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

[The Bobster]

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

The three bodies were found under mounds of debris inside an abandoned apartment complex.

nypost.com

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.

(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.

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.

 

[Arheel's Uncle]

Police say Michigan rappers' triple homicide is gang-related and ask for tips

Armani Kelly, Montoya Givens, and Dante Wicker were found dead of gunshot wounds in February. It had nothing to with music, Michigan authorities said.

www.nbcnews.com

Police say Michigan rappers' triple homicide is gang-related and ask for tips​

Armani Kelly, Montoya Givens, and Dante Wicker were found dead of gunshot wounds in February. It had nothing to with music, Michigan authorities said.

March 18, 2023, 7:06 PM MST
By Dennis Romero
Investigators probing a triple homicide that left three rappers dead earlier this year in suburban Detroit said Friday the slayings were the result of gang violence and had nothing to do with music.
The bodies of Armani Kelly, of Oscoda, Michigan; Montoya Givens, of Detroit; and Dante Wicker, of Melvindale, Michigan; were found Feb. 2 in an abandoned apartment building in the city of Highland Park, 6 miles northwest of Detroit, authorities said the next day.

Citing a need to dispel false rumors, Michigan State Police on Friday said, "This was a gang violence related incident."
“This homicide was not random," the agency tweeted, adding that it had nothing to do "with music or a performance."

Montoya Givens, Dante Wicker and Armani Kelly.Detroit PD; NAMUS

Kelly's mother, Lorrie Kemp, has not disputed the gang-related characterization. In February, the Detroit Free Press reported that Kemp alleged the crime was gang-related retaliation from her son's time in prison.
Speaking to NBC affiliate WDIV of Detroit, Kemp said of the triple homicide, “I think it was a setup.”


“Did I know Armani was in a gang?” she said in a segment that aired on the station Friday. “No. Did he get in a gang in prison? Yes.”
The Detroit News has reported that in 2022, Kelly was released early from prison, where he was held on an armed robbery charge. His fiancée, Taylor Perrin, told the publication, “He really turned his life around.”

Bodies found in Michigan apartment building identified as missing rappers
01:37
The three went missing around the time a performance scheduled for Jan. 21 at a Detroit venue was canceled. The missing persons case turned into a homicide investigation when the bodies of the three were found on Feb. 2.

On Feb. 7, police said the cause of death was “multiple gunshot wounds.”

A spokesperson for the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office said it had no public information on any possible persons of interest.

On Friday, Michigan State Police, the primary agency investigating the triple homicide, said no one was in custody in the homicide and pleaded for witnesses and tips that could lead to closure for the family of the victims.

“There are other people that know the details and we need them to come forward,” the agency said.