Here’s how I think this might have gone down. Kenzie gets in late, she’s depressed, exhausted. She knows she has exams coming up shortly, and she feels she may need a little something to get her through all she’s dealing with. So she texts a friend (who may be a photographer), and asks if he can help her out. He has an acquaintance (that he may have completed a photo shoot for), who dabbles in the goodies from time to time...after all, he is an entrepreneur. She agrees, even though she feels like hell and is dressed, well, like a 23 year-old dresses when they take a flight. He calls the POI, tells him he needs him to do a solid for him – he has a good looking friend who’s looking for something to take the edge off. The POI says sure, but she’s not coming to his house, he’ll meet her at the park. Kenzie takes a Lyft to the park to meet the POI. She gets in with the POI and the first thing the POI tells her is she’s got to hand over the phone. He didn’t bring the goods with him, they’re at his house. It would be a big risk for a black man to be riding around with illegal substances at 3 a.m. Besides, he’s on his way up, going places as it were, he’s an author, owns his own Airb&b, etc, etc… just can’t take the risk, so the phone needs to be turned off. That way, if she gets caught with the goods later on, the men in blue can’t use it to track back to his house. She thinks this guy must really be all that and a bag of chips, so she agrees to disable the phone. He gets her in his house, offers her a drink and maybe an illicit substance. He thinks his photographer friend is right, she is a good looking girl, and he tries to make a pass. She rejects him (for any number of reasons), and he snaps. He tells himself he really didn’t mean to do her harm, but he has a lot of pent up rage inside, and he just can’t deal with these chicks turning him down like that. The police end up talking with the guy she texted with, and he admits to turning her on to his friend, the POI. That’s why the friend was considered as “cooperating” and wasn’t charged. It’s difficult to say what actions the POI took after that, but I have a feeling we will soon find out. JMHO
That seems a likely scenario, explains a lot, but I just don't see a young woman agreeing to meet someone she's never met before in a dark parking lot at 3:00 am. Also, in your scenario, she wouldn't have known he wanted her to come to his house until she got in the car, right? So, why would she leave the Lyft and grab her bags? She would tell the Lyft driver, "hey, I need to pick up some books from my friend; can you wait for me?" And then wave him off when the POI told her they'd have to go to his house. That never happened.