HAYTI, MO – Law enforcement in southeastern Missouri have charged three men in connection with the abduction, sexual assault and killing of an 18-year-old woman, whose body was found in a rural area days after she was reported missing.
Investigators say Kaniah Jennings was last seen on the evening of Nov. 3 in Hayti before being forcibly taken from her home in Portageville. Law enforcement officials told family members she was reported missing the following day after she failed to return home.
According to court documents, Kennan Peoples and Blake Patrick allegedly went to Jennings’ Portageville residence that night, picked her up, and then brought her to a house shared by Kennan Peoples and Donald Peoples Jr. The documents allege that once Jennings arrived at the home, the suspects restrained her, stuffed socks into her mouth, and held her captive.
Testimony from Patrick reportedly indicates that both he and Kennan Peoples had non-consensual sex with Jennings at the residence. During this assault, court records state, Jennings was bound, and a blanket was placed over her head.
While these events were unfolding, Kennan Peoples is alleged to have exchanged texts with his co-resident, Donald Peoples Jr., referring to “playing with a woman” and advising him to “take your sweet time getting home.” Text messages documented in the investigation capture casual conversations about the victim and the ongoing crime, according to detectives.
The probable cause statement outlines how Kennan Peoples and Patrick later left the house, taking Jennings with them in a pickup truck, her hands still tied and a blanket still covering her head. Security footage and phone records indicate that they stopped to buy gas with money transferred from Jennings’s phone using a cash payment app.
Police believe the men then returned to Jennings’s Portageville home to discard her cellphone, attempting to sever electronic evidence of her whereabouts, before going back to the residence where the attack had taken place. Upon their return, Donald Peoples Jr. was present as they brought the restrained teenager back inside.
Patrick told authorities that Kennan Peoples then forced Jennings into a bedroom and assaulted her again. At this point, Patrick claims Jennings was visibly injured, and he became frightened, fleeing the scene in the pickup truck and crossing into Arkansas, according to the affidavit.
Investigators say Jennings died sometime between the night of Nov. 3 and the morning of Nov. 4. The probable cause report suggests that Kennan Peoples and Donald Peoples Jr. stayed in the home with Jennings’s body for several hours before ultimately moving her remains to a remote part of Pemiscot County, where she was found days later.
Following the discovery of Jennings’s body and an intense search involving multiple agencies, officers identified evidence that tied all three suspects to Jennings’s disappearance and death. The suspects were apprehended over the weekend and face a range of charges.
Kennan Peoples has been charged with first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree rape, and tampering with evidence. Donald Peoples Jr. faces charges including first-degree murder and evidence tampering. Patrick is charged with first-degree accessory to murder, first-degree kidnapping, and first-degree rape.
All three defendants are being held without bond and are scheduled to appear in court for their initial hearings on Monday. The investigation remains ongoing as officials work to compile additional evidence.