Preliminary DNA evidence indicates human remains found behind an abandoned middle school are those of missing Philadelphia woman Kada Scott, law enforcement sources said late Sunday.
Philadelphia police on Saturday said they had “recovered human remains believed to be” those of the 23-year-old who vanished two weeks ago, but were awaiting a medical examiner’s confirmation of the person’s identity, Philadelphia Police Department deputy commissioner John Stanford told reporters at a press conference. He said they had been in contact with her family.
Investigators acting on a “very specific” anonymous tip had returned to a previously searched area and found the remains buried in a shallow grave in woods behind an abandoned school in the city’s Germantown neighborhood, Stanford said. They appeared to belong to a female who had been dead for several days.
A memorial has grown up in front of the school, with neighbors leaving flowers and praying.
Testing linked the DNA to Scott’s parents, law enforcement sources told WPVI-TV on Sunday. Surveillance video investigators obtained from a nearby recreation center appeared to pertain to the case as well, WPVI reported. During the first search last week, police had found only a phone case and Scott’s debit card.
Also entered into evidence is a video going viral on TikTok that appears to be King peering into a window and trying to break in, police said.
Scott was last seen leaving her workplace on Oct. 4. Investigators have asked for the public’s help. Police arrested Keon King, 21, last Monday and charged him with kidnapping, reckless endangerment and stalking, among other charges. He was being held on $2.5 million bond.
Philadelphia PD
Keon King, 21, was arrested Monday in connection with the disappearance of Kada Scott. (Philadelphia PD)
King is the last person Scott was known to have communicated with, according to investigators. She had told family members that someone was harassing her by phone, investigators said previously, according to USA Today — but did not say whether that was King.
King had been charged earlier this year with strangulation and kidnapping for throwing a woman he knew into his car in front of her home, strangling and assaulting her, and eventually letting her go, Assistant District Attorney Ashley Toczylowski said last week. However the case had been dismissed because the witness was a no-show in court, Toczylowski said.
Prosecutors tried for nearly $1 million in bail, but a judge reduced it to $200,000, and King was able to post 10% of that, District Attorney Larry Krasner said. Krasner suspected the witness had been spooked knowing King was roaming free. That case has been reopened.
With News Wire Services
