Authorities found the bodies of three Michigan rappers in an abandoned Detroit apartment nearly two weeks after they disappeared after a canceled gig in the city.
Armani Kelly, 28, Dante Wicker, 31, and Montoya Givens, 31, were discovered under rubble around 6 p.m. Thursday at the vacant Northcourse Apartments in Highland Park, the Detroit News reported.
The three disappeared on January 21 after their performance at Lounge 31 was canceled due to “technical issues”.
Last week police found a car owned by Kelly and a 15-year-old who was taken into custody. There were no signs of a fight in the car. It is unclear whether the teenager led to the discovery of the missing men.
Armani Kelly, 28, left, Dante Wicker, 31, center, and Montoya Givens, 31, right, were found dead after they went missing in Detroit on January 21
They were discovered under rubble at the vacant Northcourse Apartments in Highland Park around 6pm on Thursday
Michigan State Police Lt. Mike Shaw told the news outlet that the apartment where the bodies were found was not operating.
“It should be abandoned, but there are a lot of squatters there,” Shaw said.
While Shaw did not confirm the identities of the three men, a source revealed them to The Detroit News.
Montoya Givens, 31, pictured, reportedly met Kelly and Dante Wicker while the trio was serving time in prison
Kelly’s mother Lorrie Kemp previously said she fears her son was killed by former inmates after he was released on an armed robbery charge last year.
Kemp and Kelly’s fiancé, Taylor Perrin, first reported him missing two days after his disappearance, but it took police a week to determine that Wicker and Givens had also disappeared in what investigators described as an “extraordinary” case.
Kelly previously spent eight years in prison for armed robbery, where he met the other two missing men, according to his fiancé.
Following her mysterious disappearance, his mother has said she fears the rapper may have been attacked by those he encountered behind bars.
“I’m angry because you did eight years in prison and you didn’t die, and now you come out and they kill you,” Kemp said.
‘He’s dead – I don’t care. I love that people are optimistic and I love that they think there is hope, but I know it in my gut.’
Kelly had previously served eight years in prison for armed robbery, where he met the other two missing men
The men have not been seen since a Jan. 21 performance at Detroit’s Club Lounge 31 was canceled at the last minute due to technical problems
Armani Kelly’s mother, Lorrie Kemp, knew her son was dead before his body was discovered Thursday
The trio went to Detroit together, but it remains unclear if they ever made it to the club.
Kelly, who goes by the stage name Marley Whoop, was about to perform his second show when he was told the performance had been canceled at the last minute.
It is understood the 28-year-old last left his mother a voicemail around 5pm, letting her know he had arrived in Detroit for the show, before later texting his fiancé Perrin that the gig was cancelled had been.
Perrin said she was increasingly concerned when her messages to him went undelivered around 7.30pm and police said the phones of Kelly and the two men he was with had not recorded any activity since that evening.
“We’ve always been in touch,” Perrin told Detroit News.
“We haven’t gone hours without talking or at least texting to let the other know we’re fine. So, my mind is racing. I couldn’t sleep all night.
“I just don’t understand how this happened and how three grown men are missing and nobody seems to know anything.”
Taylor Perrin (right) said she was concerned for her fiancé Armani Kelly (left) after he stopped replying to her messages on the night of his disappearance on January 21
Perrin began a frantic search after Kelly failed to answer her, including tracking his car with vehicle security service OnStar.
After finding his car online, she saw that it had been driven to the town of Warren about 15 miles from Detroit, where it had been suspiciously moved three times in the days after his disappearance.
The car was first tracked to a church two days after the canceled performance, before being taken to an apartment complex the next day.
The vehicle was finally found four days later by police in another apartment lot, with no trace of the three men.
Perrin said the car was covered in mud and discovered without a license plate.