CENTERVILLE — The family of a slain Indiana girl has significant ties to the Centerville area. The Daily Iowegian has learned that Michael Plumadore, who was charged with killing Aliahna Lemmon Friday, was accused of sending inappropriate text messages to a 13-year-old girl in 2010. The Iowegian has also discovered that Aliahna was the victim of sexual abuse while living here.

Plumadore was involved in a petition for relief of domestic abuse. According to court records, the mother of a 13-year-old girl accused Plumadore of making inappropriate phone calls and text messages to her daughter while he was living with the girl’s father in Moravia in November of 2010.

The girl's mother said Plumadore was stalking her daughter, sending her inappropriate text messages and photographs, according to a petition for relief of domestic abuse obtained by the Daily Iowegian.

The petition was filed Nov. 10, 2010. Judge Annette Sciezinski held a hearing on the petition that day, but was unable to grant the request, because it did not meet the relationship requirements for a domestic abuse relief petition. Sciezinski scheduled a second hearing for Nov. 23 to address the relationship requirements and recommended that all threats be reported to child protective or law enforcement officials.

The second hearing was held Nov. 23, 2010, but the petition was dismissed at that time by Judge Daniel P. Wilson because the request didn't meet the relationship requirements for a protective order. According to Iowa law, to grant a petition for relief from domestic abuse, the relationship between the parities involved must be defined as one of the following; married, separated, divorced, adult relatives living together, parents of the same minor children, living together, living together within one year of the assault, but not at the time of the assault, intimate relationship or have been in an intimate relationship and have had contact within one year of the assault. An intimate relationship in this case is defined as a significant romantic involvement that need not include sexual involvement.

In a separate case, Aliahna was also the victim of sexual abuse while she lived in the area.

In a 2010 case, Aliahna is listed as the victim of a sexual assault. Kurtis Allen Kennedy, age 19 at the time of the crime, was originally charged with second degree sexual abuse. He was later arraigned on a charge of indecent contact with a child, an aggravated misdemeanor.

Kennedy plead not guilty to the original charge on April 16, 2010. On July 9, 2010 he entered a guilty plea to the indecent contact with a child charge. According to a complaint affidavit signed by Centerville Police Officer Jeremy Cole, during a Jan. 21 interview with Kennedy at his home, he confessed to his acts on Jan. 2.

“On Jan. 21, 2010 at approximately 3:20 p.m., DHS case worker Sarah Baker and I [Jeremy Cole] interviewed the defendant [Allen Kennedy] in his home, during the interview Kennedy did admit to partially disrobing Aliahna Lemmon, a seven year old child, and placing his hand on the child’s bare buttock, while the child was in his care on the evening of Jan. 2, 2010,” the affidavit said. “The defendant did so for the sole purpose of self-sexual gratification. The victim, Aliahna Lemmon, confirmed the defendant’s admission.”

As reported in a July 26, 2010 article in the Daily Iowegian, entitled “Prison sentence suspended to probation for Centerville teen,” Kennedy was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended to two year probation and a fine and surcharge, also suspended. Kennedy was ordered to register on the Iowa Sex Offender Registry for 10 years and to complete a program at one of the residential correctional facilities operated by the Eighth Judicial District Department of Corrections.

Kennedy was sent to a halfway house in Ottumwa; however, he was involved in a fight on Oct. 11 inside the facility where he received a simple assault charge from the Ottumwa Police Department. He was later transferred to Oakdale Prison in Iowa, where he is currently serving his prison sentence.

Tarah Souders, the mother of Aliahna, has traffic tickets from Appanoose County and Monroe County dating back as far as 2005, according to online court records. Souders was also listed on an April 5, 2010 Centerville City Council meeting agenda. Souders was requesting to “bring a dangerous dog into the city for her handicap daughter.” The topic, however, was not discussed as Souders did not attend the meeting, according to the meeting minutes.

In 2005, her address was listed in court documents as 213 East Wall St., Seymour.

Aliahna’s grandfather, James Lemmon, also spent an unknown period of time in the Centerville area. On April 10, 2005, James was extradited to Allen County, Ind. after being arrested in Centerville on a warrant issued from Allen County, Ind. for three counts of child molestation.

James may have lived at 649 North Park in Centerville, according to court documents.

The Daily Iowegian ran a story this week to help raise donations for the father, Maroney, who is living in the Centerville area. The most recent communication to the Iowegian stated Maroney was entering Indiana Thursday night.

The story of the brutal murder of Aliahna Lemmon swept that nation late last week.

Plumadore, 39, was charged in Fort Wayne with murder, abuse of a corpse and removing a dead body from the scene in the Dec. 22 death of Aliahna Maroney-Lemmon.

Allen County prosecutor's office chief investigator Danielle Edenfield said the charges will be read to Plumadore in jail, where he was being held without bond. An initial court hearing on the formal charges is scheduled for Wednesday.

Edenfield said she couldn't comment on a possible motive before the case went to trial.

Plumadore had been looking after Aliahna and her two younger sisters because their mother was sick. He had looked after Aliahna's dying grandfather and her family had considered him a trusted friend and neighbor.

According to court documents, Plumadore told police he hit the girl repeatedly in the head with a brick on the steps of the trailer where he had lived with her grandfather. He then put the girl's body inside trash bags and stuffed it inside a freezer in the trailer.

Plumadore told authorities that he later used a hack saw to dismember her body.

She was reported missing Dec. 23, and on Saturday, more than 100 emergency workers searched the rundown trailer park north of Fort Wayne where Plumadore and Aliahna's family lived.

Police questioned Plumadore several times over the weekend and arrested him on Monday, at which point he told police that he had hidden Aliahna's head, feet and hands at the trailer and discarded her other remains at a nearby business. Police obtained a warrant to search the trailer and found the body parts.

Allen County Coroner E. Jon Brandenberger has said he won't be able to determine the cause of death until further tests are completed, including microscopic findings and toxicology results.

The prosecutor's office said the investigation is continuing.

Plumadore had earlier faced a preliminary charge of murder, and the Allen County Prosecutor's Office said in a news release that the charges filed Friday do not "preclude the filing of additional charges."

The standard prison sentence for a murder conviction in Indiana is 45 years to 65 years. The other charges each carry maximum sentences of three years in prison.

Allen County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Mike McAlexander told The News-Sentinel Friday that his office had not dismissed the possibility of seeking the death penalty against Plumadore.

Krystal Fowler and Michael Schaffer of the Daily Iowegian and Tom Coyne and Tom Davies of the Associated Press contributed to this report.