Left inset: Kennan Peoples (Pemiscot County Jail). Right inset: Donald Peoples Jr. (Dunklin County Jail). Background: Kaniah Jenkins (KFVS/Missouri State Highway Patrol).
In a chilling incident in Missouri, two men stand accused of kidnapping an 18-year-old girl, subjecting her to unspeakable acts before taking her life, as detailed in recently released court documents. Allegedly, the pair, along with a third accomplice, orchestrated the brutal crime that unfolded earlier this month.
Text messages obtained by investigators reveal a sinister plan. On November 3, suspect Kennan Peoples reportedly sent a message to his alleged accomplice, Donald Peoples Jr., ominously stating, “Playing with a woman tonight.” This message referred to Kaniah Jennings, the young woman who was forcibly taken that evening by both Kennan and another suspect, Blake Patrick, as outlined in a probable cause statement.
The following day, November 4, Jennings was officially reported missing from Pemiscot County. Her last confirmed sighting was in Hayti the previous night, as highlighted in a police press release.
Authorities allege that Kennan Peoples and Patrick abducted Jennings from her Portageville home, subsequently holding her captive at the residence Kennan shared with Donald Peoples. During questioning, Patrick reportedly disclosed to police the harrowing events that transpired there.
According to court documents, Patrick recounted that both he and Kennan Peoples engaged in non-consensual acts with Jennings. Shockingly, he described how Kennan forced socks into Jennings’ mouth during the ordeal. Following the assault, Jennings was reportedly bound and had a blanket placed over her head.
Amidst these deplorable acts, Kennan Peoples allegedly kept communicating with Donald Peoples through text messages, cautioning, “Hey take your sweet time getting home,” as noted in the probable cause statement. This communication paints a stark picture of the disturbing events that night.
After allegedly telling him about “playing with a woman,” cops say Donald Peoples texted, “Lord How [sic] mercy lol well thats the purpose of having your own end of the house. Do your thang, where did the lil white boy go, did you let him stay.”
Kennan Peoples and Patrick allegedly left the residence to go get gas in a Nissan Frontier with Jennings in the backseat, still tied up with a blanket over her head. He pumped $20 worth of gas that Patrick sent to himself using Jennings”s Cash App account from her cellphone, according to the probable cause statement.
After getting gas, the two men allegedly drove back to Jennings’s home in Portageville to place her cellphone “on the ground near her residence,” police say. They then drove back to the home that Kennan Peoples shared with Donald Peoples and found him sitting on the couch as they walked in with Jennings “still having her hands bound and a blanket over her head,” according to cops.
“Patrick describes Kennan as taking Jennings to a bedroom and raping her,” the probable cause statement alleges. “During this time, Patrick states that Jennings was still alive, but in ‘bad shape.’ Patrick states that he became very scared and left the residence, stealing the Frontier and going straight to Arkansas.”
Cops say Jennings died sometime between the evening of Nov. 3 and morning of Nov. 4, with Donald and Kennan Peoples remaining at the residence “the duration of the night with Jennings still at the residence, believed to be deceased,” according to the probable cause statement. The two men eventually moved Jennings’s body to an area in “rural Pemiscot County,” a police press release says, where it was found on Friday.
Authorities followed up on numerous leads and obtained surveillance video linking Kennan Peoples, Donald Peoples and Patrick to Jennings’s disappearance. The trio was taken into custody over the weekend and charged with multiple crimes.
Kennan Peoples is facing charges of first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree rape and tampering with evidence; Donald Peoples is charged with first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence; Patrick is charged with first-degree accessory to murder, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree rape.
All three men are due in court on Monday for their arraignments.
