Philadelphia authorities filed murder charges Thursday against a suspect for the death of 23-year-old Kada Scott, and investigators say they have video evidence suggesting that two people may have been involved in moving and burying her body.
Delaware resident Keon King, 21, was denied bail Thursday on charges that also include robbery, abuse of a corpse, theft and conspiracy. His attorney, Shaka Johnson, did not return a message seeking comment.
The medical examiner’s office said Thursday that Scott had been shot in the head.
To support arson and conspiracy charges against King in Scott’s disappearance, a city detective wrote in an affidavit this week that one of Scott’s co-workers reported seeing her upset outside their workplace at about 10 p.m. on Oct. 4, the night she disappeared. The coworker reportedly heard Scott say “I can’t believe you’re calling me” before she walked toward a parked SUV.
Video footage from the area where Scott’s body was found showed two people get out of a vehicle around 11:30 p.m. the night after Scott disappeared. Around 4 a.m., they are shown removing “a heavy object, consistent with a human body” out of the passenger’s side of a car and then carrying it “in the general direction” of where Scott’s body was recovered from a shallow grave nearly two weeks later, according to the police affidavit.
When an anonymous tip led police to again search that area, which is near an abandoned school, they found a spot with freshly disturbed earth. Scott’s remains were recovered and DNA was tested to confirm her identity.
Police also obtained texts between Scott and a person they believe was King over the week before Scott disappeared, saying King identified himself as Kel. At about 10 a.m. the morning Scott disappeared, she texted that number to say “kidnap me again,” the detective wrote. “Kel” responded “better be up too.”
King, of Dover, Delaware, was arrested earlier this year in another case, but posted $200,000 bail and was released. In that case King was accused of kidnapping a woman from in front of her house and forcing her into a car where she was assaulted and eventually let go. Charges were dropped after the victim and a witness did not appear for court proceedings.
Scott’s parents have described their daughter as exhibiting “light, kindness and beautiful spirit.”
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