Keimani Latigue was 13 years old. She lived in Toledo, Ohio, with her grandmother, who was her legal guardian. On March 18, 2025, she did not show up to school. Her family reported her missing that same day, telling police that her disappearance was completely out of character.
Six days later, investigators found her body inside a vacant, burned-out house on Miami Street in Toledo. The Lucas County Coroner’s Office ruled her death a homicide.
Her alleged killer, according to authorities, was her own father.
Who Was Keimani Latigue?
Keimani was a 13-year-old girl from Toledo, a seventh-grader who was raised by her grandmother. Beyond the facts of her disappearance and death, which are the only things most people know about her, she was a child with a family who loved her, a community that searched for her, and a life that should have extended far beyond thirteen years.
Her grandmother told police that Keimani’s failure to appear at school was alarming precisely because it was so unlike her. She did not just disappear, she was the kind of child people noticed was missing.
The Investigation and Discovery
When Keimani was reported missing on March 18, 2025, investigators began looking into her father, Darnell Jones also known as Darnell Jerome Ogletree. Police said he gave inconsistent statements about his whereabouts and his contact with Keimani before she disappeared. By March 23, investigators had gathered enough to obtain an abduction warrant for him.
The following day, March 24, officers found Keimani’s body inside a burned-out vacant property on Miami Street. The location of an abandoned structure used to conceal what had happened made the discovery all the more devastating for the community that had spent days searching for her.
A murder warrant was immediately issued for Jones.
The Arrest of Darnell Jones
Police located Jones in Columbus, Ohio, after the murder warrant was issued. When officers attempted to arrest him, he produced a firearm. An officer shot him during the confrontation. Jones survived, was hospitalized, and was subsequently taken into custody.
He later appeared in court, where, according to court reporting, he admitted to killing his daughter.
The Charges
A Lucas County grand jury indicted Jones on a sweeping set of felony charges that reflect both the nature of what the investigation revealed and the seriousness with which prosecutors approached the case. The charges include aggravated murder, rape, kidnapping, child endangerment, tampering with evidence, aggravated burglary, and gross abuse of a corpse.
The Lucas County Coroner’s Office confirmed that Keimani died from multiple incised wounds to the neck, and classified her manner of death as homicide. Beyond those confirmed findings, Toledo police have cautioned against treating unverified details which circulated widely on social media and in some media reports as established fact, noting that unconfirmed information could interfere with ongoing proceedings.
The criminal case against Jones remains active. No conviction has yet been entered.
A Community’s Response
In the days between Keimani’s disappearance and the discovery of her body, Toledo came together in the way communities do when a child is missing. Volunteers joined search efforts. Vigils were held. People who had never met her shared her name and her face, hoping someone had seen her.
When she was found and when the nature of what had happened to her became clear that grief turned into calls for justice and for a broader conversation about how children at risk are identified, protected, and responded to by the systems meant to keep them safe.
Conclusion
Keimani Latigue was thirteen years old. She went to school, lived with her grandmother, and disappeared on a Tuesday in March. Her father is charged with her murder. A trial will determine what the law does next.
What the law cannot determine what no courtroom can address is the particular loss of a child who had not yet had the chance to become whoever she was going to be.
Her community remembers her. Her name deserves to be said.
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