A horrifying scene played out on a quiet Michigan roadway when a man driving a stolen SUV allegedly dumped a dead teenager’s body into the middle of traffic — then set the vehicle on fire in an apparent attempt to cover it up.
Police in East Grand Rapids were called out around 12:30 a.m. for a welfare check after reports came in of a person lying motionless on the pavement near Lake Drive SE and Plymouth Avenue SE.
When officers arrived, they found 16-year-old Carhari Walton dead in the street. Investigators determined the teen had been shot in the head. Broken glass and several shell casings were also discovered at a nearby intersection.
Just minutes later, officers were sent to a second scene. A stolen SUV was found engulfed in flames in a parking lot along Nature Trail Drive SE. More shell casings were located inside the burned vehicle, which police later confirmed had been reported stolen five days earlier.
As detectives pieced together the timeline, they learned Walton had last been seen riding in the SUV with 21-year-old Dellquan Cartier Willis and another unidentified person.
According to investigators, Willis admitted he was driving the vehicle the night Walton was killed. He initially claimed shots were fired at the SUV from outside, but police say that account didn’t match the physical evidence. Willis later confessed to shooting Walton inside the vehicle.
Authorities say the teen’s body was then pushed out of the moving SUV into traffic before the vehicle sped away. The driver later torched the SUV in an effort to destroy evidence.
Willis is already serving time at the Marquette Branch Prison, where he is serving a 15- to 30-year sentence for an armed robbery case in Kent County. Now, prosecutors say, he’s headed back to court.
If the perp was already serving a 15-30 year sentence for an armed robbery how was he out of prison and for how long before he apparently stole the SUV and then killed her? This reporting leaves out a lot of details. How about a follow up?
Did the traffic yield???