Mother of Wichita teen found dead says she will ‘keep her memory alive’

Kaylah Blackmon, 18, of Wichita left home at around 5:30 p.m. Sunday and said she would be right back to help bathe her newborn sister, family said.

She never came back.

Wichita police found her boyfriend, Michael Beasley, 17, of Wichita dead on Monday morning after a passerby saw him lying in the grass next to an abandoned church at Ninth and Ash and called 911.

Police suspected Blackmon was in danger and asked for the public’s help to find her. They released photos of her and her Ford Escape on Tuesday. The photo showed Blackmon with her hair dyed red.

The teen, who family said aspired to be a hairstylist, was found dead Thursday morning.

A Wichita police lieutenant on patrol found Blackmon’s Escape in an apartment complex in the 500 block of West 27th Street South.

“Officers located Blackmon in the vehicle deceased,” Officer Charley Davidson said in a news release.

Police have not released details about how Beasley or Blackmon died.

Blackmon’s mother, Angelia Stephen, said police have not told her details about her daughter’s death. An aunt said the family did not want to comment about Blackmon’s boyfriend.

“She was just a typical, funny kid growing up,” said the aunt, who asked not to be named. “Cracking jokes, spending time with family.”

Blackmon dyed her hair different colors every few weeks and had tattoos to represent family members, Stephen said. Butterflies represented her grandmother and an elephant represented her mother, Stephen said. Photos show she also had flowers tattooed on her arm.

In 2020, Blackmon earned her high school diploma from Kansas Connections Academy a semester early and was trying to find her way in life, the family said. She had been working as a paraprofessional at Wichita Friends School and planned to go to beauty school, they said.

Blackmon had been excited to become a big sister and “went out and bought ... so many clothes, shoes and toys” for her newborn sister, Stephen said.

“She was the best daughter, sibling, (granddaughter) and friend anyone could have asked for,” Stephen said, adding: “I will forever have a hole in my heart but will tell lots of stories to keep her memory alive so her baby sister will know who she was.”

Anyone with information about the deaths can call Wichita police detectives at 316-268-4407, Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111 or the See Something, Say Something hotline at 316-519-2282.

This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 11:46 AM.