Three aspiring rappers who went missing last month after a Detroit club canceled a performance were killed, police said Friday. The men were found dead in an abandoned apartment complex, police and state police said.
Armani Kelly, Dante Wicker and Montoya Givens were all on parole at the time of their disappearance. Their families have called out law enforcement for what they say was a slow response to their reports.
Armani Kelly
The cause of death of Armani Kelly, one of the three missing rappers from Michigan, has been confirmed. His remains were found Thursday in an abandoned building in the Detroit area, according to a press release from Michigan State Police and WDIV-TV.
The 28-year-old rapper from Oscoda was scheduled to perform in Detroit on Jan. 21, but his appearance was canceled because of technical problems with the club’s DJ equipment. He was accompanied by his fiancee, Taylor Perrin, and his friends Montoya Givens and Dante Wicker.
After the canceled show, Kelly told Perrin he would look for a new venue, but she never heard from him again. She began to worry.
Eventually, she started using OnStar to search for her son’s car, which was found in Warren, about three hours from Oscoda, McGinnis said. Then, she learned that all three rappers who knew each other were missing as well.
When she heard this, she was devastated. She contacted authorities and began to get a lot of help from her friends.
However, she says the investigation has been slow. She is apprehensive that the case may be handled poorly by authorities. She wants to know if anyone was involved in their disappearance and if the case is being treated as a homicide.
She also wonders if the police took too long to investigate. She believes that they were not notified of the three men’s disappearance until they were reported as missing by the family of one of them.
The case sparked an investigation by the Detroit Police Department, as well as the Melvindale and Oscoda police departments. The trio had been on parole at the time of their disappearance, McGinnis said.
A 15-year-old boy was taken into custody last week, and he has been accused of having a vehicle that belonged to Kelly. The car had no signs of violence and investigators are not sure how this might influence the investigation, Dwyer said.
Kelly and his friends were on their way to a gig in Detroit when they got word that the show was canceled. They then drove to a rat-infested apartment complex in Highland Park, about six miles northwest of Detroit, McGinnis said. The apartment was vacant and in poor condition.
When investigators went inside, they found a dead body in the basement of the building. Initially, they thought it was a suicide, Shaw said. After identifying the three victims, Shaw said they had to wait for their bodies to cool off, which could take days.
It is possible that the deaths could be linked to another person in Tennessee, according to FOX 2. The person may be arrested soon for questioning, Jessica Dupnack of WNEM-TV reports. But until the investigation is completed, families are left grieving their loved ones.
Montoya Givens
On Thursday, February 2, Michigan State Police (MSP) confirmed that the bodies of 3 missing Detroit rappers were found in an abandoned Highland Park apartment. It was discovered that the men were killed and had multiple gunshot wounds.
The men’s names are Armani Kelly, Montoya Givens and Dante Wicker and they were all missing since January 21, when their performance at a Detroit club was canceled. Their deaths have been puzzling to investigators, but they were eventually determined as murders.
According to WDIV-TV, the cause of death has been confirmed by the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office and was that they all died from multiple gunshot wounds. It is a big step forward in the investigation as investigators now know what they are working with and can make progress on their case.
In the aftermath of their disappearance, investigators were able to locate and recover Kelly’s car in Warren, Michigan. This was a huge find and has helped to strengthen the case of the missing rappers.
Authorities were first alerted to the three missing rappers by Kelly’s mother, who reported him as missing on Jan. 23 and used OnStar to help find her son’s vehicle. The car was then recovered from the Queen’s Court apartments complex in Warren.
After the discovery of Kelly’s vehicle, authorities began investigating if he might have been taken or killed in the car. This led to the discovery of two other vehicles in the area.
As the investigation continued, officials began to suspect that the victims may have been killed and then their bodies were dumped. This was not a surprise as the apartment building where the victims were found was in a poor condition and had been rat-infested.
The search for the 3 rappers took on a life of its own and investigators from multiple agencies joined the effort to solve the mystery. As the case drew national attention, investigators worked to find out what happened to them after their last sighting.
While there is still much that has to be known in this case, investigators are making some good progress with the case and are confident that they will make a solid conclusion in the future.
Detectives are also working to identify the victims and their families. They are relying on the public to provide them with any information that may help in the case.
When investigators found the bodies of the missing rappers, they were shocked to learn that all three men had been shot multiple times. They were unable to identify the men until fingerprints were taken from their remains, according to police.
They also discovered that the men’s bodies were in extreme cold conditions. It could take up to 48 hours for autopsies to be conducted.
A suspect has been arrested in Knoxville, Tennessee in connection to the case and is being held on a parole violation. Another man was brought into custody, in the last week here in Detroit – for questioning as well.
Dante Wicker
It’s been 10 days since three rappers from Lansing, Michigan were last seen and heard from, as they were reported missing after their show was cancelled at a Detroit club. The men were scheduled to perform on January 21st at Lounge 31, but they didn’t make it in and no one has been heard from them since.
Armani Kelly, whose stage name is Marley Whoop, was scheduled to perform at the club with Montoya Givens and Dante Wicker. They were supposed to perform together, but the performance was canceled due to equipment problems, according to local media reports.
Kelly’s fiancee, Taylor Perrin, told reporters that he had contacted her the night of the event to tell her that they had to cancel because they were having technical issues with their show. She said that when she called him later that evening, he stopped responding to her messages and didn’t return them.
When she didn’t hear from him, her mother started searching his car through OnStar and found it in Warren a few miles from Highland Park, where police were looking for the missing rappers. She said that she then notified other families that her son was missing and they started looking for him as well.
A 15-year-old boy was then taken into custody in Warren for possession of the car. Officers searched the teen’s home and found surveillance video of him cleaning out Kelly’s car. He was also found with an outstanding warrant for a felony fraud charge, the Detroit News reported.
While authorities don’t know what happened to the three, they are now making progress in their investigation. They have identified the two other aspiring rappers who were killed, and they believe that they died from multiple gunshot wounds.
They are also determining the motivation for their deaths, and how they died. They are working with the state’s homicide task force to identify the person responsible.
Investigators are also looking for a man who was in the area of the Highland Park apartment complex where the bodies were found. He is believed to have gotten involved in the murders.
The Michigan State Police are attempting to determine whether he is the primary suspect or whether he was acting in the name of the other rappers. They are still waiting on autopsies from the two other rappers.
In the meantime, a Go Fund Me page has been set up to raise money for Wicker’s burial. His mother is devastated by the news and hopes that he can get buried with dignity.
The family of Dante Wicker has been shattered by the news of his death and are urging everyone to share their thoughts and prayers for him. He loved to explore different places and was a good friend of many people, according to his mother.
