Background: Keyvonte Deshawn Clark appears in court in June (WJBK). Inset: Jessica Bedford (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System).
A Michigan man charged with the murder of a missing mom allegedly asked friends to help him move her body, according to witness testimony.
Keyvonte Deshawn Clark, 31, made an appearance in Wayne County court on Tuesday. During the hearing, witnesses recounted statements he allegedly made in the days following the disappearance of 34-year-old Jessica Bedford in 2020. As reported by local NBC affiliate WDIV, one witness, described as a longstanding friend of Clark, claimed that Clark had knocked on his door one night in 2020, admitting, “I messed up” and “I shot her.”
The witness reportedly testified that at first he did not believe Clark. He said that later, he met up with Clark and a mutual friend who mentioned needing help in the basement at Clark”s home. He further stated that he heard the mutual friend say something about moving a body.
According to WDIV, the witness was asked by the prosecution if he saw anything once he was in Clark’s basement; he answered that he did not. The prosecutor then reportedly reminded the witness that in a previous interview with police, he stated that he had seen plastic in the basement. The witness denied seeing plastic on the stand on Tuesday.
The witness reportedly told the court that he berated Clark for getting him involved with his alleged attempt to move a dead body, to which Clark had responded, “My bad.”
When questioned by the defense, the witness reportedly admitted that he was at Clark’s house for drugs and that he had been “a little” high during the encounters he described.
Tuesday’s witness was not the only person to testify that they heard Clark discuss moving a dead body. During a June 5 preliminary exam in court, Clark’s ex-girlfriend — whose identity was hidden due to threats she had received — told prosecutors that she heard Clark say to a friend, “[t]hat he was about to kill Jessica.”
The woman explained that at the time, she believed she was pregnant with Clark’s child. She then described an incident where she was allegedly sexually assaulted by an unnamed friend while she was at Clark’s home with Bedford also present.
After the alleged assault, Clark reportedly blamed Bedford for allowing it to happen. She told the court that when she told Clark about the alleged assault over the phone, “I can hear him yelling, saying ‘You let him come in here and rape my baby mama.'” The woman said that she heard Bedford, who was with Clark, sound “confused” and say, “What are you talking about?”
The woman then told the court that she heard gunshots, and Clark allegedly said, “he just killed Jessica over and over. After I heard the gunshots on the phone, I heard [Clark’s friend] say ‘Die b—.'” She never heard from Bedford again.
She also testified that she saw Clark and his friend burning a couch from Clark’s living room and heard them talk about moving her body to the basement. While on the stand, she stated that she heard the men say they planned to burn Bedford’s body.
The woman told the court that she was afraid of Clark, which kept her from coming forward with information.
Bedford was reported missing on May 30, 2020. Her mother said Bedford called her on Mother’s Day that year, and she never heard from her daughter again. Her body was never found.
Clark is charged with first-degree murder, mutilation of a dead body, and two felony weapons charges. His next court date has not yet been scheduled.
