First published at 12:03 UTC on April 25th, 2019.
Jennifer Ann Lewis, a charming, 9-year-old Rock Island girl, left her home around 6 p.m. to go to a nearby liquor store to buy a pack of Juicy Fruit gum.
Three hours later her body was found engulfed in flames behind Jefferson School in Davenport. An…
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Jennifer Ann Lewis, a charming, 9-year-old Rock Island girl, left her home around 6 p.m. to go to a nearby liquor store to buy a pack of Juicy Fruit gum.
Three hours later her body was found engulfed in flames behind Jefferson School in Davenport. An autopsy found that she had been raped, strangled, doused with gasoline, and set on fire.
Liggins, now 51, has twice been convicted in the 9-year-old Rock Island girl's murder. Jennifer's smoldering body was found in a garbage bag in the schoolyard at Jefferson Elementary, Davenport, in 1990. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
“I pulled up to the school playground — right behind the first police car. Wisps of smoke were rising from the tall grass. I walked with the police officer toward the small fire.”
“We looked down and saw a child’s body burning. A stench filled my nostrils.”
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