Armani Kelly, a 27-year-old Black man from Oscoda, Michigan, was an aspiring rapper known as Marley Whoop who was working to build a new life. According to his mother, Lorrie Kemp, he was attending Alpena Community College, had a job and a fiancée, and was turning his life around after serving time in prison. His passion for music brought him to Detroit in the winter of 2023, a trip that ended in tragedy for him and two of his friends.
On January 21, 2023, Kelly traveled to Detroit to perform at Lounge 31. He was joined by his friends Dante Wicker, 31, and Montoya Givens, 31, whom he had met in prison. The performance was abruptly canceled due to equipment problems, and after that night, all communication from the three men stopped. When Kelly didn't return home, his mother reported him missing on January 23. Using OnStar, she was able to track her son's car to the city of Warren, where police found it.
The families of Wicker and Givens filed missing persons reports after seeing media coverage about Kelly's disappearance.
The nearly two-week search came to a grim end on February 2, 2023. Acting on investigative leads, police discovered the bodies of Kelly, Wicker, and Givens in an abandoned, rat-infested apartment building in Highland Park. The men’s frozen bodies were found concealed under debris in the basement. Investigators believe they were killed on an upper floor of the building before being moved. The Wayne County Medical Examiner’s office later determined that all three men died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Michigan State Police, who led the investigation, stated that the killings were not random and were believed to be gang-related, though not connected to the music lounge where the men were last seen. Early in the investigation, several individuals were taken into custody. Warren police arrested a 15-year-old who was found with Kelly’s stolen vehicle and charged him with its possession. Another man was brought in for questioning in Detroit, and a third was arrested in Knoxville, Tennessee, on an unrelated parole violation after his cell phone was tracked from near the Highland Park apartment building.
Although investigators have generated suspects, no one has been charged in connection with the triple homicide. As of January 2024, a year after the men disappeared, Michigan State Police confirmed the investigation remained open and they were working to complete interviews before submitting a report to the prosecutor's office for review. The case remains unsolved.
