What started as a routine home renovation turned into a nightmare discovery for a Michigan homeowner.
Authorities say a newly purchased property in Kalamazoo held a dark secret — the decomposing bodies of a man and woman hidden inside an exterior shed.
This week, 44-year-old Rajai Keyontae Brown was arrested and charged with two counts of open murder in connection with the deaths of Tarra Mayes and Alfred Simpson.
According to the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety, the bodies were discovered on August 22, 2023, at a home on North Rose Street. The new homeowner, who had recently bought the property and was renovating it, reportedly made the grim discovery inside a backyard shed. Both victims were found in advanced stages of decomposition.
Investigators said evidence suggested the pair had been dead for a significant amount of time before they were found.
Police later determined that Mayes and Simpson had been in a romantic relationship and previously lived at the home with Brown. Witnesses told investigators they had not heard from either victim since March 13, 2022 — a date that also matched cellphone location data from their devices.
According to reports, forensic analysis of Brown’s cellphone placed him in the same location as the victims on March 13, 2022, and showed he remained in the area until the following day.
Investigators also spoke to an individual who claimed Brown confessed to the killings in the months after they allegedly occurred. According to that account, Brown said Mayes attacked him with a knife and he stabbed her during the struggle. He allegedly claimed that Simpson was stabbed when he tried to intervene.
“This arrest is the result of tireless dedication and unwavering focus by our detectives,” Capt. Danielle Guilds of the Kalamazoo Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division said in a statement. “We never lost sight of our obligation to the victims’ families.”
Brown appeared in court Wednesday, where a judge ordered him held without bond. He is scheduled to return for a preliminary examination on March 4.