AUGUSTA, Ga. - Six years after a mother and stepfather asked for help finding their missing daughter, the two have received upgraded charges in relation to the teen's death and disposal of her body.

District Attorney Jared Williams says a recent review of evidence in the case led prosecutors to determine Leon Tripp and Tanya Tripp "acted in concert to cause the death and disappearance of Latania Janell Carwell," who was 16 years old at the time.

Both defendants are now charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, cruelty to children, and concealing the death of another.

Carwell first disappeared in April 2017. According to documents in the case, her remains were found in 2019 with limbs bound and having been killed during an assault with an unknown object which likely resulted in serious bodily injury. Carwell's remains were uncovered in a shallow grave near a vacant home. 

The case is pending.

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