Santee Mother Finds Girl Slain at Home

A 15-year-old high school cheerleader was stabbed in her home in a Santee trailer park Thursday night and died shortly after her mother returned from a church meeting to find her lying half-nude on a bloodied bedroom floor, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said.

Christin Gray, a sophomore at Santana High School, was still alive when her mother, Patty, found her stabbed and nude from the waist down in their Woodside Avenue mobile home about 9:20 p.m., Sheriff’s Lt. John Tenwolde said.

The girl died about half an hour later at the Santee Fire Station on Cottonwood Avenue after frantic rescue efforts failed and just as a Life Flight helicopter arrived, Tenwolde said.

Christin, a cheerleader and member of the gymnastics team at her school, was attacked sometime after 9 p.m., minutes after talking to her boyfriend on the phone, Tenwolde said.

Patty Gray returned home from a Santee church meeting at 9:20 .m. to find her mortally wounded daughter sprawled on the blood-stained bedroom floor, and ran next door for help. The girl had been stabbed a number of times in the upper body and neck, and was unconscious when found by her mother, who ran next door for help, Tenwolde said.

Gray and the neighbor administered CPR until paramedics arrived, Tenwolde said.

Police said there were no signs of forced entry or robbery, but there were signs of a struggle in the bedroom.

Officials said they do not know if the girl was sexually attacked.