DAYTON — A 37-year-old Dayton man pleaded guilty to a federal charge Wednesday for his role in the kidnapping and death of Kwasi Casey, whose remains were found in a burned out garage in September 2019.
Antoine Dye pleaded to a charge of conspiring to kidnapping resulting in death, federal prosecutors said.
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“Casey was taken to one of the defendant’s homes, where he was held against his will and beaten with a baseball bat. Another defendant made ransom demands of the victim’s family,” the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Dye is one of five people prosecutors said co-conspired to kidnap and abduct Casey at gunpoint in July 2019. Others facing charges include: Eric Blackshear, 42; Markale Thomas, 28; Devon Love, 29; and Ryan Reese, 27.
Casey’s body was hidden in a garage on Fountain Avenue and on Sept. 17, 2019, prosecutors said the suspects set the garage on fire to destroy evidence and Casey’s body.
Dayton police were called out to the garage that month after a man who said he was contracted to clean up the site reported finding a bone after fire investigators had already left the scene.
“I was cleaning out this garage and there’s a bone that looks like it belongs to a body. We don’t know if we want to keep messing with it or not,” the caller told 911 dispatchers. “It’s a big bone.”
Police also recovered “homicide evidence” that included a bloody carpet, latex glove and casing from a bullet from the fire scene, according to a police report.
Casey’s remains were not identified until Oct.13, 2019. Days before the remains were identified, News Center 7 spoke with his family who was concerned about what happened to him after they hadn’t heard from Casey for months.
“It’s been three months,” Casey’s sister Latoya Rutledge told News Center 7′s Mike Campbell. “That’s a lot of time.”
A sentencing date for Dye was not immediately available.