Missing rappers, friend found dead days after canceled performance in Detroit: report

The Bobster

Senior News Editor since 2004

Missing rappers, friend found dead days after canceled performance in Detroit: report​



By
Allie Griffin


February 2, 2023 9:00pm
Updated













Two missing rappers and their friend were found dead in an abandoned Michigan apartment building Thursday — nearly two weeks after they disappeared the night their gig was canceled.
Investigators discovered the bodies of Armani Kelly, Dante Wicker and Montoya Givens, who had been missing since the night of Jan. 21, in a building in Highland Park, near the Detroit border, three police sources told the Detroit News. A person of interest has been brought in for questioning.
The three bodies were found under mounds of debris inside the basement of the apartment complex, Michigan state police said — without confirming the identities of the remains, the local outlet reported.
The men had been shot, one of the sources told the paper.
Squatters often use the abandoned building, according to cops.
Kelly, whose stage name was Marley Whoop, and Wicker, known as B12, had been scheduled to perform at a birthday party inside a Detroit lounge on the night they disappeared, but the show was canceled.
Kelly, 27, reportedly told his fiancée that his show at Lounge 31 had been canceled due to an equipment issue and planned to link up with his two friends to find some open mic events, the Detroit News reported.

Armani Kelly, Montoya Givens and Dante Wicker(L to R)(From left) Armani Kelly, Montoya Givens and Dante Wicker had been missing since Jan. 21.Detriot Police Department
He picked up Wicker, 31, and Givens, 31, in his car that evening.


Kelly’s fiancée said she couldn’t reach him sometime after 7:30 p.m. after texting and calling his phone several times.


Last week, police spotted Kelly’s car, a 2017 Chevrolet Equinox, on the road without a license plate. A 15-year-old boy was behind the wheel and was taken into police custody.


The teen told officers that a man had instructed him to pick up the car from a location on Detroit’s west side, the Detroit News reported.


Investigators looked through the boy’s texts and calls with the man and learned he had an outstanding warrant involving alleged fraud. They searched his home Monday and took him in for questioning, a source told the outlet.


Police also recovered surveillance video of a man wearing gloves cleaning out the Equinox.

Lounge 31 in Detroit, MI.The men’s performance at Lounge 31 was canceled due to an equipment problem.Google Maps
The 15-year-old was arrested and charged in connection with his possession of Kelly’s vehicle.


A day before the bodies were found, Detroit police brought in a person of interest for questioning, sources told the Detroit News.


At least two of the mothers of the men had been contacted by police about the grisly discovery — though investigators said the remains haven’t been IDed, according to the local paper.


“They told me they found the three bodies. … I don’t know what I’m going to do, how I’m going to bury him,” Givens’ mother, Cat Fogle, told the paper.


All three men had recently been paroled from prison, where they met, according to Kelly’s fiancée.
 
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