Milwaukee landlord killed his tenant and a mother who witnessed the crime, prosecutors say
How does Wisconsin’s criminal court process work?
How does Wisconsin’s criminal court process work?
Prosecutors say a Milwaukee man fatally shot his tenant earlier this month, then murdered a woman who witnessed the killing.
Kevin Duane Griffin, 54, faces charges of first-degree intentional homicide by use of a dangerous weapon, first-degree reckless homicide by use of a dangerous weapon and possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.
Court Commissioner Maria S. Dorsey set Griffin’s bond at $500,000 during his initial court appearance on Nov. 16, online court records show. He is scheduled to be back in court on Nov. 26 for a preliminary hearing.
It was not immediately clear if Griffin has an attorney.
Prosecutors say in a Nov. 15 criminal complaint Griffin admitted to first shooting a man he was trying to evict from a home on the 4000 block of North 12th Street on Nov 4. Family identified that man as Terrance Wilder, 39.
Griffin told investigators he also fatally shot killed A’nya Raymond, 31, then dumped her body in an alley.
Raymond’s child, who prosecutors believe may have witnessed his mother’s slaying, was left by the gunman to roam the streets on his own. Authorities later found the boy, abandoned and wearing blood-stained clothing.
“I just got the worst news any parent could get. That my grandson was found wondering the streets with no shoes on, and that my daughter was found shot dead and left in alley,” Misty Raymond, A’nya Raymond’s mother, wrote in a Nov. 6 post on GoFundMe.com. “My heart and head (are) so heavy with grief.”
Here’s what prosecutors say happened to Terrance Wilder and A’nya Raymond
It was Nov. 4 when prosecutors say in the complaint Griffin was trying to evict Wilder from a home near 12th Street and Capitol Drive. Griffin confronted Wilder about leaving a set of backdoors open.
Griffin told investigators in an interview that Wilder was involved in a drug deal in the unit upstairs and that Griffin reacted.
“So just, I mean I should have thought rationally but I just went off in anger man and just lost it,” Griffin said during the interview, according to the complaint.
Wilder’s body was found face-up on a bed with a gunshot wound to the chest.
Raymond and her son were present when Griffin and Wilder argued.
According to the complaint, Griffin forced Raymond and the child into his car, and he drove away with them. While they were driving around, Raymond pulled mace and a knife from her purse to fight back, the document says.
Griffin told investigators he hit Raymond, before later “I shot her too,” then disposed of her body in an alley near 41st Street and Hampton Avenue, according to the complaint.
Raymond was shot eight times, with the boy witnessing his mother’s killing, authorities say.
Griffin took the child to his house, put the child in Raymond’s vehicle and drove the child to another location and told the child to wait there for his mother to come get him, the complaint states.
The child was found on Nov. 5 alone wandering near Ninth Street and Concordia Avenue, shoeless and with blood on his shirt. He was reunited with family the same day.
Griffin told police he ditched his firearm near a set of train tracks near a school.
County property records show Griffin as the owner of the home where Griffin confronted Wilder.
The nature of Wilder and Raymond’s relationship was not spelled out in the complaint.
As of Nov. 17, $1,920 had been raised on A’nya Raymond’s GoFundMe page.
Chris Ramirez covers courts for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He can be reached at caramirez@gannett.com.
