Father Accused Of Killing Daughter After She Wet The Bed

Bianca Lily Jones was a 2-year-old African-American girl from Detroit, Michigan. She lived primarily with her mother, Banika Jones, but had a relationship with her father, D’Andre Lane. Banika and D’Andre had known each other since childhood, and although no longer a couple, the two were on good terms.

32-year-old D’Andre had seven children with seven different women but was present in all their lives. He was actively trying to better himself and was studying for his real estate license. D’Andre was engaged to Anjali Lyons, with whom he had a 4-year-old daughter.

At just 18-years-old, D’Andre had been sentenced to four years probation for assault with intent to commit armed robbery. His criminal history also includes drug and firearms offenses. Nevertheless, he hadn’t been arrested in eight years.

On the morning of December 2, 2011, D’Andre dropped off Bianca’s 7-year-old sister, Bella, and his 15-year-old nephew, Treveon, at school. Afterward, he headed to Banika’s home with Bianca in the back seat.

He was going to pick up some more of her clothes. Banika decided it would be best for Bianca to stay with her father until Christmas. She was busy searching for a job and wanted Bianca to spend time with her sisters.

D’Andre was driving on Brush and Custer Streets around 9:45 AM when a man in a red sedan honked at him and shouted, “Your back lights are out.” He pulled to the side of the road, the red car stopping behind him. A man exited the passenger seat and approached him with a gun. D’Andre pleaded with him to get his daughter, but the man drove off with the baby still strapped in her car seat.

According to D’Andre, the man who stole his car was an African-American between 25 to 30-years-old. He was about 6'0" and 185 pounds. The thief was wearing a black t-shirt, black pants, and a brown and black baseball cap.

D’Andre did not call the police. Instead, he continued to Banika’s home nearby. Her family was there but she was not.

He was hysterical and kept repeating, “They got her!” Eventually, he was able to tell them he had been carjacked by armed men. They called the police, but D’Andre was so distraught he couldn’t explain what had happened to the operator. Police arrived at the house shortly after and were able to get the details.

It took authorities ten minutes to find D’Andre’s silver 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis, parked in an alley half a mile away. It was still running and the door was open.

Unfortunately, Bianca was not in the car.

It wasn’t long after authorities found his car that they began to suspect the father had lied about being carjacked. D’Andre was taken into custody on unrelated charges — he had an outstanding warrant for violating a protective order his ex-wife had against him.

D’Andre was questioned and failed a polygraph test. He was released three days later. However, authorities were ready to press charges against him two weeks later.

Bianca had been staying with her father since November 26. Banika had not packed any diapers because Bianca was excited about her new underwear and no longer wanted to wear diapers. Because of this, she had a few accidents while staying with her father, including on the night before she went missing.

Anjali described D’Andre as a strict disciplinarian and said that Bianca was crying “like she was really intensely in pain” after she wet the bed that night. D’Andre admitted to spanking Bianca but claims it hadn’t really hurt her. He told Crime Watch Daily,

“They’re trying to make all this stuff out to be more than what it is. I don’t have belts. I’m trying to discipline them. I don’t want to hurt them in any kind of way.”

D’Andre had also gotten angry at Bella for wetting the bed once. She told authorities that her father had punished her by forcing her urine-soaked underwear into her mouth, tearing the inside of her tongue.

Bella says that her father would hit Bianca with “the stick”, a paddle with a stick with one end wrapped in towel and duct tape. Banika knew D’Andre had hit their daughter while potty training but did not think it was abusive.

The next morning, D’Andre placed Bianca in her car seat and covered her in a blanket. Bella did not see or hear her sister make any noise.

Authorities believe that D’Andre killed his daughter while “disciplining” her and disposed of her body the next morning, possibly in a dumpster. Despite extensive searches around the city, no sign of Bianca was found.

D’Andre was convicted of his daughter’s murder in 2012. Judge Vonda Evans presided over the trial and explained the unusual conviction to Crime Watch Daily,

“This is probably the only case that I’ve had as a judge, or as a prosecutor, which is in excess of 26 years, where there was a conviction where I knew of or where I was involved in without a body.

There wasn’t a lot to work with. In my mind, I was concerned that despite the evidence, there is no body. No physical body. Does this jury have the training — and really, the courage — to do the right thing? Well, they did, and D’Andre Lane was convicted of first-degree murder.”

There was one major reason why the jury was able to convict D’Andre of murder despite the lack of a body: cadaver dogs.

Dogs identified human remains in several locations — the back seat of D’Andre’s car, the truck of the car, Bianca’s car seat, her blanket, and her bed. A dog was also able to identify D’Andre’s car from an impound with 35 vehicles.

D’Andre’s home, which had ten rooms, was searched several times. Not only did dogs alert authorities to the bedroom, but a small amount of Bianca’s blood was found on her pillow.

D’Andre maintains his innocence and told Click On Detroit,

“The reason that I’m in here right now is because of a dog, not because of any evidence. Not because of any facts, but a dog.

There’s nobody, period, who said that she’s deceased. This is all a story concocted by the prosecutors and the Police Department.”

There are three people who claim they saw Bianca alive after the carjacking.

Niki Gibbs, a police officer, says she saw the child eight days after D’Andre claims she was kidnapped. She was at a house in Detroit, on an unrelated domestic violence call, when she saw a young girl with bushy eyebrows.

She didn’t know who the girl was until she saw Bianca’s missing poster the next day. Niki told a couple of her friends who were also police officers, but it took her four days to take any official action. She claimed that the homicide detectives had already made up their minds on the father being guilty.

The second witness is Michael Salisbury, a private investigator appointed by the court to help D’Andre’s defense team. Nine months after Niki’s sighting, he followed up on the lead. Michael is certain Bianca was at the house. She was dressed as a boy and her bushy eyebrows had been shaven off.

The investigator contacted authorities but the girl he had seen was gone by the time they searched the home. Banika even staked out this house but did not see her daughter.

The third person who came to D’Andre’s defense was his nephew who had been at the house on the night authorities believe she was killed. Treveon is sure that she was alive the next morning,

“That’s what they saying, but I remember, I know for a fact when I left the house she was alive. I know that for a fact, because — honestly, you know, I’m 15, I done seen a dead body, I know if somebody’s alive or not.”

D’Andre’s eldest son D’Andre Junior has also defended his father,

“Everybody’s got negative opinions about my dad, but like I said, they don’t know him like I do. Can’t nobody tell me nothing about my father. He’s not gonna harm none of his children, especially over discipline. He disciplined all of us in the right way.”

The only way for D’Andre to be released from prison is for Bianca to be found alive.

Banika says D’Andre is telling the truth about the carjacking and believes her daughter is still alive. She has handed out age-progression photos, created by expert Jovey Hayes, of what Bianca would look like at 8 years old.

Bianca Lily Jones has been missing for over a decade. If alive, she is now 13 years old.