The front door was unlocked and the house was in complete disarray. The gas on the stove was running. Her glasses and keys were left behind. Her sleepwear and underwear were scattered on the floor.
And Kimani Latig, the thirteen-year-old honor roll student who always called before she went anywhere, was gone. Dorothy, her grandmother, had just returned from work that Monday morning. She found the house like this and immediately called the school. They said Kimani wasn’t there.
She called 911. “She’s usually going to school before I get home from work,” Dorothy told the dispatcher. “Her phone is going straight to voicemail. ”
A police report was filed.
Kimani was officially a missing child. The next day, Dorothy spoke to the news, visibly shaken. “The house was unlocked and when I walked in, all of the gas was on in the house. Like the stove was on.
There was no fire, but you can hear and smell the gas on in the house. That’s definitely unusual. Her glasses and her underwear were by the couch in the front room. Her pajamas were in the dining room in the floor.
It was just out of the ordinary. ”
Kimani had been living with Dorothy for years. She was a bright, kind seventh grader at Spring Elementary, known by her peers and teachers for her generosity. She was supposed to receive a kindness award later that month.
She loved basketball, old music, video games, and spending time with younger children. Her fourteenth birthday was coming up, and she had asked her grandmother for a basketball-themed party. Her father, Darnell, stood beside Dorothy during the first interview. He seemed just as confused.
“She has her own keys,” he said. “So, she left glasses and keys. It ain’t adding up. ”
Kimani had called him late the night before she disappeared.
She was scared, thinking there was an intruder outside the house. He and his cousin had stayed with her until 12:30 in the morning. A few hours later, her phone pinged again. Darnell missed the call.
He said she tried calling his girlfriend multiple times, the last call coming in around 1:49 a. m. A search party was organized on March 21st. Her mother, Tiara, attended, speaking with desperation.
“I have not slept in three days. I have not eaten in three days. I have never had a seizure before and I’ve had three. All forms of support help.
Whether it’s a social media post, whether it’s you hanging up a flyer, whether you just bring up her name in conversation, it still makes a difference. ”
At first, people suspected a kidnapping. It didn’t make sense that a responsible kid like Kimani would just run away, especially leaving her glasses, her keys, and her phone behind. But law enforcement quickly turned their attention to the last person who had seen her alive: her father.
Darnell Jones had an extensive criminal record. It started with drunken disorderly charges when he was nineteen. Over the years, it escalated to attempted arson, felonious assault, a domestic violence charge against his then-wife, and being shot himself while trespassing on a neighbor’s property. In 2022, he was found drunk in a daycare parking lot holding a firearm.
He pleaded guilty to attempted possession of a weapon as a felon and was sentenced to a year in prison. As a felon, it was illegal for him to own a gun. Kimani’s grandmother also noticed something strange. Kimani’s underwear, which had been left on the living room floor, disappeared shortly after Darnell visited her home.
But it was Darnell’s girlfriend, Nina, who helped crack the case. Early on, she had noticed suspicious activity. When Darnell visited her, he asked her to turn off her home security cameras. A family member had also seen him hiding something underneath her basement staircase.
Nina had believed Kimani was just a typical runaway. But when she saw what was in her staircase closet, her whole perception shifted. She couldn’t ignore what was in front of her. She called the detectives.
They swiftly confiscated what Darnell was trying to hide: his muddy work boots and a rolled-up rubber mat meant to protect the back seats of cars when they are folded down. Nina noted he hadn’t needed his work boots for some time since he wasn’t working. When Darnell realized his stash was gone, he left for good. Nina never saw him again.
She was so scared she relocated herself and her daughter to a new home, worried that Darnell would find out she had turned against him. The evidence from his phone, his home, and surveillance footage was enough for an arrest warrant. He was charged with abduction on March 23rd. The next day, March 24th, a body was found in an abandoned house on East Toledo.
The house had caught fire three years prior and had been slated for demolition. A crowd formed outside, waiting with bated breath. They yelled at investigators for answers. Tiara was among the onlookers.
“It takes nothing to take a picture. Let me know when the coroner’s bring it around so I can see if that’s indeed my baby. Y’all not saying nothing. ”
It was Kimani.
She had been strangled, and her hands had been completely amputated. Her throat had been cut so deep that she was nearly decapitated. The autopsy determined the wounds to her neck were what ultimately ended her life. When officers told Tiara what they had found, she fell to her knees and cried.
The mayor of Toledo spoke to the press, his anger evident. “It’s hard to put into words just how terrible an event this is. Obviously, for the family and friends most directly affected, but really even for the whole community. Whoever was responsible for this, I hope they throw the book at them.
No one deserves what this young girl went through. ”
Later that evening, it appeared Dorothy had been arrested. A spokesperson for the police denied this. Dorothy herself explained what happened.
“I was told that there was a mob of people in front of my house. They were angry. They were talking about what they were going to do to me once I came home. The detective said she would have a unit come out and help me get my things and escort me off the property.
I asked to be handcuffed just so they can get the crowd away from my property. I was never arrested. But I am scared for my safety. They said they were going to blow up my house.
They said they were going to do harm to me. ”
The community held a vigil for Kimani the next day. Her former teacher, Kaen Herabedian, spoke through her grief. “Sick to my core.
Devastated, to say the least. I made many reports concerned about her safety and was fearful that something like this might happen. She told us some very concerning things that were happening to her in that household. She was very sweet.
She greeted me every single morning with a hug. That was all she really ever wanted was affection. She always offered me her breakfast, asking, ‘Oh, Miss H, are you thirsty? I brought you a milk.
’ She did this every single day. She was just a joy to be around. ”
It was revealed that Kimani had repeatedly told teachers she wasn’t in a safe environment at home. As mandatory reporters, they had contacted child protective services multiple times.
One teacher said Kimani was constantly bruised and fearful of going home. Another student claimed Kimani showed up to class with bruises on her arms and said her grandmother and her were fighting. But when CPS interviewed Kimani alone, she said she felt safe in Dorothy’s home. Lucas County Children’s Services received heavy backlash for their inaction.
They conducted an internal investigation and confirmed they had spoken to Kimani one-on-one, but they said there was no evidence that showed she was to be placed under someone else’s care. They had only instructed the grandmother on appropriate discipline. Darnell was not listed on their records as Kimani’s father, or even as an adult in her life. The agency spoke about severe staff shortages, high turnover rates, and the overwhelming number of intakes.
One employee explained that a typical unit should have five workers, but theirs was down to two. “It is not an excuse for Kimani’s death,” she said. “Rather, it’s an explanation of the why and the how. ”
County leaders conceptualized a task force to investigate the internal failings of the agency.
Over 200 people applied. One former teacher, standing outside the school with a sign that read “We love you, Kimani,” remembered her friend. “She used to show me how to do some of the work inside my classroom because I didn’t understand it. I seen a lot of people crying and stuff.
People just not talking how they usually talk, like talking kind of sad and low. ”
A be-on-the-lookout alert was issued for Darnell Jones across the entire state of Ohio. He evaded law enforcement until the following day, when he was found in Columbus. SWAT officers approached his car.
He had shaved his head in an attempt to disguise himself. When the officers approached, Darnell appeared calm. He said, “Just kill me. Kill me.
”
Officers quickly noted his hand was in his pocket. Rather than go quietly, he pulled out a gun. Within seconds, shots were fired. Darnell was hit—not fatally—in the arm and leg.
He was taken into custody. As he was handcuffed and being attended to by medical personnel, he said he was in pain and didn’t want to be on this earth any longer. He was hospitalized. None of the officers were wounded.
On top of the murder and strangulation charges, his stunt added charges of assaulting a police officer. According to court records, Darnell had admitted to his crimes. The indictment listed fifteen counts against him, from evidence tampering to kidnapping, strangulation, and murder. The case against him was the first Ohio death penalty case in over ten years.
Despite his confession, Darnell pleaded not guilty to all charges. In his early court appearances, he was required to wear a turtle suit, a protective garment given to inmates at risk of hurting themselves or others. New developments emerged. His cousin’s home was searched, and phone records were confiscated.
His mother denied speaking to him after Kimani went missing, though phone records disputed this. And while Dorothy said she and Kimani lived alone, police seized phone records from a woman named Lisa White, who lived in Dorothy’s house and watched over Kimani when Dorothy was out. She said she was out the night Kimani went missing. Tiara and Dorothy went to court over Kimani’s funeral.
They both believed they had the sole right to plan the ceremony. Since Kimani had lived with Dorothy for over five years, the judge granted the rights to Dorothy. The people of Toledo turned the site of Kimani’s death into a memorial, leaving flowers, candles, plushies, and balloons. Some balloons read “Happy Birthday,” as she would have turned fourteen only three days after her body was found.
Spray-painted on the wall of the abandoned house were the phrases: “Her life mattered,” “You let them silence her,” and “CPS, where’s your accountability? ”
