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When the story was first reported in January about three hip-hop artists in the Detroit area who mysteriously went missing after their Jan. 21 show was canceled, it left many with questions. Why did all three go missing? Why would three out-of-town artists be targeted?
They lived in other parts of Michigan and had traveled together for the show in Detroit.
Two weeks after they were reported missing, the bodies of Armani Kelly, 28, Dante Wicker, 31, and Montoya Givens, 3, were discovered in an abandoned apartment building.
Here are three things to know about the murders.
1. Performance canceled, artists gone missing
The three were to perform on Jan. 21 at a Detroit club called Lounge 31. The show was abruptly canceled. Soon after, they were missing.
Activity on their cell phones stopped early on Jan. 22, according to authorities. Kelly’s mother reported him missing on Jan. 23, Michael McGinnis, commander of major crimes at the Detroit Police Department, told Click Detroit.
“That mother became very proactive in the investigation and started searching for her vehicle through OnStar,” McGinnis. The mother found the car in Warren, Michigan, just a few miles from Highland Park, McGinnis said, and authorities recovered the vehicle on Jan. 23.
As the story of Kelly’s disappearance hit the media, “other family members of the other missings come to realize that that’s a friend of their loved ones and they haven’t seen them either, so then they both get reported missing,” McGinnis said.
2. Bodies of artists found
Warren police recovered a stolen car belonging to Kelly’s mother on Jan. 25 and identified the car theft suspect as a 15-year-old. That led police to an apartment building at McNichols Road and Log Cabin Street in Highland Park.
The three artists, who were associates, were found dead in a “rat-infested,” abandoned apartment complex in Highland Park on Feb. 2, roughly 6 miles northwest of Detroit, according to Michigan State Police, which is leading the investigation, CNN reported.
The bodies of the hip-hop artists were found under piles of debris and construction materials in an abandoned portion of that apartment building, officials said. They were all murdered by gunfire.
3. Not random
Troopers said their deaths were “not a random incident.”
Kelly of Oscoda, performed under the alias Marley Whoop. Wicker of Melvindale, used the stage name B12. Givens was also 31 years old. They all met in prison, the Detroit Free Press reported.
“This was a gang violence-related incident,” police said, The New York Daily News reported. “There are other people that know the details, and we need them to come forward. … Together, we can bring closure to these families.”
Dante Wicker (left), Montoya Givens (center), and Armani Kelly (right) (screenshot, WDIV)
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