Marijuana theft led to kidnapping of Lancaster girl; six arrested

A 13-year-old girl found dead over the weekend was kidnapped and held for ransom over the theft of marijuana, according to an affidavit.

Shortly after Shavon Randle was taken from a relative’s home on Wednesday, a suspect called and advised a relative, “Give us our s--- back or we are going to kill her,” the arrest warrant affidavit stated.

The search for Shavon ended over the weekend when her body was found inside an abandoned East Oak Cliff home in Dallas late Saturday night.

Suspect Desmond Jones led authorities late Saturday to the Dallas residence in the 2200 block of Kiest Avenue. Jones began to shake and became visibly upset as they approached the residence, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

When asked by police what they were going to find in the home, Jones replied, “R.I.P. to her and Mike T (Michael Titus).”

According to the FBI, Shavon and an adult male were found dead inside the home. Lancaster police confirmed Sunday that the male was Michael Titus, 19, one of the four original persons of interest in Shavon’s disappearance.

After Friday’s FBI plea for information related to Shavon’s whereabouts, 24-year-old suspect Devontae Owens was arrested by the Lancaster Police Department and the FBI on Saturday. Owens is being held on aggravated kidnapping charges in the Dallas County Jail.

The two-page affidavit on Owens gave this brief account of the case:

On the evening of June 26, a 22-year-old man identified as Kendall Perkins stole more than 22 pounds of marijuana from a group of men at Motel 6, 1750 N. Interstate 35, in Lancaster. Two of the men were identified as Darius Fields, 26 and Owens.

Perkins fled to a residence in the 1300 block of Southridge Drive in Lancaster, where he told his girlfriend about the robbery. The girlfriend, Ledoris Randle, was one of Shavon’s cousins.

The group of men who had the drugs began to track down Perkins. A co-worker of Ledoris Randle told police she received a call from Owens, who told her that someone named “KP” had robbed him at Motel 6 and he needed information about him.

Shavon was kidnapped on Wednesday morning. Ledoris Randle received a telephone call from a private number about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday from a suspect who told her that they had the girl.

Ledoris stated the suspect warned her that if she called the police they would kill Shavon.

Later, Ledoris confided to a co-worker about the kidnapping. The arrest affidavit says the co-worker told Ledoris that one of the men who had the narcotics stolen was Fields and that “Fields has a history with kidnapping people.”

An anonymous informant told the FBI that a man she knew advised “he was going to kidnap a child to get his narcotics back,” according to the affidavit. The man was identified as Owens.

Lancaster police obtained a cell phone number for Owens. A call detail analysis showed that Owens’ phone and Shavon’s phone were both in the area of the home in Lancaster on Wednesday.

The phones were together at the same time and “traveled in the same direction away from the victim’s residence until the victim’s cellphone was turned off,” according to the arrest affidavit.

Another suspect, 30-year-old Laquon Wilkerson, was also arrested by the FBI and the Lancaster Police Department in connection with the case on Saturday. Wilkerson was transported to the Dallas County Jail on Sunday. He is charged with aggravated kidnapping and remained in custody Monday.

Wilkerson, Fields and Owens are accused of kidnapping Shavon Randle, according to the affidavits.

Jones was arrested Sunday and faces a charge of fail to report a death, a Class A misdemeanor. He remained in custody Monday.

Authorities also have arrested suspects in the June 26 Motel 6 holdup in Lancaster.

Officials located and arrested 25-year-old LaPorschya Polley, one of the four persons of interest named in connection with the case on Friday. She’s accused of possessing the 22 pounds of marijuana at the motel.

Perkins was arrested Saturday, accused of robbing the men at the Motel 6 on June 26 and taking the marijuana.

In an interview with WFAA-TV, Titus’ mother said she does not believe her son would have been involved in Shavon’s kidnapping. She asked that her name not be used because she fears for her family’s safety.

She said that on Thursday, her son’s girlfriend sent her text messages that he wrote on Monday night. In them, he wrote that someone was coming to a house to buy marijuana. He was running late, so he told his female cousin to open the door for the customer.

“[My female cousin] open the door and he rob her and took her gun,” the text said.

He wrote that now his cousin believed that he had something to do with the robbery.

“So if these [n-word] kill me, … screenshot this and show the police,” the text said.

Titus’ mother told WFAA-TV she immediately contacted the police and gave them the text messages. On Friday, detectives were at a relative’s house interviewing her and other family members.

“I’m not saying my child is perfect by far, but what I do know [is] that he would not be responsible for no kidnapping of another child,” she said. “I’m worried not only for this baby, but for my child.”

Titus’ mother says she doesn’t know Polley. She said Owens is the father of her two nephews. Her son, she says, knows Fields through Owens.

“He knows them as almost like family,” she said.

This story was originally published July 3, 2017 at 8:45 AM with the headline "Marijuana theft led to kidnapping of Lancaster girl; six arrested."