Fourth Suspect In Custody In Kidnapping, Murder Of 13-Year-Old Detroit Boy
DETROIT (WWJ) - Police say a fourth suspect sought by investigators in the kidnapping and death of a 13-year-old boy in Detroit has been arrested.
At a news conference Friday, Detroit Police Chief James Craig said they now have all four people wanted in murder of Deontae Mitchell, who was grabbed while riding his bike near a neighborhood market on Tuesday.
The Wayne County Medical Examiner is conducting an autopsy on the boy, found dead in a field Thursday at Harper and Baldwin in Detroit. So far results have been inconclusive as to how he died, officials said, but there are no signs of gunshot wounds on the child.
Video shows Deontae forced into a car by an armed man after the youngster reportedly picked up some money that the man had dropped.
Police believe that man was 45-year-old Gregory Walker, who was arrested Thursday with a woman in Toledo, Ohio. The pair remains held in Ohio on Friday, awaiting extradition to Michigan.
A second man, 30-year-old Ernest Coleman, also was arrested Thursday in Detroit; and the fourth suspect, 51-year-old Roy Portis, was taken into custody at his Detroit home on Friday without incident.
This case hit a nerve with local residents, Chief Craig said, with multiple tips coming in almost immediately after an Amber Alert was issued.
"When people come together and we say enough is enough, that's when change happens," Craig said, calling the killing a senseless crime.
"We're talking about a defenseless young man and an adult who was frankly three times his size," said Craig. "What's the point of a weapon? What's the point of abducting a child, a defenseless child? We're talking about a 13-year-old."
Charges against all four suspects are pending.
Anyone with information about this case is urged to call police at 313-596-5521 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP.
