Mother, 4-year-old stabbed to death
A woman and her young daughter were found dead Friday morning by a friend, who told a 911 dispatcher there was “blood everywhere” outside their home on the Southeast Side.
The victims, 34-year-old Nicole “Coley” Duckson and her 4-year-old daughter, Kristina, were discovered lying on the ground and unresponsive, according to Columbus police. The pair had been stabbed multiple times.
Police were still trying to determine late Friday what had led up to a chaotic scene that unfolded outside.
Officers were called just after 9 a.m. to Duckson’s home in the 2700 block of Fleet Road, less than a block south of Refugee Road, on an initial report of a shooting.
The mother and daughter were found by a woman who was supposed to be picked up by Duckson for work. When Duckson didn’t arrive, the woman went to check on her friend.
In the 911 call, the friend tearfully tells the police dispatcher that she has discovered Duckson and “her baby” bleeding outside. Police said the two were found between the back of the house and a detached garage.
“I think they’ve been shot,” the woman says, sobbing.
Duckson and her little girl were pronounced dead by responding Columbus fire paramedics at 9:15 a.m., according to a police dispatcher.
Family members huddled together in the cold at the scene, crying and hugging, still processing what had happened.
“We as a family are asking that you give (us) some time to accept their untimely deaths. ... Thank you in advance for understanding keep us in prayer,” posted Asia Carr, Duckson’s sister, on Facebook.
The woman who called 911 told the dispatcher that the two likely had been there awhile because Duckson should have left her house around 6 a.m. to pick her up. Temperatures were hitting about 5 degrees at that time, and the wind chill made it feel about 7 below zero.
The woman also told the 911
dispatcher that Duckson’s car was still running.
By the time the friend found the mother and child, the temperature was about 3 degrees.
When later asked by a fire paramedic if the caller could say where the two were bleeding from, she responded, “There’s blood everywhere.”
She tried getting Duckson to respond, calling and crying, “Coley, Coley.”
Sgt. David Sicilian, who oversees the Columbus police first-shift homicide squad, said the frigid weather and snow helped preserve the crime scene as investigators worked. He described the crime as personal in nature.
“It’s a horrible, terrible scene that we are responsible for trying to find out what happened,” he said.
Police did not release any information on a possible suspect. Sicilian urged the assailant to come forward.
“My sense is we’re going to find you rather quickly,” he said.
Columbus had a recordbreaking 143 homicides in 2017, and there has been no sign of the toll slowing in the new year. Friday’s double homicide put the city at five slayings in five days so far in 2018. And it’s the second double homicide of the year.
Anyone with information about Duckson’s and Kristina’s deaths is asked to call Columbus homicide detectives at 614-645-4730 or remain anonymous by calling Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS.