Of the thousands of autopsies Dr Feng Li has conducted over the course of his career as a Nashville medical examiner, he says the post-mortem examination of 12-year-old Yhoana Arteaga will stay with him for the rest of his life.
Arteaga was found brutally murdered inside her mobile home in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, on August 10, after sending her mother a text message saying that someone was knocking on the front door.
When the girl’s mother returned home from work with her two other children at 6.45pm that evening, just over an hour after receiving the message, she found Yhoana’s lifeless body laying partially undressed in her room.
Shocking murder: Yhoana Arteaga, 12, was found brutally beaten and strangled to death in her mobile home after sending a text to her mother that someone was knocking on the door
Horrifying find: Yhoana’s mother entered the family’s mobile home on Old Dickerson Pike in Nashville (pictured) and came upon her daughter’s partially undressed body
In an interview with WSMV this week, Dr Li, who conducted the autopsy on Yhoana, said she died as a result of strangulation and ruled the manner of death a homicide, characterizing it as a senseless and brutal murder.
Li’s final autopsy report also documented contusions to the victim’s head. According to a press release from the Nashville Metro Police Department, it is undetermined at this time whether she was sexually assaulted as well.
Results from lab analysis on evidence collected at the scene on Old Dickerson Pike where Yhoana lived with her family are still pending.
The medical examiner said it took him several hours to examine Arteaga’s body because the injuries she had sustained were so severe.
The child was beaten and strangled, as evidenced by abrasions and ligature marks on her neck, according to Dr Li. She also suffered hemorrhaging and had bruises and scrapes.
‘A lot of cases stay in your mind, especially the kids,’ he told WSMV. ‘These are the tragedies we will remember for a long time.’
‘Senseless murder’: Dr Feng Li, the Nashville medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on Yhoana, said the child (right) had ligature marks and abrasions on her neck. Her examination took hours due to the extent of her injuries
Nashville Metro police spokesman Don Aaron (above) is pictured discussing Yhoana’s brutal slaying at a press conference last month outside the crime scene
Yhoana Arteaga was last seen alive at 12.30pm on August 10 when she had lunch with her mother in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, WKRN reported.
The child’s mother said that her daughter, who was at home recovering from a skating injury and was getting around on crutches, sent her a text around 5.30pm saying that someone was at the door.
She was found dead after her mother returned home from work at around 6.45pm.
Police initially said blunt force trauma played a factor in her death and that her clothes were in disarray.
‘She was brutally murdered, and if anyone has any information whatsoever that could help in this investigation, please contact us,’ Nashville Metro police spokesman Don Aaron said during a press conference last month.
Sgt. David Kautzman told WKRN: ‘I’ve never seen anything this brutal in my entire career.
‘The police department is coming together like no case I’ve ever seen in my career.’
Police said that the girl was not stabbed or shot, nor were there any obvious signs that someone had forced entry into the trailer.
Authorities believe that there is a strong possibility that the seventh grader knew her killer.
Police say blunt force trauma played a factor in her death and that her clothes were in disarray. Pictured above is the crime scene
Authorities believe that there is a strong possibility that the seventh grader knew her killer, but so far no one has been named as a suspect
Arteaga was enrolled at Liberty Collegiate Academy, a middle school in Nashville.
Her family has created a GoFundMe page to raise money towards her funeral expenses. As of Thursday morning, nearly $16,000 has been donated, easily surpassing their initial $10,000 goal.
The 12-year-old girl was described as ‘kind, polite, caring, fun, intelligent and beautiful’ on the GoFundMe page.
‘She will be remembered as a wonderful daughter and great friend to all who knew her.’
More than a month after the murder, police have not named any suspects or made any arrests in the case, prompting them to ask for the public’s help. Anyone with information on Yhoana’s killer is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463.