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On July 6, 2021, 23-year-old Bobby Farrell Jr. left his family home in New Richmond, Ohio, accompanied by his close friend Keyanta Gardner, a routine that had become familiar to his loved ones. Tragically, this would be the last time Bobby would be seen by his family.
Bobby’s family, known for their close bonds, was left in anguish and seeking answers. Their quest for the truth about Bobby’s disappearance is a focus in the Oxygen series, Killer Relationship with Faith Jenkins. The devastating reality of Bobby’s last moments was something they could never have anticipated.
Jeni Farrell, Bobby’s mother, captured the final images of her son on their doorbell camera as he left at 5:38 p.m. on that fateful day. He and Keyanta were seen departing the house, a sight that seemed so ordinary at the time.
“Bobby said he was going for a ride, and I told him to be careful,” Jeni recounted. “He replied, ‘I love you. Love you guys. We’ll be back in a little bit.’” This was their last conversation.
Later that evening, at 8:15 p.m., Keyanta arrived alone at the home of Bobby’s older brother, Tyler. When asked about Bobby, Keyanta claimed he had dropped him off earlier at Dee’s Dairy Bar.
But when Keyanta arrived at Bobby’s older brother Tyler’s house at 8:15 p.m. that night, he was on his own. Keyanta told Tyler that he’d dropped Bobby off earlier that night at Dee’s Dairy Bar.
According to Keyanta, Bobby met up with a woman driving a black car. Although he couldn’t be sure, Keyanta thought the woman could have been Bobby’s ex-girlfriend, Angel.
Bobby never returned and the family’s concern deepened when he failed to show up the next day at the hospital where Tyler’s wife was having a planned c-section.
“We had planned a parking lot party,” Bobby’s sister Katie Farrell remembered. “My mom and Bobby were going to organize that. We were just going to hang out in the parking lot and just wait until the baby was there.”
Bobby also had a young daughter of his own, who he wouldn’t just leave behind.
Concerned, Bobby’s family reported him as a missing person to the police department.
Retracing Bobby Farrell Jr.’s Last Known Movements
Detectives began their investigation by speaking to Keyanta. He reiterated much of what he already told the family, saying that he had dropped Bobby off at Dee’s Dairy Bar to meet up with a girl.
He provided the family with a screenshot of a text exchange he shared with Bobby later that night, seemingly backing up his account. In the text messages, Bobby told him he was still talking to his ex, Angel.
But there was something about the police interview that struck New Richmond Police Sgt. Jason Mallot as unusual.
“When I was talking to Keyanta he’s looking away from me, completely avoiding my questions,” he recalled. “Right after I interviewed him I knew something was wrong.”
Yet, Bobby’s family couldn’t imagine how Keyanta could be involved in the disappearance. He’d always been like family and had a tight bond with Bobby ever since the pair met through Bobby’s ex-girlfriend and the mother of his daughter, Stacey.
“Keyanta and Bobby were glue,” Tyler shared. “Hanging out every day, every night, all day, every day. I looked at Keyanta as a little brother. That was Bobby’s best friend.”
Troubling Clues Point to Keyanta Gardner
Investigators turned their focus next to Angel, but she insisted she never saw Bobbythe night he disappeared and told police her car was gray, not black. She also gave investigators permission to search her phone.
BCI investigator Kenny Smith remarked, “She seemed completely forthcoming in her interview.”
Then, after one lead after another dried up, detectives turned their focus back to Keyanta—the last known person to see Bobby alive
After reviewing surveillance footage from around Dee’s Dairy Bar, they realized Keyanta’s vehicle was never seen in the area that night, challenging his account of what happened. Instead, cell phone records placed both Bobby and Keyanta’s phones traveling north toward an area not far from the Cincinnati Zoo.
Who Killed Bobby Farrell Jr.?
Investigators brought Keyanta in for another interview, but he continued to change his story about what happened that night. Hoping to get him open up, authorities brought Stacey into the room. After she urged him to tell the truth, Keyanta told her that someone had shot Bobby “twice in the (expletive) head.”
Keyanta ultimately told authorities that when he picked Bobby up that night his friend and drug dealer Boog was already in the car. Keyanta claimed he owed Boog—whose real name was Christian Beasley—money for marijuana and he insisted that Christian shot Bobby to intimidate him, however, investigators learned the murder actually had more sinister roots.
It turned out, Keyanta paid Christian $500 to kill his best friend because he was jealous of the connection Bobby had to Stacey and wanted to get the 23-year-old out of the way. Phone messages showed that Keyanta and Stacey had been in a relationship before Bobby’s death—yet Bobby and Stacey continued to spend time together as they co-parented their young daughter.
“He was constantly complaining to Stacey about how much time she spent with Bobby,” prosecutor Lara Baron explained. “He was just really terribly jealous of Bobby.”
Using cell phone data, investigators retraced the friends’ drive that night and found Bobby’s body decomposing along a road in New Richmond. They also recovered the murder weapon at the home of one of Beasley’s friends.
While piecing together the murder, investigators concluded that after picking Bobby up that night, Christian shot the young father twice in the head from the backseat of the car, then Keyanta and Christian dumped the body along the side of the road and later disposed of Bobby’s phone in Norwood. A piece of the bullet’s projectile and significant evidence of blood was found in the Keyanta’s car supporting their theory.
Keyanta and Christian both pled guilty to aggravated murder and conspiracy to commit murder and were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
For Bobby’s family, it was a stunning betrayal. As Jeni shared, “It felt like somebody took my whole heart and just took it right out of my chest.”
