Crystal Guillen (L) and Simon Guillen (C) and Johnathan Pyle (R) appear in mugshots.
Key’mydre Palmer Anderson was just 16 years old when he was shot to death and thrown out of a moving car in North Texas in late January. Now, four people have been arrested and charged in connection with his murder which, police say, was an attempted robbery gone wrong.
Johnathan Pyle, 19, Simon Guillen, 18, his mother, Crystal Guillen, 34, and a 15-year-old minor boy whose name is not being released all stand accused of capital murder over the Jan. 22, 2022 killing.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by Dallas-based Fox affiliate KDFW, Pyle and Guillen were tracked down via data from multiple Instagram and TikTok accounts that allegedly showed they conspired to rob Anderson. Authorities have not said how the elder Guillen or the unnamed 15-year-old are directly connected.
“That’s not a parent,” Anderson’s grandmother Tonya Palmer told the TV station. “A parent wouldn’t do things like that. That’s called a madman, not a mother. Going around doing criminal activity with your child. You’re supposed to be a role model to your kids, your son.”
Specifically, investigators believe “this tragic incident occurred as a result of a failed robbery attempt involving the sale/exchange of a firearm,” according to a Mesquite Police Department press release.
The investigation began on the night Anderson died. Initially police arrived on the scene of the crime for what they believed to be a motor vehicle accident. A witness, however, quickly put an end to that as they reported seeing Anderson fall from a moving car–blocks away from his home. Officers then realized he’d also been shot in the chest.
“Unfortunately, in this day and age, nothing surprises me anymore,” MPD Captain Stephen Biggs told KDFW. “Our victim had been in communication with one or more of the suspects in regards to purchasing a firearm. When they agreed to meet up, the suspects attempted a robbery of the individual, and our victim was shot during the course of that robbery.”
Police say he was ultimately killed over $250.
On the day of his death, Anderson had completed a shift at Sonic where he worked to support his mother and four younger siblings. After the job, he went with his grandmother to help her buy groceries. Somwtime between 6:30 and 6:45 p.m., Anderson got into a black Honda Civic with someone his mother said he knew.
Less than an hour later, Anderson was dead.
“I don’t know why my grandson was buying a weapon,” his grandmother continued in comments to KDFW. “He wasn’t in danger or any kind or harm or anything like that. Not that we know of.”
Witnessed dialed 911 at 7:05 p.m. to say they saw a man hanging out of a car window before he fell onto the street. At the time of his death, Anderson was only wearing a t-shirt and underwear. A couple passing by the gruesome scene covered the teenager in their jackets and coats and began to pray as they waited for paramedics to arrive.
The circumstances of Anderson’s death have led to questions.
“Like did they strip my son or where are his clothes?” the victim’s mother, Shenika Palmer, told KDFW in a tearful interview last month. “When he walked out he had on a shirt and blue jeans.”
The sad details of her son’s final moments are now a cruel memory.
“They said his whole body was skin, like he was dragged,” the grieving mother told Dallas-based ABC affiliate WFAA. “The witness says he was dangling. My baby was holding on. He didn’t want to go.”
The family is reportedly relieved the suspects are behind bars but said that formal justice won’t bring the slain child back.
“Now, I only have memories, and pictures and video,” she said.
[images via Mesquite Police Department]
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