Parents of girl who was raped and killed after she got off bus are suing her school for not telling them she was missing for 9 hours

The family of a 14-year-old girl is suing her school after the authorities there failed to inform them about their daughter going missing for about nine hours, during which time she was abducted on her way to school, raped, tortured and killed in an abandoned house.

Alianna DeFreeze was abducted by 45-year-old sex offender Christopher Whitaker in January 2017 while she was walking towards her charter school in Cleveland, Ohio, after getting off a school bus.

The accused was sentenced to death last year and is on death row.

And on Monday, two years after their daughter's death, Damon DeFreeze and Donnesha Cooper decided to file a lawsuit against Whitaker, her school and the City of Cleveland claiming wrongful death.

The Coopers allege in their lawsuit that E Prep & Village Prep Woodland Hills Breakthrough School could have prevented the teenager's death by informing guardians when she did not arrive at school thaat day.

It is said the girl's mother did not know that her daughter had gone missing until after 4 pm when she failed to return home. Only when they called the school, they found out their daughter had never even made it to the campus.

After being abducted, the young girl, who her mother said suffered a developmental disability, was tortured for hours, raped and killed.

Her body was found three days later. The parents claim in their lawsuit that their daughter could have been saved if not for the negligence shown by the school authorities. Alianna's parents are also suing the city in addition to the owner of the abandoned house for not keeping a closer eye on it but their wrath is directed mostly at the school.

"Alianna's absence should have raised serious red flags, especially since she suffered from developmental disabilities. They never contacted Ms. Cooper to inform her that Alianna did not make it to school. Because they did not receive any notice of Alianna's absence, they properly assumed that their precious daughter was safe," the lawsuit read.

"At 4pm, Ms. Cooper became extremely concerned about Alianna because she had not arrived home. She called E Prep and — for the first time — she was told that Alianna never arrived at school and was absent the entire day. She knew that missing school was completely out of character for her daughter so she urgently called the authorities."

"The search did not begin until the evening — ten hours after she had been abducted. Defendants' complete and utter failure to notify Ms. Cooper and/or Mr. DeFreeze of their daughter's unexcused absence from school caused the police to be notified of her disappearance much later than they would have been if Defendants School System had given Ms. Cooper prompt and immediate notice that she never arrived at school that day," it continued. 

"The last hours of Alianna's life were spent in excruciating, paralyzing, debilitating and unthinkable physical and mental pain as her body was desecrated before her life was snuffed out at the hands of Defendant Whitaker due to the negligence of Defendants," the lawsuit said.

A representative for the school said: "We cannot comment on pending litigation at this time other than to say, Alianna’s death was a terrible loss to our entire school community and we have tried to stay in touch with the parents and be supportive to the parents along the way."