Wichita man, 22, on probation arrested in killing of teenage couple, police say

A 22-year-old Wichita man already on probation was arrested in connection to a teenage couple found dead days apart earlier this week, Wichita police said during a noon news conference Saturday.

Dontenize Lamar Kelly was booked into the Sedgwick County Jail early Saturday morning on suspicion of capital murder. Police said the arrest is in connection to the deaths of Michael Beasley, 17, and Kaylah Blackmon, 18.

“We do know that (Kelly) has some type of affiliation with Mr. Beasley,” Sgt. Dan Hardy said.

Beasley was found 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. On Thursday, a Wichita police lieutenant on patrol found Blackmon’s Escape in the Kingston Cove Apartments in the 500 block of West 27th Street South. Blackmon was found dead inside, police said.

Both had been shot, Hardy said, adding police believe they were both killed in Blackmon’s SUV. No gun has been recovered.

Blackmon’s mother, Angelia Stephen, said she said her daughter can rest better now that there has been an arrest.

“Nothing can ever replace my daughter, nothing will ever fill that void of never getting see ... her (get to) graduate beauty school, get married, or have my grandchildren but hopefully she can at least rest in peace knowing justice will be served,” Stephen said in a message.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family with Blackmon’s funeral expenses.

The Eagle has been unable to reach Beasley’s family.

Kelly was arrested after police responded to a call at 8 p.m. Friday in the 700 block of West MacArthur, according to a 911 emergency communications supervisor. Kelly is associated with someone who lived in that area, Hardy said.

He was booked into jail at 2:47 a.m. Saturday morning, an online log of jail inmates shows.

Kelly was also arrested for allegedly violating his probation in a separate case, according to the booking records. A warrant filed Friday in that case accuses him of failing to report as ordered to probation staff on Jan. 19, Jan. 26 and Feb. 2 and of failing to make monthly payments toward his court fees. Court and online corrections records show Sedgwick County placed Kelly on probation for two years in October after he was convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and criminal possession of a weapon by a felon for incidents that occurred in March 2020. That probation carries an underlying prison term of 35 months.

Kelly also has a felony juvenile record that includes at least two convictions, court records show.

A homicide Friday brought Wichita to nine killings so far in 2020. There were five by this time in 2020, which was a record year for homicides.

Contributing: Amy Renee Leiker with The Eagle

This story was originally published February 6, 2021 at 10:31 AM.