HIGH POINT, N.C. — WFMY News 2 is learning more about the High Point University student who police said was killed and later found in a car in Tennessee.
19-year-old Gianna Delgado's father, Ricardo Delgado said a piece of his heart is now missing. He also explained what he knew about his daughter's relationship with her accused killer.
"She's going to be missed by a lot of people," he said. "Everyone who had crossed paths with her, she has left a little piece of herself in everyone’s heart and mind.”
Delgado said he never imagined his daughter's life would be cut so short.
As soon as he received a phone call from a stranger on Gianna's phone hundreds of miles away, he knew something was wrong.
"I got a call from Joshua Hicks right before the Tennessee border, a couple miles, he had found her phone on the side of the road and he gave me a call when he turned the phone on, and I was the emergency contact," Delgado said. "When he described the phone to me I knew it was my daughters. When I asked him where he was and he told me five minutes, or ten miles from the Tennessee boarder I knew something was wrong. My daughter didn’t go anywhere without her phone, no less her dog, Franklin."
Delgado said he got worried and called the High Point Police Department to do a wellness check on his daughter.
"It seemed like it took forever. I called a second time and I was told that by an officer in High Point, who was in charge of the investigation, that some foul play seemed to be involved and that they found her vehicle with a female body in the car, but they had the suspect as Michael Cadogan from Whiteville, North Carolina," Delgado said. "Which was her ex-boyfriend, and he told me that and asked for a description. I told him the description, he gave me his number and sent pictures to me. She had tattoos that we, she had done with me and her, and around 8:00, 9:00 p.m. that night it was confirmed 100% that it was my daughter indeed that was in the vehicle.”
Cadogan was arrested and charged in Tennessee after police received a tip about his location.
When he was pulled over, police said they found Gianna's body in the car.
"The only tie they had together was that apartment where he took my daughter's life at and drove all the way out here, in the middle of nowhere to get rid of her," Delgado said.
Delgado said he believes his daughter and Cadogan were no longer dating.
High Point Police officials said they have no prior reports of abuse between the couple, but all signs show this was a case of domestic violence.
Delgado was asked during an interview if there were any issues between the two.
"We talked about getting a restraining order. My daughter didn’t want to cause him any type of harm. She wanted to save the world, she wanted to help everyone and the people that hurt her," Delgado said. "But as far as any signs of this happening, she was already on summer break with me in Wilmington and she only went back to High Point to work Father’s Day weekend at Cracker Barrel."
Delgado said his daughter was supposed to come back to Wilmington on Monday morning.
"She didn’t deserve this. Anyone that would take anyone’s life the way that he did is a coward and no one deserves to take someone’s life because out of love, you don’t do that to people you love, and he was, he had to be sick," Delgado said. "He just couldn’t accept my daughter not being in his life anymore. He knew how much value my daughter brought to the table."
Charnessa Ridley with the Campus Violence Response Center at the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG) said violence usually isn't the first sign of an abusive relationship.
"This is a cycle of violence and the ultimate cycle at the end of this is death," Ridley said. "The threat of violence is going to happen a lot sooner than the actual violence happens."
Ridley said for college-age students, many notice the abuse once it starts to impact their grades.
"A lot of times it's not immediate because they were assaulted last night, but it's because I had experienced assault the last few weeks or last semester and now I am failing my grades," Ridley said.
If you or someone you know may be in danger, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline. That number is 1-800-799-7233.
Cadogan is scheduled to appear in court on Monday, June 28. He is currently being held without bond in Tennessee.
