside the courtroom she was ‘relieved and happy’ with the decision.
‘Justice has been served,’ Donnesha Cooper said.
‘The law was on our side.
‘I’m just anxious to move on to the next phase,’ she said.
At the time of the killing, Whitaker had already served four years behind bars for the rape and stabbing of another woman in 2005.
That woman was not killed.