Murder Suspect Sought
Repo...@school.com
Murder Suspect Sought
February 16, 1999
Reuters
(NEW YORK) -- A young man from East Harlem linked to several rapes and
murders
may now be responsible for a Brooklyn teenager's disappearance.
Sixteen-year-old Angelique Stallings hasn't been seen by her family for
several
days, after Aaron Keith picked her up at her home at the Glenmore Houses
in
East New York. Police say they have D-N-A evidence linking Keith to the
murders
of three women they suspect he raped, and they're hoping Stallings isn't
his
latest victim.
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The following appears courtesy of the 2/16/99 online edition of The
New York
Daily News newspaper:
Suspect in Slays
Slips Past Cops
Search on for missing teen gal pal
By BILL EGBERT and HENRI E. CAUVIN
Daily News Staff Writers
Police yesterday said they nabbed the ex-con suspected in a string of
killings
and rapes in East Harlem last week — but let him go because they didn't
have
the evidence to charge him.
Now Ahron Kee is missing, and so is 16-year-old Angelique Stallings, who
was
last seen Sunday after Kee picked her up in Brooklyn for a Valentine's
Day
date, police said.
"We are very concerned about Angelique's safety," Deputy Inspector
Joseph
Reznick said. "Her family is upset and extremely worried about her.
Ahron Kee
is every young lady's worst nightmare."
Kee, 25, of East Harlem, was nabbed in midtown early last week on a
misdemeanor
petty larceny charge when he allegedly tried to exchange a used computer
part
for a new one, police said.
At the time, Kee's name was one of several police had gotten from
tipsters in
connection with a string of rapes and slayings in East Harlem. But
without
evidence, detectives had to let Kee go.
It wasn't until Friday that detectives linked Kee to some of the crimes
through
DNA and launched a manhunt.
They didn't know Kee was dating the missing teenager until Angelique's
father,
Anthony, saw the suspect's photograph Saturday in the newspaper and
called
detectives, Reznick said.
"They are very, very upset," he said.
Friends of the missing Brownsville teen said Kee — whom they knew as
Malik —
had her under his spell. "He was her first serious boyfriend," said
Maryam
Mu-Min, 18.
Angelique briefly ran off with Kee last October, the friends said.
Mu-Min said Angelique left a packed travel bag with her Saturday. "She
said he
was going to be moving around and she was going with him," said Mu-min's
sister, Yaseena, 15.
Angelique picked the bag up from the sisters about 4:30 p.m. Sunday, the
sisters said.
Meanwhile, the father of a young woman cops suspect Kee of raping and
slaying
in June said that whoever killed his daughter deserves the death
penalty.
"This guy needs to die," said Gregory Washington, who mourns for his
18-year-old daughter, Rasheeda. "This is an animal."
Kee has been linked by DNA evidence to Washington's slaying as well as
two
rapes in Manhattan last year, cops said.
He also is suspected of killing 19-year-old Johallis Castro in 1997 and
13-year-old Paoloa Illera in 1991. She lived in his E. 111th St.
building.
The city is offering an $11,000 reward for information leading to Kee's
capture
and conviction. Anyone with information is asked to call police at (800)
577-TIPS.
With John Marzulli, Michele McPhee and Corky Siemaszko
Original Publication Date: 02/16/1999
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The following appears courtesy of the 2/16/99 online edition of The
New York
Times newspaper:
February 16, 1999
Suspect in a Murder and in the Rapes of 2 Teen-Agers Vanishes With Girl,
15
By MICHAEL COOPER
A 25-year-old former convict who investigators said is the prime suspect
in the
murder of a teen-age girl and the rapes of two other teen-agers in East
Harlem
has disappeared with a 15-year-old Brooklyn girl, the police said
Monday,
adding that they feared for the girl's safety.
The man, Arhon Kee, is suspected of killing a 17-year-old fashion
student and
raping two girls, 15 and 14, in three housing projects in Harlem last
year,
said Deputy Inspector Joseph J. Reznick, commander of the Manhattan
North
Detective Bureau.
Detectives are also investigating whether Kee was involved in the
killings of
two other teen-age girls in past years, he said.
Kee was in police custody as recently as last week, after his arrest on
Feb. 8
on charges of attempted petty larceny. He was freed the next day after
his
arraignment, the police said. Inspector Reznick said that while Kee was
"among
the suspects" in the murder and rapes in Harlem at the time of his
arrest, it
was not until three days later, on Friday, that detectives had enough
information to seek his arrest. On Friday, the police received the
results of a
DNA test that linked Kee to the murder and two rapes, said a law
enforcement
official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. That gave detectives
reason
to seek his arrest, the official said. But by then Kee had disappeared.
On Sunday afternoon, while an all-out manhunt was under way for Kee in
Harlem,
the police said, he went to the Brownsville section of Brooklyn and
picked up a
15-year-old girl for what investigators described as a Valentine's Day
date.
The girl, Angelique Stalling, has not been seen since. Her family became
alarmed when they saw a photograph of Kee in a newspaper in connection
with the
murder and rapes and called the police to file a missing persons report.
"Arhon Kee is every young lady's worst nightmare," Inspector Reznick
said. "We
are very concerned about Angelique's safety."
Kee is suspected of strangling Rasheeda Washington, 17, a fashion
student who
was found dead on June 2 in a stairwell of 1345 Fifth Avenue, in the
Taft
Houses, the police said. A double-breasted black and white plaid blouse
that
did not belong to Miss Washington was found draped over her bare torso,
the
police said.
In the next incident, on Sept. 5, a 15-year-old girl was sexually
assaulted on
the roof landing of a building in the Wagner Houses, which are also in
East
Harlem, the police said. In that case, the police said, a suspect was
arrested
after he was picked out of a lineup by the victim, but the man was set
free
last month after he was cleared by DNA evidence.
The most recent case was on Nov. 16, when a 14-year-old girl was
sexually
assaulted in the Jefferson Houses, the police said.
All three cases were linked to the same man by DNA evidence collected at
the
crime scenes, Inspector Reznick said. On Friday, he said, DNA tests
linked all
three cases to Kee.
Kee is a possible suspect in two other murders, Inspector Reznick said.
He is
being investigated in the murder of Paola Illera, a 13-year-old girl who
was
raped and strangled in 1991, Inspector Reznick said, because they lived
in the
same building in East Harlem, and in the murder of Johalis Castro, 19,
who was
found dead in East Harlem in September 1997 shortly after telephoning
Kee, the
police said.
Inspector Reznick said that the police have phone records establishing
the link
between Ms. Castro and Kee.
Detectives first got tips pointing to Kee as a possible suspect among
the many
leads they received after holding a news conference on Feb. 3 asking for
the
public's help in identifying a baseball cap and sweatshirt found at one
of the
crime scenes.
But Inspector Reznick said that there was not enough evidence to hold
Kee when
he was arrested last week on charges of attempted petty larceny, a
misdemeanor.
Kee, a computer enthusiast and aspiring rap producer, was arrested Feb.
8 at 2
P.M. in a CompUsa store at 450 Fifth Avenue, the law enforcement
official said.
He was accused of buying a new hard drive at the store, taking it home
and then
switching its labels with an old hard drive that he owned in the hopes
that he
could return the old drive to the store and get his money back, the
official
said. He was caught at the store.
The next day, on Feb. 9, he was arraigned and set free. "He was arrested
for
petit larceny, he was treated like everyone else and he was released the
next
day," Inspector Reznick said. "It wasn't until Friday afternoon that we
got the
grounds to go looking for Arhon Kee to arrest him for these three
offenses."
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The following appears courtesy of the 2/15/99 online edition of The
New York
Daily News newspaper:
Monday, February 15, 1999
Rape Suspect Eyed in 3rd Slay
By ALICE McQUILLAN and HENRI E. CAUVIN
Daily News Staff Writers
Detectives are investigating whether a third slaying might be linked to
an
ex-con wanted for questioning in a string of killings and rapes in East
Harlem,
sources said yesterday.
Wanted already in four attacks, ex-con Arhon Kee is now suspected in the
September 1997 killing of a teenage girl, the sources said.
On the last day she was seen alive, Johalis Castro, 19, of the Bronx,
called
Kee's apartment to arrange a shopping trip with his then-girlfriend,
sources
said.
The single mother and college student was found dead on an East Harlem
rooftop,
where she apparently was set afire while unconscious.
The latest development came after investigators used DNA evidence to
link Kee
to the rape and slaying of 18-year-old Rasheeda Washington in East
Harlem last
June, and to two other Manhattan rapes last year.
They also suspect him of raping and strangling 13-year-old Paola Illera,
in
January 1991. She lived at 420 E. 111th St., the same building as Kee.
Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at (800) 577-TIPS
or
212-477-7447.
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The following appears courtesy of the 2/14/99 online edition of The
New York
Daily News newspaper:
Sunday, February 14, 1999
Cops Hunt Ex-Con
In Student Slay, 3 Rapes
By ALICE McQUILLAN and MIKE CLAFFEY
Daily News Staff Writers
Police launched an all-out manhunt yesterday for an armed ex-con
suspected of
raping and killing young women in East Harlem.
DNA evidence has linked Arhon Kee, 25, of 420 E. 111th St., to the rape
and
slaying of 18-year-old Rasheeda Washington and two other Manhattan rapes
last
year, police said.
Detectives tracking Kee also suspect him in the 1991 rape and slaying of
a
13-year-old girl who lived in his building.
"He's a bad man," said one police source. "All of his victims are
petite,
pretty young women. We've got to find this guy."
Deputy Inspector Joseph Resnick, operations commander of Manhattan North
detectives, yesterday announced an $11,000 reward for information
leading to
Kee's arrest and conviction.
The suspect, who has lived for years on E. 111th St., went into hiding
early
Friday, police said. Cops believe he is armed with a 9-mm. pistol.
An unemployed computer buff who claims to be a rap producer, Kee has a
criminal
record dating to 1990. He served about three years for the 1991
knifepoint
robbery of a woman.
Kee was linked by DNA to the June 2 killing of Washington, a student at
the
Fashion Institute of Technology discovered dead in a stairwell at 1345
Fifth
Ave. in the Taft Houses; the Sept. 25 rape of a 15-year-old girl in the
Wagner
Houses; and the Nov. 16 rape of a 14-year-old girl near First Ave. and
112th
St.
Recently, detectives began looking at Kee in connection with the Jan.
24, 1991,
rape and strangulation of Paola Illera, who lived in Kee's building.
Paola's Colombian immigrant family moved to Flushing, Queens, four
months after
the slaying, but returns to the old neighborhood each year to hang
posters
bearing the question "Who killed Paola Illera?"
Anyone with information about Kee is asked to call CrimeStoppers at
(800)
577-TIPS or (212) 477-7447.