Site of Aliahna's death to be auctioned

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) - The Fort Wayne mobile home park where 9-year-old Aliahna Lemmon was beaten to death and her body dismembered will be offered for sale at an auction April 14 by a company that sees potential in redeveloping the site.

Northway Mobile Home Park became the focus of national media attention following Aliahna's Dec. 22 killing. A man considered a trusted family friend who was caring for the third-grader and her two younger sisters while their mother was sick is accused in her death.

Michael Plumadore, 39, is scheduled to stand trial June 18 on charges of murder, abuse of a corpse and removing a dead body from the scene. Authorities said in a probable cause affidavit that Plumadore, who lived at the park, killed Aliahna with a brick.

Many of the mobile home park's two dozen units are dilapidated, boarded up or apparently abandoned.

Steffen Group is the company that will conduct the auction. The company's vice president, Josh Lewis, said the property is being advertised as an excellent place for development.

It includes the mobile home park and six other tracts of land.

Lewis said the property already has a self-storage facility and lies near a cinema and the new Parkview Hospital.

He said it's unlikely any prospective buyer would want to keep the mobile home park there.

"I don't think that's the best use for the property," Lewis said. "The potential is a lot greater."

At the time of Aliahna's death, the mobile home park itself became a focus of public criticism for being home to a seemingly large number of registered sex offenders. At least 14 live there, although none of them are accused in her killing.

The development's popularity among sex offenders is apparently because of its location far outside the 1,000 feet offenders are required by law to live from any school, daycare or public park.

If the property does not sell at auction, it will continue to operate as a mobile home park, but it's unclear for how much longer.

According to the State Department of Health's website, the property owner's license to operate a mobile home park will expire at year's end.

If it does sell, Lewis said the park's residents will have to vacate the premises.

Cpl. Jeff Shimkus, a member of the Allen County Sheriff's Sex Offender Registration and Notification team, said he's aware of the impending auction and has received several calls from offenders looking for a new place to live that complies with Indiana's sex offender law.

Shimkus said similar closings have caused headaches for all involved since state law makes it difficult for offenders to find legal homes.

"It causes problems, because now 14 people don't know where they are going to go," Shimkus said. "It took them forever to find this place. Any area that closes cuts down on the available choices they can choose from."