15-Year-Old Found Burned, Stabbed, Beaten: Police

MILWAUKEE, WI — A 21-year-old Milwaukee man has been arrested after police say he is the person responsible for the gruesome murder of 15-year-old Dennis King.

According to authorities, Malik M. Terrell, 21, Milwaukee, has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide as a party to a crime. A warrant for his arrest was issued on the morning of May 22.

Police say Terrell was the person responsible for attacking King with a hammer, stabbing him, transporting his body using a garbage cart, and burning his body inside a vacant home.

"Today I received news that my 15-year-old son was found dead near 12th and Keefe in Milwaukee Wisconsin. My son had been missing for a week and I had a feeling something wasn't right when he didn't come home or to his grandma's house," Dombanee Lincoln, King's mother said. "This is the worst news I could ever hear about my young son who had plans on being an artist and a basketball player. His life was taken do to a senseless act of violence. My heart is broken and words can't explain how I feel right now."

King went missing on May 11, and family reported him missing on May 17.

According to a Journal Sentinel report Tuesday, Lincon knew he had friends in the 3300 block of North 12th Street. She went looking for King, and was told, "my older son did it."

When police questioned Terrell's half-brother, he told police his version of the story. Terrell was arrested Monday in Chicago.

According to the criminal complaint, Terrell and an accomplice attacked King on May 11 in an attempt to get King to confess to being part of a video game robbery. The complaint stated that Terrell attacked King with a hammer at that time.

The complaint stated that Terrell had his accomplice lock King out of the house in an effort to make it look like a home invasion occurred at the house. Terrell then called 911 and told authorities that King and an accomplice of his own had broken into the house and robbed them of their game system at gunpoint.

The complaint continues, saying that Terrell ordered his accomplice to find some lighter fluid. When he returned, he told police that he witnessed Terrell stabbing King in the back.

According to the police investigation, Terrell moved King's body from the house to a nearby abandoned house using a garbage cart. Terrell and the accomplice burned his body inside the vacant house, the complaint stated.

During the course of their missing person investigation, police reportedly forced their way into a vacant boarded-up house on the 3300 block of N. 12th St. on May 20. According to the criminal complaint, police found the burnt remains of King in the basement.

"I've received information from the police chief pertaining to this death. The information I can release right now is that it was a totally senseless act that resulted in his death and there will be more information that comes out, but it's one that you just have to shake your head and say this should never have happened. Never should have happened," Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said in a prepared statement.

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