Maleigha Allen, 20, has been indicted for the first-degree murder of her father, Michael Allen, after he was found dead from sharp-force injuries at their Lexington, North Carolina home. The article presents her account from custody alongside allegations of a troubled family history, while stressing that the circumstances of the killing remain for the courts to determine.

Deputies were called on 17 April after Maleigha Allen was found with multiple stab wounds; a welfare check then found her 44-year-old father dead. Investigators have described the killing as premeditated, while Allen has alleged she had endured abuse; those allegations have not been publicly verified by law enforcement. An earlier grand jury did not indict her, but a later grand jury returned a first-degree murder indictment, and she is being held without bond.