Ohio Dad Pleads for His Missing 13-Year-Old Daughter on TV, But The Real Story Will Blow…You…Away
Kei’Mani Latigue was just days away from turning 14 years old when she disappeared from her Toledo, Ohio home. The local community was devastated by her March 18 disappearance, and her father, Darnell Jones, even spoke to the news detailing the last time he saw her. Then, he went on the run.
Suggested Reading
That’s So Random
Off
English
Suggested Reading
A warrant was first issued for Jones’ arrest on suspicion of abduction on March 23, according to police. But the following day, Latigue was found dead in a burned, vacant home. This led authorities to up the charges against Jones to murder, according to WTVG, but first they had to find him.
Advertisement
Before his daughter’s body was discovered, Jones— who also goes by the name Darnell Jerome Ogletree— spoke to WTVG detailing the last time he claimed he saw her. “I came over here because she said that it seemed like somebody was trying to break into the house,” Jones said of his daughter’s disappearance. The teen reportedly lived with her grandmother at the time of her disappearance. “Me and my cousin sat over here for an hour and we left around 12:30-ish,” he continued.
Advertisement
Jones’ abduction warrant, obtained by PEOPLE, claimed he was the last person seen with Latigue. And after the father gave “inconsistent statements about his activity with the victim, and their whereabouts,” he became a prime suspect, according to the warrant. The next day, police made an unthinkable discovery.
Advertisement
On March 24, the girl’s mother, Tiara Kasten, came to the scene of a burned, abandoned house before the coroner confirmed a body located on the second floor belonged to Latigue. “I just want to know if it’s my baby. They’re still not telling me nothing,” Kasten told WTVG. Her mother insisted there was no reason for Latigue to be in the area of the house.
Officials later confirmed the body belonged to the teen, and an autopsy report soon revealed the gruesome details of her death. Police Lieutenant Brian Steel said Latigue was raped, had her hands cut off and her throat nearly cut off in one of the most horrific cases he’d heard of. The motive behind the shocking murder is still under investigation.
Advertisement
With all eyes then focused on the girl’s father as the prime murder suspect, officials began surveillance on Jones. On Tuesday (March 25), the 33-year-old was spotted in Columbus, Ohio, hours away from the burned house. SWAT officers confronted Jones on the street, and that’s when a probable cause affidavit, obtained by USA TODAY, said Jones pulled out a gun and shot at them. During the confrontation between him and the officers, Jones was shot multiple times.
He was rushed to a nearby hospital and remains in stable condition. Now, Jones is facing new charges and is expected appear before a judge on Wednesday (March 26), according to WTVG.
Advertisement
A spokesperson for Spring Elementary School, the school Latigue attended, said she was set to receive a kindness award this week. Her 14th birthday is also Friday (March 28). The family asks all donations in the teen’s honor to be made to the Brown Legacy Memorial funeral home in Toledo.