Three bodies were found in an abandoned apartment building in the Detroit area on Thursday and are believed to be those of three rappers who have been missing since they canceled a performance in January.
Bodies found in abandoned building
In the Detroit area of Highland Park on Thursday, police made a grisly discovery. They found three bodies inside an abandoned apartment building, and authorities now believe them to be the three rappers who have been missing for nearly 2 weeks.
Highland Park is roughly 6 miles northwest of Detroit, where Michigan State Police officers were investigating an abandoned apartment complex as part of a death investigation, NBC reported.
State police said multiple victims had been located in the building but had not yet been identified. They also stated that a homicide task force, troopers, and workers from their forensic lab were part of the investigation team at the complex, CNN reported.
Are these the missing rappers?
“As of now we haven’t confirmed the identity of any victims inside or a manner of death,” Michigan State Police said. “Please remember all victims have families and we don’t have the luxury of guessing on their identity and then retracting if we didn’t get it right.”
Michigan State Police also stressed that answers in the investigation could be slow in forthcoming, as the building’s poor condition and a rat infestation are hampering their efforts.
Mystery surrounds cancellation of show and disappearance of rappers
Three emerging Detroit rappers: Armani Kelly (Marley Whoop), 28, Dante Wicker, 31, and Montoya Givens, 31, were all scheduled to perform at Lounge 31 in Detroit on January 21. But suddenly, the appearance was canceled.
Since then, in the early hours of January 22, the trio has been missing, Hip-Hop DX reported.
“It’s our understanding that the performance got canceled,” Detroit commander of crimes Michael McGinnis said. ” And from there – we just have a whole lot of unanswered questions that we are trying to find out.”
“The mother of one of the victims, the next day, made a report of the missing person,” McGinnis added. “That mother became very proactive in the investigation and started searching for her vehicle through OnStar.”
The missing vehicle was located in nearby Warren, Michigan, on January 23 but provided no leads to the victims.
15-year-old arrested in possession of rapper’s vehicle
On January 28, authorities arrested a 15-year-old driving a vehicle associated with Armani Kelly, one of the three missing rappers, according to authorities, CBS reported. However, authorities were not connecting him to the missing rappers – only the vehicle. The juvenile’s name is being withheld due to age.
“I can tell you that there was a juvenile that was arrested, not in connection with the missing people, but in connection with a vehicle associated with one of the missing people,” said Dawn Fraylick, communications director for the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office.
At a later news conference, Detroit Police Chief James White said all three of the men’s cell phones were turned off around the same time the night they went missing.
