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Left: Darnell Jones (WTVG). Right: Kei’Mani Latigue (Toledo Police Department).
A 13-year-old girl in Ohio was found severely mutilated and murdered this month. Now, police are blaming her father for what has been described as a “horrific” crime.
Kei’Mani Latigue was last seen alive on the night of March 16, family members say. She was reported missing soon thereafter and volunteer searches commenced in the days that followed.
On March 25, the very worst fears were confirmed.
Kei’Mani was found, suffering from multiple wounds, on the second floor of burned out and abandoned house on Miami Street in Toledo.
The violence inflicted on the child is particularly unsettling.
“This is one of the most horrific cases I’ve ever heard of,” Columbus Police Officer Brian Steel told Toledo-based ABC and The CW affiliate WTVG. “This was a teen who was murdered, raped, had her hands cut off and her throat almost cut off. This is an absolute animal that came into our town.”
An autopsy that same day determined the girl died of multiple “incised wounds of the neck,” according to the Lucas County Coroner’s Office. The child’s manner of death was ruled a homicide.
Steel’s comments about the case were thoroughly criticized by Toledo Police Chief Michael Troendle in an interview with WTVG.
“I was very taken aback by those comments. To me, unprofessional. To me, not his place. There’s a lot of things that he was running his mouth about that he had no business talking about,” the police chief said. “Those are details that we would never release in an investigation.”
Troendle went on to say he would neither confirm nor deny the details relayed — but insisted the release of any such details could have jeopardized the entire investigation and case.
Hours before the grim discovery, Kei’Mani’s father, Darnell Jones, 33, had been charged with abduction, according to the Toledo Police Department. That charge was quickly upgraded to murder.
Law enforcement have yet to speculate on a motive for the slaying. Details about the defendant are also presently scarce.
Jones did, however, add his voice to the chorus of concerned family members back when Kei’Mani was still considered missing — saying he last heard from her late on the night of March 16, a Sunday.
“I came over here because she said that it seemed like somebody was trying to break into the house,” he told WTVG on March 19. “Me and my cousin sat over here for an hour and we left around 12:30-ish.”
The next morning, the girl did not show up at Spring Elementary School — where she was due to receive a kindness award that week after recently making the honor roll, Toledo Public Schools said. Calls to her cellphone went straight to voicemail, her family said.
“It was Monday morning and when I came home, she wasn’t here,” the girl’s grandmother, Dorothy Latigue, told WTVG. “Of course, she was supposed to have been on her way to school.”
The scene the woman found at home was suspicious, she said, noting the marked presence of gas from the kitchen stove, left on.
“Other than her and I, it’s just two dogs in the house,” the girl’s grandmother continued. “So, who cut it on? So that was kind of suspicious. Her glasses in her underclothes were by the couch in the front. Her pajamas were on the dining room floor.”
A makeshift memorial sprouted up at the house where Kei’Mani was found — with dozens of balloons festooned across the decrepit property. The city of Toledo now plans to demolish that residence.
Family say any contributions for formal memorial services should be directed to the Brown Legacy Memorial funeral home in Toledo.
An affidavit filed in the case against Jones and obtained by the TV station said Kei’Mani’s father gave “inconsistent statements” about his behavior and his daughter’s whereabouts on the night she went missing. The court document also said cellphone data and surveillance footage played a role in the decision to issue charges.
On Tuesday morning, Jones was injured during a shootout with a Columbus SWAT team after days of surveillance, according to law enforcement sources cited by the Columbus Dispatch. Columbus is roughly 140 miles due south of Toledo. The defendant is currently recuperating in an area hospital. An arraignment slated for Wednesday in Franklin County court had to be postponed.
Jones has yet to be processed as an inmate at the Franklin County Jail as of this writing. It is unclear what combination of charges he will ultimately face over his daughter’s death, though he will certainly face charges in both the Toledo and Columbus areas.
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At least one person who knew Kei’Mani believes warning signs about a dire domestic situation were present — and for some time.
“This feels preventable,” Kayleene Hairabedian, the girl’s former sixth grade teacher told WTVG. The educator went on to say the she and various other employees at Bennett Venture Academy called child welfare authorities over things Kei’Mani said — and noted visible injuries on the girl’s body.
“Kei’Mani expressed some things to us in the school, not only to myself but to the other adults in the building, her peers, her school bus driver, who all made phone calls to Child Protective Services,” Hairabedian said. “Lucas County Children’s Services was notified on several different occasions that she may be at risk of child abuse in the home and it just fell on deaf ears. Our calls were not heard, her voice was not heard and she told us some very concerning things that were happening to her in the household.”
Kei’Mani was days away from turning 14 when she was killed.