A Chattanooga man confessed to murdering a woman whose family says he abused her in the past, and then disposed of her body, according to police.
Police arrested the suspect, 29-year-old Demarcus Keontae Napier, on Tuesday.
The victim, Brooke Killings, was last seen leaving the Diamond Billiards club on Hixson Pike with Napier late Saturday night, according to a police affidavit our newsroom obtained, saying the couple then went to a residence on the 300 block of Crestway Drive, and were caught on surveillance video leaving the pool hall.
A witness told police that they went to the Crestway Drive home, where Napier told them he had murdered Killings.
Detectives obtained Killings’ phone, which shows it tracking her from the billiards club to Crestway Drive a little before midnight. Then, a little after 1 a.m., the phone travelled on I-24 west, before losing track of Killings’ location near I-24 and Rossville Boulevard.
Killings’ employer said she didn’t show up for work on Saturday, which was unusual. Family members told officers they hadn’t heard from her, either, despite their repeated calls, which they said was ‘extremely abnormal.’
Those family members also told investigators that Napier “had abused the victim in the past by hitting her and putting his hands around her neck.”
Later that night, police executed a search warrant on the Crestway Drive address, and found Napier there.
The affidavit also says detectives saw evidence of blood throughout the home.
A high-tech tool called Bluestar Forensic Blood Agent picked up miniscule traces of blood also revealed a lot more. The report says
I observed in between the vehicles was blood on the ground which led to the porch area near the door… I also observed the porch to have carpet tiles which had a large area of saturated blood which it appeared someone had attempted to clean up the blood. I also located a single spent 9mm shell casing on the west side of the driveway near where the suspects’ vehicle was parked.
Inside the home, investigators found Killings’ personal belongings in Napier’s bedroom, along with a small shoulder bag with “significant blood transfer” on the outside, along with magazines for a 9mm pistol.
The blood detection tool also revealed blood inside the vehicle, “which makes me believe the victim had been transported in the suspect’s vehicle.”
What’s more, the investigator says he saw a shovel and a tarp in the back seat.
Neighbors nearby told those investigators they heard gunfire just after midnight. The affidavit concludes,
The suspect from this incident confessed to killing the victim from this incident, and it appears he has attempted to cover the crime by cleaning the crime scene and disposing of the victim’s body.
The report does not say whether Killings’ body has been located, so we followed up with Chattanooga Police to learn more.
CPD tells us their Homicide Unit was able to obtain a search warrant of the residence and they found an apparent crime scene.
CPD says they found blood in several locations throughout the crime scene.
The Crime Scene Unit used BlueStar Forensic Blood Reagent to check for blood evidence at the crime scene and they found several areas that indicated the presence of blood.
During the processing of the crime scene, CPD says it was determined the victim suffered a non-survivable wound and the suspect used his vehicle to move the victim from the crime scene to an unknown location.
On Tuesday, the Homicide Unit obtained arrest warrants charging 29-year-old Demarcus Napier with criminal homicide.
He was arrested and transported to Hamilton County Jail and Detention Center.
On Wednesday, CPD says the Homicide Unit was able to locate Killings’s remains just off Interstate 75 in Catoosa County, Georgia.
