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Left: Jessica Bedford (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System). Right: News footage of Keyvonte Clark during his first court appearance (WDIV).
A missing Michigan mom was never found after she called her own mother on Mother’s Day five years ago — and now, a man has been charged with her murder.
Jessica Bedford, 24, went missing in May 2020, after she called her mom that Mother’s Day, left a couple of social media posts, and was never heard from again. She was reported missing on May 30, 2020, and now after nearly five years, 31-year-old Keyvonte Clark was charged with first-degree premeditated murder and mutilation of a corpse.
Even with Bedford’s body still missing, prosecutors called the case “gruesome” as Clark made his first court appearance.
Bedford’s mother, Kathy Parker, whose age was not provided, told local NBC affiliate WDIV in 2020 that the last time she and her daughter spoke, it was brief and uneventful. Parker said, “‘I love you.’ That was it. Nothing out of the ordinary. ‘Happy Mother’s Day.”” After that, a couple of posts on Facebook were the last known communications by Bedford, who was the mother of a now-13-year-old daughter.
Parker told WDIV that her daughter had been going through a rough period in her life, including the deaths of her ex-husband and a close friend. After moving in with friends in Lincoln Park, Michigan, Parker said Bedford “started hanging out with the wrong people in the wrong places. It escalated from there.”
According to reporting by WDIV, Bedford shared a photo of herself with a black eye, which came at the hands of an unnamed boyfriend. But despite her difficult situations sending her “overboard,” Bedford’s lack of communication was unusual.
Now, prosecutors say that Clark is responsible for her death, and they and told Magistrate Judge William T. Burton Jr. of Michigan’s 36th District Court to hold Clark without bond, saying that the details of the case were “fairly gruesome.”
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Lisa Lindsey told the court that Clark “shot and killed a young woman and disposed of her body. Her body still, at this point, has not been found.” Lindsey also said in her request to hold Clark without bond that he was allegedly “operating a chop shop out of his backyard.”
Clark’s defense attorney, Amir Makled, said that without a body, the prosecution’s murder case was “weak” and based on information from people who lacked “credibility.” He also told the court that Clark had been a suspect since 2021 and never fled the area, making him a low flight risk.
In the end, Burton agreed with the prosecution and ordered that Clark be remanded without bond. Clark’s next court date is April 24.
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