At first, it appeared like the good-neighborly thing to do. After a heated argument between two girls and their stepmother during the last week of March 2020, the girls found themselves homeless for the night. Their father, Othello Johnson, had gone to Monrovia on a contract and would not be back for several days. Dekulah Kolleh, who heard about the incident, offered the two young ladies shelter in the home of his girlfriend and her teenage son, where he (Kolleh) also lived, in the Wein Town community of Bong Mines. Kolleh, believed to be in his 50s, happened to be a friend of the girls' father.

The next day, Kolleh made contact with the girls' biological mother and invited her for a meeting, since the girls' father was out of town. The meeting was held at Kolleh's home, where the girls were staying. The girls and their stepmother were also in attendance.

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