3 now charged in horrific slaying over video games
Police: Relatives of initial suspect helped cover up
The mother and half-brother of the man charged in a horrific torture and slaying of a 15-year-old boy over a video game system were charged with aiding in the crime and its attempted cover-up.
Malik M. Terrell, 21, was charged Tuesday with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of Dennis King, who was the subject of a missing person report and a search until his burned body was discovered.
Wednesday, prosecutors charged Terrell’s mother, Salena P. Terrell, 42, and his half-brother, Meakhi Autry-Terrell, 17, with harboring or aiding a felon, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
According to the criminal complaint: King had last been heard from on May 11. On May 19, police came to the Terrell home as part of the investigation into King’s disappearance. Salena Terrell told them her 14-year-old son, identified only as “AT,” had told her on May 9 that someone robbed him of his game system at gunpoint.
On the 11th, she said, she arrived home from work and found the house freshly cleaned. She said AT told her he had been bored and decided to clean the house.
But the next morning, AT woke his mother and told her that he and Malik Terrell had lured King to the house because they believed he had something to do with the robbery.
AT told his mother Malik was hiding behind the shower curtain and beat King in the head with a hammer. Then they took King down the alley to an abandoned house. She confronted Malik, who admitted the attack.
Instead of calling the police, Salina Terrell arranged for Malik to take a bus to Chicago on May 14 to stay with his father.
When investigators questioned her on the weekend, she revealed what she knew and suggested they look at the abandoned house. On Sunday, police found King’s burned body in the basement at 3331 N. 11th St.
Autry-Terrell told police he, his brother AT and their 13-year-old sister were all home on May 11 when Malik came home with King, and that Malik and AT beat King trying to get him to confess being involved in robbing AT. They also wanted to know where they could find someone named “Jermaine,” who AT thought had held him up.
Malik told AT to lock him out of the house, and Malik then broke in to re-enter. He then called police to report that “Jermaine” and an accomplice had broken into the home, robbed them of a video game system at gunpoint, and that Malik was able to grab the accomplice.
When police didn’t respond, AutryTerrell began cleaning up because he didn’t want his sister to see all the blood. He said she had put on headphones so she wouldn’t have to hear King screaming and begging for help as he was beaten.
He said Terrell ordered him to get some lighter fluid. Autry-Terrell went to a nearby convenience store but couldn’t buy any. He then found some in the basement, brought it upstairs and saw Malik stabbing King repeatedly in the neck.
Around 4 p.m., Autry-Terrell and his sister left the house and didn’t return until 10 p.m. By then the house was completely cleaned and smelled of disinfectant. AT told Autry-Terrell that he and Malik had taken King’s body to the abandoned house in a garbage cart, and that Malik set it on fire.