A dark secret lay hidden in a Kalamazoo, Michigan, home’s shed, wrapped in an “odd shape” and left to the elements for an extended period of time. When a new homeowner purchased the property in the city’s Northside neighborhood in 2023, they expected to start renovations; instead, they unearthed a nightmare.
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A home on North Rose Street, between Paterson and Frank Streets, had been recently purchased by a buyer in August 2023, News Channel 3 reported. They were in the process of renovating the home, according to a probable cause document. Instead of making repairs, the homeowner stumbled upon the decomposed remains of two people “wrapped up” next to one another in the back of the shed.
The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety confirmed the victims as Tarra Dametria Mayes, 46, and Alfred Oneal Simpson, 67, local news channel Fox 17 reported at the time. Evidence at the scene suggested both decomposing victims, who family members said were a couple, had been dead for at least a year before they were discovered.
Mayes’s daughter said in a Facebook tribute in August 2025 that she had been missing for a year-and-a-half before her remains were found. Their deaths were investigated as homicides, but the case eventually grew cold—until now.
Nearly three years later, a witness came forward. They claimed the couple’s 44-year-old housemate Rajai Keyontae Brown allegedly admitted to taking a knife from Mayes during an argument and stabbing her with it, News Channel 3 reported.
When Simpson reportedly attempted to intervene, Brown allegedly stabbed him as well, according to court records, which also claimed Brown’s phone was in the same location as the victims the following day.
Phone records were used to track down Brown and he was arrested on Wednesday. He was arraigned on two counts of open murder and his bond was denied, the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety said last week. Court documents alleged he also confessed to the murders, according to News Channel 3.
“There’s nothing and I mean nothing— no reason, no explanation that this man can give— to make it OK for what he did because it’s never going to be OK. He took a mother of two away from her kids,” Mayes’s daughter Aileena Hollin told WOOD TV.
Simpson’s son, Courtney Simpson, told the outlet how his family has been waiting for justice and is hopeful Brown’s charges are the first step to that.
Brown’s preliminary examination is scheduled for March 4.
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