Smyrna police charged an 18-year-old with malice murder after finding dismembered human remains in his car trunk, a crime a 25-year veteran called particularly gruesome.
Fox News reported that Kingston Lammar Bradley, 18, was charged Friday in Smyrna, Georgia, after officers said they discovered trash bags filled with dismembered human remains in the trunk of his car.
He also faces charges for concealing the death of a person. A judge denied bond. The next hearing is set for October.
Witnesses at Bradley’s apartment complex saw him walking with a container. When he realized he had been spotted, he dropped it and ran inside, Smyrna Police Lt. Meredith Holt said at a Friday news conference.
Witnesses found human remains in the container and called police.
Officers later returned with a search warrant for Bradley’s car. A department news release said they found a garbage bag pulled tightly, “showing the outline of a body part.”
The Cobb County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed the bags held human remains.
Smyrna Police Chief Keith Zgonc identified the victim as Shanteria “KT” Mosley. Her family had reported her missing.
Holt said Mosley worked for DoorDash. The company told police she had not been working on the day she went missing. DoorDash told People Magazine her account was last active Tuesday.
Holt said police had already responded to the home after Mosley’s family reported that her car and phone were at the location. Officers did not execute a search warrant at that earlier visit.
Police still do not know what connection, if any, Bradley had to Mosley, Holt said. Officers are still searching for additional human remains.
Holt also said police had been called to Bradley’s apartment multiple times in the past for domestic disputes. Nothing in those calls, she said, indicated he was capable of a murder.
"This is a shocking crime. I don’t know how else to describe it. I’ve been in law enforcement for 25 years, and I have been a part of multiple homicide cases. And I’ve worked crimes against children for 16 years, and this is a particularly gruesome crime,"
Holt said. She added: “I cannot imagine what the family is going through.”
Bradley appeared in Cobb County Magistrate Court on Thursday. The judge denied bond. Malice murder is Georgia’s charge for an intentional killing. His next court date is scheduled for October.
When dismembered remains turn up in a car trunk after earlier warnings went unchecked, families deserve answers and a system that treats every missing-person lead with urgency from the first call.
