Darnell Jones, Kei’Mani Latigue dad arrested in rape & murder of 13 year old Toledo, Ohio daughter after stand off shooting. No known motive.
The father of a missing 13 year old Toledo, Ohio teen girl has been charged with her murder after the girl was found dead at an abandoned home.
Autopsy results released on Tuesday showed Kei’mani Latigue had died of a gruesome death, including nearly being decapitated, having her fingers chopped off along with suffering sexual assault.
Latigue vanished from her Toledo home on March 17, a week before she was found dead on the second floor of a burned-out home.
Kei’mani Latigue’s father charged with murder, felonious assault, and third-degree felony abduction.
Lucas County coroners said Kei’mani Latigue died from multiple incised wounds of the neck, and ruled her death a homicide WTOL reported.
‘This is one of the most horrific cases I’ve ever heard of,’ Brian Steel with Columbus Police said according to Live5News. ‘This was a teen who was murdered, raped, had her hands cut off and her throat almost cut off.’
On Monday, March 24 — the same day Latigue’s body was discovered — an arrest warrant was issued for her father, Darnell Jones, 33, (also going by the name, Darnell Ogletree) for child abduction. At the time the father was un-accounted for and a manhunt for his whereabouts began leading to an eventual stand-off with police.
On Tuesday, Columbus police said there was a SWAT standoff involving Jones, who was shot but is expected to survive. No officers were injured.
Kei’mani’s father is now charged with murder, felonious assault, and third-degree felony abduction.
Jones previously told WTVG that he last saw Latigue on Sunday, March 16, after she called and said she was afraid to be home alone. However, police said Jones provided inconsistent accounts of his correspondence with his daughter or her whereabouts.
The girl’s mother who lived in Cleveland, Tiara Kasten, said Kei’Mani would only ever go to school, play basketball and go home.
‘I seen her on the 15th. Her dad brought her down to my house. Apparently my mother gave him permission and honestly it was just loving on my kid. We play video games,’ Kasten said.
Why did Toledo, Ohio dad kill his own 13 year old daughter?
Latigue lived with her grandmother, Dorothy Latigue, her legal guardian for the past five years. The grandmother reported Latigue missing on March 18, a day after she came home and found the house in disarray.
‘She was phenomenal,’ Latigue told WTOL. ‘Kei’Mani was a helper.’ Latigue described her as an ‘old soul’ and said she was highly intelligent and enjoyed spending time with friends and family, and playing basketball.
A Toledo Public Schools spokesperson told WTOL 11 Tuesday morning that Kei’Mani was a student at Spring Elementary, a K-8 school in the TPS district. The spokesperson said the district brought counselors to the school Monday and would do so again Tuesday. Therapy dogs will also be at the school on Tuesday.
In the aftermath of Kei’Mani’s death, the greater Toledo community created a makeshift memorial in honor of the 13 year old at the abandoned house on Miami Street.
This upcoming Friday would have been Kei’Mani’s 14th birthday. No known murder motive was immediately known.
Jones is scheduled to be arraigned in the Franklin County Municipal Court at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
