Man Wanted In The Double Homicide of Michigan Family Stricken With Tragedy
65-year-old Jacqueline Baber-Bey, 25-year-old Keyona Griffin, 47-year-old Cherletta Baber-Bey, and her boyfriend, 47-year-old "Jay", lived together at 553 Sheldon in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
March 13, 2019, Jacqueline left home to go to work.
At 10:25 am, 911 dispatchers received the following call, according to Target 8:
Keyona: “I need help.” (whispering)
911: “Hello?”
Keyona: “I need help.” (whispering)
911: "OK, where are you located?”
Keyona: (Muffled response)
911: “I’m sorry, ma’am, I can’t hear you,” the 911 operator said.
Keyona: “I know.” (whispering)
Keyona: “553 Sheldon Avenue SE… Please hurry now.” (her whisper a little louder and more urgent.)
911: “553 Sheldon. OK. Can you tell me what’s going on there?”
Keyona: “Can you just hurry up, please. I’m fittin’ to die… He’s tryin’ to kill me. He already killed my auntie. Can you hurry up, please?”
911: “Okay, ma’am. I’ll start the police that way. Can you tell me what your name is?”
911: “Keyona,” (whispering)
Then the call disconnected.
Three Grand Rapids Police officers arrived at the home at 553 Sheldon seven minutes and 41 seconds after the call between Keyona and 911 ended.
Grand Rapids Police released Bodycam footage that filmed their arrival. As they approached the house, one of the officers questioned if Keyona had mental health issues. The officer knocked on the door three times. An officer jiggled the door handle, but the door was locked. One of the officers asked dispatchers to try to get the caller back on the phone. The dispatchers responded that the caller did not answer. In the video footage, the officers approach the back door. The door was locked, but officers attempted to look in the windows.
“You can see it looks like a little dining room or something in there. It’s empty,” one of the officers said in the video.
The Grand Rapids Police officers never made contact with anyone in the house. Three minutes and 42 seconds after they arrived, they left.
Two hours and 18 minutes later, 911 dispatchers received a second call from the same house.
“Come to 553 Sheldon… There’s blood everywhere, and my sister’s not moving,” a man's voice said, reports Target 8.
It was Sanford Cummings II. He found his 25-year-old sister Keyona dead in an upstairs bedroom. She had been shot four times, including one shot in the face. When police arrived again, they found a second body at 553 Sheldon.
“He already killed my auntie,” whispered Keyona that morning to the 911 operator, reports Target 8.
47-year-old Cherletta Baber-Bey was found lying on her bed. She had her earbuds in her ears with an iPad, still playing, propped up on a pillow. She had been shot in the back of the head.
Cherletta's family describes her as a nurturing, trusting, and sweet woman who was never very social reports Target 8. "Jay" was her first real boyfriend, and the pair spent most of their time in their bedroom.
During the murder investigation, detectives located a box of letters in Cherletta's closet. They were "jail letters" written between her and Derrell Brown. In those letters, Derrell told Cherletta he went by the name of "Jay." All of the letters were signed "Jay."
Police located a box of ammunition and a handgun in an alley northwest of the crime scene. the serial number on the gun matched the serial number of a gun box found in Cherletta's bedroom. Investigators discovered the handgun had been purchased by a woman. She had reported the gun stolen in July 2017. The woman also filed a complaint in 2018 against her ex-boyfriend named "Jay" for harassing her.
Cherletta and Keyona's family told detectives "Jay" never had a job or any social media accounts, reports Target 8. They only knew him as "Jay", and did not have his phone number, even though he lived in the house for two years, reports Target 8.
Keyona and Cherletta's family believe the Grand Rapids Police Department failed them.
“You got someone calling you saying, ‘Someone’s trying to kill me,’ you won’t knock the door down?” questioned Onyah Griffin, Keyona’s mom, and Cherletta’s sister, reports Target 8.
“She could have been tied up in there,” Sanford Cummings Sr told Target 8.
“There was no blood. It’s a shut-up house. The house is a very protected — Fourth Amendment. You’ve got to have some pretty good reason to go in. There has to be something that drives them more than just a phone call because there’s people out there who prank call to get people, unfortunately,” Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker responded reports Target 8.
Derrell Demon Brown was captured on foot on surveillance video. two hours after the murders. He was walking in the area of Turner Avenue NW and Leonard Street. He has never been seen again.
“The unusual part about it is how he’s been able to just completely disappear,” Prosecutor Chris Becker told Target 8. “Usually we have something, and the police are very good at tracking (suspects) down, especially in homicide cases… especially in double homicide cases. People have social media, they have phones, they have things that you can connect, that you can trace. But even when Brown was here, he didn’t have a job. As far as we know, he didn’t have friends. So there were no phones, no social media.”
Then, tragedy struck 553 Sheldon again. On June 10, 2020, the family held a vigil for Cherletta and Keyona. On June 11, 2020, the 911 call came in at 9:02 am.
"The first arriving crew found a heavy volume of fire on the front of the house. There was no one standing out front, yet there were cars in the driveway. So it’s a bad sign right from the start," Captain Paul Mason of the Grand Rapids Fire Department told Target 8.
Rescuers found 65-year-old Jacqueline Baber-Bey and her 5-year-old grandson in a second-floor bedroom in the back of the home.
“They tried to get out but were unable to and were sheltering in that bedroom,” Captain Mason told Target 8. “It affected us all. Had a big impact on us. It’s just so sad… The incredible loss on top of the previous tragedy. That’s just the great sorrow of this whole event, and our hearts just go out to the family. It’s just terrible.”
Investigators ruled the fire was unintentionally set by the candles left burning in honor of Cherletta and Keyona.
“The candles were in an enclosed front porch,” Captain Mason told Target 8. “The investigators conclude they were left burning, and that’s what caused the fire.”
There is currently a $25,000 reward for the arrest of Derrell Demon Brown. He is considered armed and dangerous. He uses the aliases JJ Robinson, Michael Richardson, and Marcus Wright. Derrell is 5'8" and weighs 180 pounds.
“Derrell Brown has lived in Grand Rapids his entire life, but he has relatives in Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, and Ohio,” said Bruce Nordin, Acting U.S. Marshal of the Western District of Michigan, reports the US Marshals website. “With ties spanning this far and wide across the country, we are broadening our search and asking the public to remain vigilant. He looks very unassuming and could literally be standing behind you in a grocery checkout line.”
If you have any information, please contact the US Marshalls at 1-877-926-8332 or 1-800-336-0102 or Troy Snyder, Senior Inspector Western District of Michigan, at 616-732-4842 or U.S. Marshals Office of Public Affairs at 703-740-1699.
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