$100M Federal Lawsuit Filed Against By Aberdeen Mom In Autistic Daughter's Death

ABERDEEN, MD — A Harford County mother has filed a $100 million lawsuit against two federal agencies after police said her 20-year-old autistic daughter was raped and murdered by a 17-year-old MS-13 gang member who was in the country illegally.

The two agencies targeted in the lawsuit are the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The 17-year-old undocumented non-citizen from El Salvador was arrested in January 2023 in connection to the July 2o22 murder of 20-year-old Kayla Hamilton. She had recently moved to Aberdeen with her 22-year-old boyfriend. Aberdeen police officers were called to Hamilton's mobile home July 27, 2022, a little after 5 p.m. for a call of cardiac arrest.

Hamilton’s death was determined by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to be a homicide by strangulation, Patch previously reported.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed that the teen also was listed in El Salvador as a member of Malva Salvatrucha 13 (MS-13). The suspect’s DNA was compared to evidence recovered at the crime scene by the Maryland State Police Forensic Sciences Division, which led to an arrest warrant issued Jan. 14 for the teen him charging first-degree murder. The suspect was apprehended in Edgewood during the early morning hours of Jan. 15, Patch reported.

Hamilton's mother, Tammy Nobles, said DHS failed to visually inspect the immigrant by lifting his shirt to check for gang-related tattoos.

"Had DHS employees performed a rudimentary visual inspection of assailant’s body, they would have seen MS-13 gang-related tattoos on his body, disqualifying him from entering U.S. soil,” Nobles’s lawyer, Brian Claypool, said. "The killer had been arrested in El Salvador in 2020 for being associated with an illicit gang. All DHS had to do was make one phone call to verify this and Kayla would be alive."

Claypool stated on Facebook that HHS "improperly placed the killer with a non-verified sponsor who was not a family member. Killer runs away a month later then is permitted to rent a room with Kayla by a landlord who was also an illegal immigrant."

"She had high functioning autism," Nobles told Fox 45. "She was a sweetheart and was very happy and had a great outlook on life. She had no idea what evil was in this world. If they would have done their jobs, my daughter would still be here today."

Nobles testified before the House Homeland Security Committee and said her lawsuit isn't making a political stance.

"For me, this not a political issue. This a safety issue for everyone living in the United States. This could have been anyone’s daughter. I don’t want any other parent to live the nightmare that I am living,” Nobles said during her testimony. “I am her voice now and I am going to fight with everything I have to get her story told and bring awareness of the issue at the border.”

Nobles also told WPDE that DHS supervisors improperly trained and managed employees to screen minors trying to enter the U.S. from El Salvador. The HHS allegedly did not verify a “legitimate” family member of the migrant before allowing him to enter the U.S.

“There were clear inconsistencies in the DHS and [HHS] records regarding the identity of the relative to whom the assailant was released,” Claypool said in his Facebook post. “Ultimately, [HHS's] failures allowed the MS-13 gang member, as a minor, to rent a room in a trailer park from another individual who was also an illegal immigrant.”

Both departments lacked transparency by failing to provide Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a copy of an investigative report into Hamilton’s murder, Nobles said during her testimony. She also advocated for stronger border control measures.

“If we had stricter border policies, my daughter would still be alive today,” she said. “Nothing will bring my daughter back nor fix the pain of not having her here, but I want to prevent this from happening to someone else’s child. This isn’t about immigration. This is about protecting everyone in the United States.”

WPDE said both the DHS and HHS spokespersons declined to comment.