Kayla Hamilton was found strangled in her Aberdeen, Maryland, home on July 27, 2022. She was allegedly murdered by an MS-13 gang member who entered the country illegally. (Aberdeen Police Department)
A mother is filing a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services after her daughter was allegedly murdered by an MS-13 gang member who entered the country illegally.
Officers from the Aberdeen Police Department in Maryland responded to a home around 5 p.m. on July 27, 2022, for a cardiac arrest. When they arrived they found 20-year-old Kayla Hamilton dead from apparent strangulation. Police said at the time that they zeroed in on a 17-year-old male suspect who had rented a room in Hamilton’s home. In January 2023, the boy was charged with first-degree murder.
Investigators learned the teen, from El Salvador, had entered the country as an unaccompanied minor in 2020 and was an alleged member of the MS-13 gang. The lawsuit, filed by Brian Claypool of the California-based Claypool Law Firm, alleges that DHS committed “operational negligence” by not properly inspecting the boy when he crossed the border.