GUILTY GA - Jmaal Keyes, 19, MGSC student, Cochran, 25 April 2013

[Backwoods]

The material at the link below provides a bit more information about the cabin fire and includes video of the site:

Investigation into the Cabin Fire Debris, Jmaal Keyes Murder Continues

...The Georgia Forestry Commission responded to a call on the road around 6 p.m. on April 25, the same day Jmaal Keyes went missing. Wendy Burnett, the Georgia Forestry Commission's public relations officer, said that officers responded to a call in relation to a forest fire and when they arrived, a cabin in the woods was burning. ...

more at: http://www.41nbc.com/news/local-new...abin-fire-debris-jmaal-keyes-murder-continues


The report above was from Monday; here is the link to today's follow-up from the same station:

Human Remains Found in Case of Missing Student

http://www.41nbc.com/news/local-news/23338-human-remains-found-in-case-of-missing-student

 

[Backwoods]

Charges in college slaying moved to Pulaski County

By JOE KOVAC JR. — jkovac@macon.com
For days following the April 25 disappearance of a Middle Georgia State College freshman, the search for him centered on the school’s Cochran campus and the Bleckley County countryside.
​

But now it appears 19-year-old Jmaal Malik Keyes may well have been elsewhere all along, slain on the other side of the Ocmulgee River in neighboring Pulaski County.

Investigators have stopped short of saying the human remains found Friday at a fire site not far from Cabero Road just outside Hawkinsville belong to Keyes.

But a 17-year-old suspect in the case, originally charged in Bleckley, now faces a murder charge in Pulaski, a source familiar with the investigation told The Telegraph Wednesday afternoon. ...

...Authorities have not divulged whether Rolison (the suspect) and Keyes knew one another. Nor have investigators said what led them to suspect Rolison. ...

​

read more at: http://www.macon.com/2013/05/15/2480301/charges-in-college-slaying-moved.html#storylink=cpy

 

[mikkismom]

Austell Church to Remember Teen

http://southcobb.patch.com/articles/austell-church-to-remember-teen

 

[Backwoods]

Austell Church to Remember Teen

http://southcobb.patch.com/articles/austell-church-to-remember-teen

From your link, mikkismom:

Austell Church to Remember Teen

Destiny World Church will hold a memorial at 11 a.m. Saturday for Jmaal Malik Keyes ...

..."We are asking everyone to wear green to represent his favorite color," officials wrote on the church's Facebook page. ...

...Keyes, a graduate of Hiram High School in Paulding County, has been a member of Destiny World Church for the past decade. Monday, the church asked everyone to honor Keyes through random acts of kindness.

"Be intentional about being kind," officials wrote on the church's website. "Share them with us over the next 14 days."

more at: http://southcobb.patch.com/articles/austell-church-to-remember-teen

Remembering Jmaal...prayers for those who love him

 

[mikkismom]

DNA Tests Confirm Human Remains Found in Burned Cabin to be Missing MGSC Student

http://www.41nbc.com/news/local-new...nd-in-burned-cabin-to-be-missing-mgsc-student

 

[a.allison]

So terribly sad. How can someone do something so horrible to another human being.

RIP Jmaal.

 

[Backwoods]

Rest in peace, Jmaal.

I so wish you had had the chance to accomplish your dreams for your life.

 

[petra]

Heartbreaking

May you rest in eternal peace, Jmall
And fly with the angles!

Love the request to honor Jmall by performing random acts of kindness.

I will do this in memory of your life.
You will not be forgotten and forever missed.

 

[katydid23]

Wonder what the motive could have been? Jmall's girlfriend said she had even called the suspect to ask if he knew where he was. So they must have been friends. Why would he kill Jmaal? :rose: RIP young man. :rose:

 

[Backwoods]

Wonder what the motive could have been? Jmall's girlfriend said she had even called the suspect to ask if he knew where he was. So they must have been friends. Why would he kill Jmaal? :rose: RIP young man. :rose:

Nothing that has been released officially yet really gives a clue about a motive. Such a sad mystery, at this point. Seems both of these young men could have had such bright futures -- it's so sad all the way around.

A friend of the suspect's family talks about the suspect at the link below (with video) -- he seems truly stunned.

I think you're right -- Jmaal's girlfriend got contact info for the suspect (before he was arrested) from somewhere or maybe even knew of him through Jmaal -- Jmaal and he had some connection, knew each other. But LE has not released anything about exactly how, really.

I am really wondering if the suspect has confessed to -- something.

Since the cabin where the remains were found burned the day Jmaal went missing (it has been reported), whatever happened must have happened quickly.

DNA Results Confirm Remains Are Missing MGSC Student

http://www.13wmaz.com/news/article/233012/175/DNA-Results-Confirm-Remains-Are-Missing-MGSC-Student

 

[Backwoods]

Much more here about the hometown reaction about the suspect in this case -- and we also learn his lawyer's name:

Hometown of accused ‘in shock and disbelief’ after murder of college student

...“Everybody’s devastated by this whole thing,” Rolison’s lawyer, Jeff Grube, said. “We’re hoping to get to the bottom of it. ... This is not like ‘Matlock,’ where the show’s settled in 60 minutes.” ...

...In town, where the city is known for its proud harness-racing heritage and historic opera house, a store owner on Houston Street described Rolison as an acquaintance.

“A good kid, honestly, and I know that sounds weird to say,” said the store owner, who didn’t want her name printed. “But I have met Kane off and on for the last six months and it blew me away. I didn’t see that one coming.”

He “seemed really smart,” she added.

She has heard that someone Rolison knew may have tipped off police about his alleged involvement in Keyes’ disappearance.

“But around here,” she said late last week, “word is not truth. So you don’t know what to believe and what not to believe.”

read more at: http://www.macon.com/2013/05/18/2484200/hometown-of-accused-in-shock-and.html

 

[Backwoods]

I'm a little puzzled that there has been no new coverage about this case, after area media really played it up at the start.

I never even was able to find any coverage of the memorial service that was to be held for Jmaal, beyond the announcements that it had been scheduled. I'm hoping this is because the family and friends wanted privacy, which they certainly were entitled to request, IMO, if those were their wishes -- and not because the media just decided to "drop it".

I'm thinking that maybe the murder charge being moved from one county to another may have slowed down the legal process a bit...?

 

[Backwoods]

Still puzzled that media coverage about this case seems to have dried up completely.

Someone has posted something on YouTube for Jmaal, though:

Bla$e- R.I.P Jmaal Keyes - YouTube

 

[Backwoods]

Pulaski teen indicted in college student’s death

A Pulaski County grand jury indicted a 17-year-old student on a murder charge Monday in connection with the April slaying of a Middle Georgia State College schoolmate. ...​

read more at: http://www.macon.com/2013/06/24/2530993/pulaski-teen-indicted-in-cochran.html


​

Hawkinsville teen formally indicted with murder of MGSC student

...Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Todd Lowery says ... Rolison and Keyes did know each other but declined to comment further on the relationship, saying he's still gathering evidence.

more at: http://www.newscentralga.com/news/l...ed-with-murder-of-MGSC-student-212846881.html

 

[MsFacetious]

I'm impressed with how quickly this was handled.
The DNA results even came back quickly! I was very surprised.

 

[Backwoods]

Wow, this case went as QUIET as QUIET could be in the media for months and months ... and now:

[h=1]Guilty plea expected in slaying of Middle Georgia State College freshman
[/h]The teenager accused of killing Middle Georgia State College freshman J'maal Keyes last year is expected to plead guilty to murder Monday in Pulaski County Superior Court, sources familiar with the case have told The Telegraph. ...

...Keyes, a New York City native, moved with his family to the Atlanta area about a decade ago. His mother last week told The Telegraph that he planned to major in criminal justice.

"I pray for justice," Veronica Keyes, 48, said. "It would be nice if I got the absolute truth." ...

more at: http://www.macon.com/2014/11/17/3427956_guilty-plea-expected-in-slaying.html?sp=/99/100/&rh=1

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.41nbc.com/story/d/story/...es-pleads-guilty/40985/jJvmZ6yot0io8Tv3T3jXKA

Robert Rolison plead guilty to a Pulaski County judge for the 2013 murder of 19-year-old classmate Jmaal Keyes.

Chief Judge H. Fredrick Mullis heard two counts, one for malice murder and one for concealing the death of another. The concealing death count was dismissed and Judge Mullis sentenced Rolison to life in prison with parole after thirty years for malice murder.

 

[Backwoods]

More coverage:

[h=1]Killer in stabbing, burning of college student: ‘I was confused and lost’[/h]HAWKINSVILLE -- Lured to the woods and stabbed in the spine with a pocketknife, J’maal Keyes prayed as he bled to death for God to have mercy on -- of all people -- his killer.


That is the story Robert Kane Rolison told of Keyes’ April 2013 fatal knifing and disappearance from Middle Georgia State College, where Keyes, 19, was a freshman....

more at: http://www.macon.com/2014/11/17/3428451_killer-pleads-guilty-in-disappearance.html?sp=/99/100/&rh=1

[h=1][/h]

[h=1]Rolison's statement about the killing[/h]

http://www.macon.com/2014/11/17/3428557/rolisons-statement-about-the-killing.html#wgt=rcntnews

[h=1]Rolison admits burning, dismembering Jmaal Keyes[/h]...The two met because they both smoke cigarettes and hung out together outside buildings on the Middle Georgia State College campus where they were both were students.

Rolison took Keyes to Hawkinsville to show him marijuana plants he had growing in the woods, Vaughn said.
Rolison was also taking drugs, including LSD, and came to believe that human beings were computers/robots controlled by someone else. ...

more and video at: http://www.13wmaz.com/story/news/local/2014/11/17/rolison-guilty-plea-keyes-murder/19167393/


So very sad, all the way around. Prayers for Jmaal's family and all who love him, and for the family and community of the young man who did this thing, as well. The perp said Jmaal prayed for him before he died...

 

[Backwoods]

Just wanted to note that the article at the first of my links in my post just above has been updated with a new title and with a good deal of additional information.

http://www.macon.com/2014/11/17/3428451_killer-pleads-guilty-in-disappearance.html?sp=/99/100/&rh=1


There is a lot more about Jmaal and the kind of person he was and about his mother's loss and grief. Heartbreaking.

Also, his killer's apology, spoken in the courtroom:

...Before his sentence was handed down, the broad-shouldered Rolison spoke.


“I just wanted to say to everybody that I can’t take back my actions, and I’m sorry for everything I did for taking the life of a person who was better than I’ll ever be able to be, and better than anybody that I’ve ever known,” he said.


“And I’m sorry for all the pain and suffering that I caused. ... Just know that I feel that every day too.” ...

 

[ontheclock]

Jmaal's mother looks so heartbroken. I really feel for her.

She did a good job. She raised a good son. A son willing to beg mercy for his killer.