Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - MISS USA HOPEFUL KADA SCOTT MURDERED, SUSPECT ORDERED HELD FOR TRIAL

Episode Date: June 14, 2026

Keon King, the suspect accused of the October kidnapping and murder Kada Scott, will stand trial.  He has pleaded not guilty to  murder, kidnapping, and abuse of a corpse. A pre-trial hearing has been scheduled for June 24. Kada Scott's remains were found in a wooded area behind an abandoned school in East Germantown.   She was last seen shortly after arriving for a shift at an assisted living facility in Chestnut Hill.  Police began searching the area, near the vacant Ada H. Lewis Middle School for Scott after receiving a "very specific" anonymous tip. Police previously searched the area of the school and arboretum in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia but reported only finding some physical evidence, without commenting on what evidence was uncovered. Community members voice anger and frustration at police while gathering behind the crime scene tape during the search on Saturday, saying they could have found the body sooner. Keon King had a criminal record prior to his alleged involvement in Scott’s kidnapping. Investigators say King kidnapped and assaulted another victim earlier in the year.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A Miss USA hopeful, Kada Scott, murdered. Tonight, a suspect ordered, held for trial. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us. That's right, the prime suspect in the murder of a Miss USA

hopeful, is now ordered hell for trial after a highly emotional hearing in a Philadelphia courtroom. The suspect, Keon King, charged in the murder of 23-year-old, Philly woman, absolutely gorgeous, ordered hell for trial. Before we get to the hearing, what happened to beautiful, beautiful on the inside and the outside Kada Scott. Close Circuit TV reveals the beauty queen Kada suspect stalking his first victim

that is his first victim that we know of as you know the Penn State grad slash beauty queen has gone missing from her workplace where she worked at a Ritsey Living Assisted home. You're going to hear a lot tonight. The car has been found in the last hours that gold

Toyota Camry driven by suspect Keon King has been found and the search leaves us to an abandoned middle school, the Ada Lewis Middle School, joining us live tonight. An investigative reporter on the story from the beginning, CBS's Joe Holden. I'm Nancy Grace. This is crime stories. And I want to thank you for being with us. Where is Kada? You know, she had the overnight shift. She just clocked in and then suddenly leaves.

She had never done anything like that before. Where is Kada? Guys, so much happening in the search for Kada Scott, the Miss USA Hopeful, who represented her area. Not only is she beauty, she's brains. Could she think her way out of this kidnapping? According to L.E. Law Enforcement, they say they believe she could still be alive. And that is why tonight's broadcast is so important.

Let me give you the tip line right now. It's 215-6-86-T-I-PS. 215-6-8-6-847. Look at her. Look at her. Is she still alive? Can we bring her home to her parents? Her dad now putting up a $10,000 reward in connection to evidence leading to her whereabouts. First of all, I hardly know where to start. Creepish surveillance video emerges of him stalking, we think, his first victim. could have been his fifth victim for all I know. But first, I want to tell you about the car. This has been the focus of the search of LE law enforcement since she went missing. Let's take a look at the recovery of the car. As you know, guys, this is for our friends at 6 ABC Philly. In this, it looks a little silver. It's not. It's actually gold with heavily tinted windows. An anonymous tip leads police to this.

It's a treasure trove of evidence. If law enforcement believing that Kada was in this car, God forbid we find blood, I do not want to find blood. I'm happy to find fingerprints. I'm happy to find any other belongings of hers. I don't want to find her torn clothes or blood in that car. I want to quickly go to what we are learning about, not only the car, but physical. evidence. Guys, in addition to physical evidence, that is mounting, we have obtained CCTV, closed circuit TV. It looks like a ring camera of the defendant. We told you about a prior

attack where he strangled another woman, another woman who we've been told looks very similar to CADA. That's what we call in the law a similar And it can be admitted before a jury after a motion in limine, a hearing outside the jury presence, if the judge rules your way. Because while he wouldn't be being tried for that, it can show motive, course of conduct, frame of mind. Now, how would you like to see this at your back door window? Take a look. Go away, borgh. Don't come over here.

Mm-hmm. Kahn, I caught a... Mm-hmm. All these kids here, call the cops. He'll know here. That is from at S4 LCC on TikTok. Just so you know, he did not go away. Kian King, and that's him,

goes to every door and every window of that female victim's home. I want to look at it on mute. Okay, here is. He jumped over the fence to get to her. He ain't coming to the front door with candy and roses. He's jumping the fence. And look, I don't want to see that out my window first thing in the morning. He's going door to door.

And what breaks my heart is you hear the, look at that. There's children, there's toys. She has children in there. And she's saying, call the cops, call the cops, call the cops. She knows to be afraid. When my husband has been locked out and I go to let him in, I don't run from the door. I don't scream, call the cops, because I'm not afraid.

This woman is afraid. Don't come over here, Cameron, call the cops. She is telling, I think, the children to call 911. Because she knows what this guy will do. And that tells me, and I'm sure veteran defense attorney Derek Smith joining us, is going to disagree. But that tells me this is not the first time. Why is she so afraid? Why is she afraid?

Derek Smith, I'm going to circle back to you. Guys, that is from at S4LCC on TikTok. And I'm going to give you a few moments to gather your thoughts. Because first, I'm going to go to Joe Holden. Joe Holden, Chief investigative reporter and anchor CBS News, Philly. Thank you for waiting, Joe, because I know you're dying to get back out into the field right now. Did you see the video? There's something so off about that video.

In fact, we tracked down that house just yesterday on the show. streets in North Philadelphia. What is that stance? What is that body language? What is happening? His eyes come up to that window and my colleagues in our newsroom are actually quite terrifying. We know a lot about his alleged prior bad acts at this point. He assaulted the same victim in this incident here. We believe this to be January. He assaulted the same woman in November we were able to uncover traces of charges. Now, those charges are hidden from a view on our docket system, something about clean slate business.

But this happens in November. What? Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Joe Holden, what did you just say about a clean slate? So we can't get at the charges that were leveled against this guy, Keon King, back in December of 2024, as well as an incident that happened in January of 2025. The case brought in April of 2025 gets this withdrawn, dismissed, however you want to phrase it, in May of 2025.

Guess why we can see these records now, Nancy, because the district attorney's office has refiled the charges in light of the ongoing kidnapping prosecution now and search for Kate of Scott. So it's like the toothpaste is getting squeezed back into the tube at this point, if that's even the wrong way to describe their actions. And the clean slate law has prohibited our ability to see some of the charges. But because- Okay, that is so wrong. That is so wrong. Why should a guy who has been stalking these young women hiding behind the clean slate policy, You guys, that video from at S4 LCC on TikTok. And another thing, the woman, one of the women that he assaulted in the past has issued a comment on social media saying, I hope they put you basically under the jail after all you've done, after all the pain, the hurt you've caused.

I'm going to pull it up for you in just a moment. But that tells me, while don't show me Derek Smith yet. while Derek Smith is not going to like it, there are a lot of similar transactions. That's certainly putting perfume on the pig back there. There are other women out there that are rejoicing. He is behind bars for kidnapping Keda. Why? Because he has got a history of violating, tormenting, stalking, torturing,

scaring, scaring women. I want to look at that video. Oh, yeah. Okay, not him. I want to look at that video because I want to know. What can it prove? What is the probative value? One, a six-foot fence is not going to stop him.

He jumped right over like Spider-Man, and here he comes, looking. You know, that's a good way to get shot right there. But he's not afraid. He knows who's inside a woman and little children. So, hey, go ahead and terrorize her. He's not worried. And you see, the camera all jump-a-dy, because, she's running to Winda to Wenda saying go away, go away, and he's not leaving. I mean,

if somebody told me when I went to their front door, go away, I would be gone. They'd see nothing but tail hole and elbows. I'm out, but nothing is stopping him. Not a fence, not a locked door, not a closed window. If Cato Scott was in that car, what would he do to her? This from at S4LCC on TikTok. Guys, I'm going to circle back to what this video means, but I want to quickly go. You know what? Let's keep running it to see what else we can learn. Did she actually go to that window and lock it?

Joining me right now is a longtime colleague and, dare I say friend, Cheryl McCollum. She is a forensic expert. She is the director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Foundation. and she is the star of a hit podcast series, which I have often put on loop and listen to her, Zone 7. Cheryl McCollum, I will very quickly remind you of the first time I say that we met. It was when we were so happy that we could give domestic violence victims their own cell phone. I didn't even have a cell phone.

And they were about that big. They were huge. They were like a shoe bomb. and we were giving them out. The mayor at that time made a cameo appearance, and we were giving them out in municipal court to domestic violence victims. That's when nobody even knew what domestic violence even was. That said, did you see this video?

The reason I brought that story up is you and I have been fighting domestic violence for so long. This woman is locked in her home with her children, and she's screaming to the children, call the police, call the police, Because she knows a window and a door are not going to stop him. A fence sure didn't. What about him, McCollum? You already said it beautifully. This is a pattern.

He is not deterred when he is spotted. He's not deterred when he sees children. He's not deterred when he knows the police are on the way. This is so frightening. There is zero chance that there's not more victims. With four nights at residents in downtown Montreal, flights from Porter Airlines, two weekend gold tickets, and $1,000 of cash.

Please love it. Lord, Zara Larson, Tema Gray, Sombor, 21 pilots, and more. Download IHard Radio. Listen to IHeart new music for 10 minutes and enter to win. Osiaga, 2026. Every day you listen is another chance to win. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace After an extensive search that hit the headlines

covered repeatedly by crime stories in the search for Kata and then for her killer, Kada's body was found. It was found two weeks after she went missing in a shallow grave behind the vacant Ada Lewis Middle School. That's in Philly's German town. This is what happened. It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved daughter, Katie Scott. Our hearts are shattered. Today, we'll say her name.

Tomorrow, we'll say her name. And forever, we will say her name. Human remains found behind that abandoned middle school, the Ada Lewis Scott Middle School. Listen to what we've learned. Based on a tip that came in last night through the night, investigators began the process of following up on that tip. And the tip was very specific that led us back to this location here today. We received a tip to go to the Aida Lewis Middle School.

Investigators went, did a thorough search. Essentially what the new tip was this weekend was go back. It was go back, she's there, look again, and they did give more specific details in terms of where to look. And ultimately that is what led us to her. Wow, that's some tip that from our friends at ABC6 joining me right now in All-Star panel. But first, I want to go to the chief investigative reporter and anchor at CBS News Philadelphia, who has been investigating this case right along with the police from the very beginning.

Joe Holden. Joe, that was some tip that actually called into police anonymously, told them where to to look and then when they didn't find anything the first time, call back and said, go back. What were they watching the police or were they watching the news to know there had been no announcement? That's bizarre. Check all those boxes because we know that from police and prosecutors, this was a persistent

tipster. They first called 911 last week to say you better look at that middle school property. And then police come, they go. they have nothing. And so let me, let me stop that right there. They do find a cell phone case. They find a bank card and they find an iPad case and possibly some other personal evidence. Yet they didn't find Kata.

So that tipster thing, emails, I'm told from sources. Emails go back. You have to look again. You have to look more specifically in this location. and we learned that yesterday from prosecutors. So that happens. They go back. They find her in a shallow grade.

Wow, Joe Holden Fitzgibb is going to have a field day with tracking down that email. But let me go back to Joe Holden an email like that can't be traced. I'm dying to find out who called 911 and who was watching so carefully that they knew police left without finding the huge. Human remains. Listen. That tip today led us back to this area behind the school where it's a wooded area. I don't know if any of you have been back there, but it's a wooded area that goes beyond the school. Investigators return to Ada Lewis Middle School on a very specific anonymous tip to look in a heavily wooded area separating the old closed school from a recreation center.

Investigators clear an area of brush and debris uncovering freshly disturbed earth. under a board. Digging with their bare hands, officers are hit with a strange smell and find maggots crawling through the dirt. The area is a shallow grave holding the decomposing remains. Well, that's certainly putting it mildly a strange smell, because I'm telling you, once you go to a murder scene and you smell a decomposing body, a human body, you'll never forget it, even the smell alone. I've actually seen a real. rookie cops start vomiting from the smell alone. That video you saw us from our friends at ABC, and there's more.

We begin to go back into that area where we would locate a shallow grave after being able to remove some of the debris back there, able to locate the body of a human being. It has been confirmed that these are the human remains of Cato Scott, and that has been confirmed by DNA. To Joe Holden joining us, Chief Investigative Reporter and Anchor CBS News Philly, that video from our friends at ABC6. Joe Holden, there's just so much to dissect. And this is what you have to do when you are investigating in case or preparing for trial.

You have to take each line. I'm sure you do this in your investigative work. And you have to analyze each and every fact. instance, that the tipster not only call 911, but obviously carefully watching the scene says, oh, my stars, they didn't find her. And emails back, who is this person, number one. But Joe Holden, can you imagine the chaos at the scene when the police are overcome and they start clawing at the dirt with their bare hands? So they had to excavate the entire area that they eventually determined to be the final resting place, if you will, or, you know, temporary resting place for the beautiful Kada Scott there.

Nancy, I will provide a timeline here that we learned. We nailed down yesterday. She is reported missing October 4th, 20-some minutes into her shift. And then 20 minutes later, police sources believe that is when she dies. So that is October 4th. That is days before a news conference announcing that they're asking the public for help. And of course, that is now this huge friend. What did you say 20 minutes later?

What? Repeat? 20 minutes after they say she leaves work is when they believe she dies. She is alive for only 20 minutes after she left the place that she works at in Chestnut Hill in the city of Philadelphia. Put him up. Holden. I don't understand. I hear you, but I don't understand what you're saying.

She was dead within 20 minutes after taking her away from the assisted living where she worked. The police are telling us, 20 minutes. They're very guarded on details of how they know that. We couldn't even nail down if they have surveillance video of her getting into this car, which becomes a whole other side of this story where we thought there was one car. Now there's a second car involved, and it's a 2008 black horse. Hyundai accent. So Keon King, the suspect in this, is now utilizing two different vehicles, and it's believed he shows up to the terrace of Chestnut Hill there where Kada Scott worked the

Saturday night of October 4th. They know each other somehow, but are not giving us much detail as to how well or how long she gets into his car and they're telling us now, according to multiple law enforcement sources that she is alive for about a 20 minute time frame, and then she dies. The psychopathy behind that, I'm very anxious to determine why. Just 20 minutes in, she is murdered. And actually, Joe Holden, let me quickly go to Brian Fitzgibbons joining us. He's the Director of Operations, USPA, nationwide security. he leads a team of investigators that go around the world, finding missing people, and getting evidence. You and I analyze the case of Madeline Soto, SOTO, and video surveillance played an integral role in catching the killer. I'm wondering if this case with Cato Scott will line up with what was done in the Maddie Soto case,

where the perp had the victim in a vehicle and was videoed with Maddie dead in the car. She just turned 13 and he had propped her up in a seat, the passenger seat with a seat belt on, and she was dead. And then tried to tell police that Maddie, little Maddie 13, was actually asleep, that she dozed off on the way to school. It's possible, Fitzgibbon's. It's possible that there is video of him with Kada in the car dead. Very possible. And we're learning more information now with the introduction of this 2008 Hyundai sedan

that King was driving and that authorities believe that Keda Scott, that was connected to Cato Scott's murder. So there will be more video surveillance on that video. Authorities have already pinned down King's location. Keon King, the prime suspect, looked very different from the way he did in his mugshot. He had a haircut, no longer sporting his dreads. He was wearing a cardigan and a button-down shirt. The judge allowed handcuffs to be removed as he sat in court.

Kato Scott's poor family. filled part of the courtroom in a show of support. During the hearing, a former co-worker of Cades testified on the night she disappeared. She got a phone call when she arrived for her overnight shift. That was around 10 p.m. According to the coworker, she said something like, I can't believe you're calling me. She had tears in her eyes and she appeared scared, frightened, said the coworker.

Now, this is what just went down in the courtroom. during this hearing. Prosecutors then, in the last days, revealed evidence pointing to Keon King as the person who made that phone call. They also revealed King and Scott had been texting in a way that suggested King wanted to meet up that evening. The coworker also testified they saw an SUV later disappearing from the parking lot. Lawyers trying to connect that vehicle to Keon King. We also learned in court, investigators testified about Keon King's cell phone records, showing he was in the vicinity of Kada's job as well as a school where her body was found.

How likely is that? Investigators also showed surveillance video of two people at a recreation center near the school. They claim King parked a stolen car there, with Scott's body inside for over 30 hours. What more do we know about the night Kada disappeared? To Joe Holden, joining us Chief Investigative Reporter and anchor CBS News, Philly on the case from the very beginning. And I don't call it a story, Joe, because this is no story. This is real.

And her family devastated. I can go back on what or coulda, shoulda, this guy should have already been in jail. The prosecutors dropped the ball. they did not follow up on a previous case, almost exactly like this one when the victim was too afraid. She was an FTA, failure to appear. I'll get to that later. But I want to go back to the police officers clawing at the dirt with their bare hands. They can smell human decop.

Can you imagine that scene? They all jump down on the ground and start clawing because they don't, I guess, have a shovel with them. And suddenly they see. maggots. It's a horrible scene. It's a terrible situation. And I know just from interacting with my sources in the Philadelphia Police Department, it was a traumatic situation for many of them.

Many of them went off the grid, Nancy, frankly, Saturday night, Sunday, Sunday afternoon. We couldn't reach many of the folks that we deal with regularly due to the gravity of what they discovered. And to Brian Fitzgivins information about video and your question about. Do we have video? Yeah, prosecutors are saying they have video from a nearby rec center. If you see a shot of the school building, the rec center sits directly to the right from your vantage point. So there is video, according to prosecutors of Keon King in this Hyundai accent, arriving to the middle school and taking Kada Scott, apparently, onto the property.

and then she is located in the back of the property. So this would be to the right of that picture you're looking for is where police have video evidence. They also tell us they have evidence showing cellular activity of Keon King's phone in the area at the significant times of their investigation. To Ryan Fitzgibbon, many people have asked since the search for Kato, is started. How do you recognize a shallow grave? Wouldn't you agree that you see disturbed earth where everything looks the same, be it grass or leaves, you know, that have been there forever, that have been wet, that have been dried, that have been rained on again, and suddenly you see a disturbed area. I have always looked for a disturbed area before using, for instance, ground penetrating,

If you've seen a ground penetrating device where you can see, it kind of looks like an ultrasound, and you see where underneath the soil, the dirt has been displayed, but you don't need a ground penetrator. You can see with the naked eye where the soil looks different from everywhere else. Yeah, absolutely. There's ground penetrating radar, there's LIDAR, there's various technologies that can be used. But to the naked eye, I think what made this search complicated is that around the abandoned building, there's probably a high amount of debris, a higher amount of boards scattered around. And in this case, the reports coming in is that that disturbed earth was covered up by a large piece of wood. Guys, you were seeing video of L.E. law enforcement on the scene.

and they're discovering Cato's remains. And as Joe Holden just told us, a lot of these first responders and police went off the grid and couldn't be reached. It was just too much. Dr. Thomas Coyne joining us, Chief Medical Examiner, District 2, Medical Examiner's Office State of Florida.

He is a forensic pathologist. He's a toxicologist. He's a neuropathologist and more. Dr. Coyne, I'm sure you are familiar with the area of investigation that is forensic entomology. And I bring that up because of the existence of maggots. Not blowflies, but maggots.

Why do I care? Because it ages the time of death. It helps me get a time of death. Explain. Sure. I mean, certainly from the field of the mental illness, We know that different species of insects arrive at a decomposing body or a dead body at varying time intervals. So you can collect the different insect species that are found and examine their larval stage.

So for instance, with regards the maggots, it is well known how long it takes a maggot to go from an egg to a certain size, a larval stage, then eventually to becoming a fly. And so if you are able to characterize what stage of development the maggot is at, you may have to have a large large, is at, you may have a good idea of how long that body was perhaps present in the ground. So it helps to give a time frame of death when you were able to examine the various insect species and larvae that may be present. And it also provides a good means, perhaps, of toxicology. You can even test those insects for drugs or poisons if you had no tissue left on the body to examine.

New York Control Room. If you could pull up the video of the prior attack caught on video. it's very hard for me to look at this beautiful girl, Dr. Coyne, and reconcile your discussion about maggots. Hold on, hold on. Look at this. How'd you like to look out your wind and see him peering in? In the video, you hear the victim screaming, call the police, call the police, everybody's running, everybody's moving. He's going from window to window to see how he can get in. This is one of his previous. victims. Now, I'm leading us up to a point. A six plus foot, there you go, superhero jumping down. He landed in the victim's backyard and strides forward. This is from at S4 LCC on TikTok. So you know what, Joe Holden? This guy, he's got a rap sheet as long as my arm. Here he is. This is

either second or third attack, very similar to the attack on Kada. She, Joe Holden, didn't stand a chance. She lasted 20 minutes in the car with this predator. 20 minutes, Joe. Yeah, and he's got that rap sheet. I guess we could call it a rap sheet or we could call it actually nothing, thin air, because those cases went away. The case from November when police say he burglarizes the home and then strangles an ex-girlfriend on a bed.

And that case goes before a judge or a magistrate. We're still sorting out which I believe it was a judge for preliminary hearings. And then witness and victims failed to appear. So the case is withdrawn by the district attorney's office. And then fast forward to January, where he. He is engaged in a similar criminal conduct accused of kidnapping and strangling the same ex-girlfriend. So now we have a case happening that's overlapping the first case, okay? And then charges are brought for the second one, not until April.

This is the afternoon that police alleged the second incident happened. This is in January here. And so charges are brought in April. There are two hearings on the matter, and the district attorney withdraws the charges. Just yesterday, they are admitting that they could have gone forward with the prosecution of this case without a witness to the crime. So right there, they're conceding that they made some mistakes. They should have done things differently. But Nancy, what this is done is this is triggered in all-out war of words between the DA's office and the court.

in Philadelphia, with the courts telling the district attorney's office that they should, they should be ashamed of themselves. They've been appallingly disrespectful in their descriptions of how their interaction in these criminal cases has played out. So we're still unraveling. Okay, brace yourself, Joe Holden. That is a load of crap. That video from at S4LCC TikTok.

because there's plenty of blame to go around here. Let me bring in Mark Tate, veteran trial lawyer, high-profile lawyer out of the Savannah jurisdiction with the Tate Law Group and beyond Tate. Take off your defense hat just one moment. This is complete BS. Let's break it down for people that have not been in the criminal justice system. Number one, the DA, not the judge, failed. They had a case where a woman was strangled on her bed and a subsequent case, and she was an FTA.

She has described her fear that he would get right back out and finish her off. That's why she was an FTA, failure to appear. So what? Failure to appear, that means nothing to me. That's why we have investigators. Go find her. That's not hard to say. Yeah, that's completely.

Go find her. No, it's not. Easy. But wait a minute, Tate. There's more. There's more. Okay. Because I want to hear your whole opinion.

That was the DA's fault. Thank you. Not the judges. But then the judges pile on because they get him, the DA asked for a million dollar bond. And they go, nah, and they give him a low bond. He has access to money, a lot of money, and he walks. So both of them are guilty. And I don't care how much they're like, oh, we screwed up.

Yeah, you did. Because Kate is dead. You can think about that tonight when you try to go to sleep. It's on you. That's the truth. There. Nancy, I really do want to stress a couple of things. And I represent judges and I represented us sitting elected district attorneys.

And so I am sympathetic with their position. However, here I think there is as exactly you described. I bet you are because they're paying you to be sympathetic. Yeah, yeah. No, what I'm saying is that I advocate for my client's interest, but I also take on judges when they make mistakes. It just got one recused from Savannah's probate court last week

because he should not be close to a bitch. And I take on judges when they make a mistake, and I take on district attorneys when they make a mistake. This is a horrific mistake. This is not an infomercial for the Tate Law Group. Can we focus on this case? What I'm saying is that judges and district attorneys should be held accountable when they make mistakes. This is a mistake that should terrify any victim of domestic violence.

And the fact that, oh, another victim just walked away, they know the tests show, the studies show that victims of domestic violence don't come to court. They frequently fail to prosecute their cases. It's in the district attorney's discretion, how they go forward. A really sophisticated approach to the case would have been. to try to put it all on with video evidence. That is not usually an easy thing to do. I would say with 2020 hindsight, it's something that could have been done.

And I own that. I mean, ultimately the buck stops here. It's not my job to throw other people under the bus. If there's a decision that is poor, and I believe that that was an incorrect decision, then we have to own it. And we have to try to do better. Pride Months, Toronto.

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In the last days, a judge orders a prime suspect in the murder of a Miss USA hopeful, Cata Scott, be detained for trial. In a highly emotional hearing, we learned a neighbor of Keon King's testified that she, the neighbor, ordered two Uber rides for Keyon. King, October 5, the day after Cato's murder. The defense tried to argue that Uber rides were not connected to him. Those Uber rides will be very important at trial. Investigators also showed highly graphic photos of Cada on the day she was found in a shallow grave near that vacant middle school.

They went into detail about tips they received, telling them to start. search the school. Even after they had already searched inside and didn't find anything, the tips kept coming. Then they got a tip that said go back, search again, and search outside the school. Photos were shown in

court of the shallow grave that held Cato Scott. It was so upsetting some of her family had to leave the courtroom crying and gasping as they saw these photos of Cata. Cato's phone her iPad and Apple Watch were never found.

But investigators also testified they used an old iPad to gain her Apple ID and trace her devices on the night she disappeared. Lawyers for Keon King argued prosecutors showed no evidence connecting him to the crime. What more do we know? Katie Scott's human remains were found two weeks after she went missing. There are new charges being brought. I guess Keon King, arson, causing the attack. Castrophe, conspiracy, authorized use of an automobile, receiving stolen property,

reckless endangerment of another person, tampering with evidence. Wait a minute. I heard additional charges. I didn't hear that very special word. Murder? Arson? Death by receiving? Who cares?

Cato Scott was murdered. According to Joe Holden joining us from CBS News Philly, within 12. minutes after she gets into the car of the alleged perpetrator. But tonight, a more disturbing question, is there someone out there that actually thought it was a good idea to help murder Kada Scott so there wouldn't be witnesses and or dispose of her body? Listen. At this point, we do have reason to believe that other people may have been involved after the fact. At the point where the Hyundai accent is on scene, on video at the rec center leading up to all of the events we're talking about, the other car, the Toyota is there as well. And we believe the people in these vehicles are working together.

Is that why Joe Holden, that law enforcement believes there is an accomplice. Maybe after the fact, maybe not. I don't know the extent of the accomplice's involvement. But there's two cars. He wasn't driving both of them. Or was he driving both of them at two different times? Who do the two cars belong to? Why are they saying, Bob Shell, there's an accomplice that thinks it's a good idea to bury a Miss USA hopeful behind an abandoned middle school?

So we don't know what kind of help he's getting. but you're ringing a bell that's going off in all of our minds is where is the homicide charge. We've not seen it. We've only heard that they are working on bringing that case. So instead of that case, we have now what is an arson charge. And there's also a conspiracy charge attached to it. So they're right in lies the who's the helper. Also, about this tipster that leads them back to this property on Saturday.

We don't even have a sense that investigators have an identity on the tipster. Lots of sources telling us this has to be someone in Keon King's tight-knit circle here, his group. Someone he knows, maybe a family member where we are scratching at the surface here. Hey, guys, this video is from Joe's station, CBS Philly. Joe, question, how soon after the $10,000, reward was announced, did someone give a tip? Pretty immediately. There was Wednesday of last week and the family was offering a tip. I believe it was slightly under 10,000 at that moment. So then the call comes into 911 to check the middle school property. And then by Saturday,

the reward was increasing. I believe it had reached maybe $12,000. And an email comes in to one of the, you know, Philadelphia Police Department's tip lines, you know, a tip server, I guess, saying go back, go back to the middle school. Oh, and you have to look here. Well, you know, apparently Mark Tate, veteran trial lawyer, defense attorney, there is no honor amongst thieves. Nope. I agree totally. If somebody's fat's in the fire, they're going to grab you and bring you with them. So sure, there's an accomplice that appears pretty obvious because we don't think that Keon King is going to turn himself in or give any tips to try to find this lady. Obviously, somebody, in my opinion, from my experience, assisted in disposing of this body,

and I'm afraid that they maybe felt guilty and want to try to get out of it in some fashion. Translation, they wanted that $10,000 reward? And they wanted the $10,000, you know. $10,000 can change something. some people's lives. And so I think that I know, somebody responded. The ghoul that helped bury her body, that police then dug out with their bare hands through the maggots called in because they were guilty.

And what a co-inkie-dink? A coincidence? And they wanted 10 grand. Let me explain that for you. That it was right after the reward was announced. Well, I agree with you. Like I said, you know, you've said. I'm not among thieves.

If somebody's in trouble, if somebody's in trouble and they think they can give you up and get themselves out of trouble or less trouble than what they otherwise would be, they're going to snitch. These are not honorable people. These are absolutely the lowest. These aren't like, you know, people who are going to protect each other out of any kind of loyalty. There's no loyalty. I got to say something. I'm going to say something. They're going to get it.

Appears. I'm not sorry this to Brian Fitzgibbans because you'll probably deny it. And then I'll ask Dr. Jerry Lynn utter about it. Ms. Gibbons. Yes. You've investigated a lot of cases. And I know this is going to sound crazy to a lot of people that have not been in our shoes.

Have you ever walked into a group of defendants? Like on the crime scene. And you can just feel rapidly. It's just a feeling. After all the years I investigated and prosecuted, it really only happened a couple of times where you walk in. And it's like the hair goes. up on the back of your neck. Again, I want to thank you for being with us.

You can sense it. What happened? You can sense a feeling of just evil. Talking about no honor among thieves. I mean, really, come on, Fitzgibbons, how hard is it going to be to trace the IP of the email, the internet provider, please. This is a very simple process for law enforcement to conduct. Number one, they get a subpoena to the ISP, and they get that full, email header and they unmask the location of where this email came from.

It would take a pretty nuanced person to hide that email from them. And I believe that they can do this pretty rapidly. To Dr. Jerry Lynn Utter joining us, A clinical psychologist specializing in evaluations and assessments for people in the criminal justice system. She's the author of mainlining Philly regarding drug addiction. And after shot, I mean, producer of utter nonsense, that's a documentary exploring addiction. And now I know why.

Dr. Geraldine Utter, thank you for being with us. Question. What ghoul thinks it's okay to put a beautiful young girl, brilliant, graduated Penn State, that's not easy, and bury her in a shallow grave behind an abandoned middle school. in the store parking lot. And just for good, measure covered up with the board. That's going to stop a cadaver dog. And walk away.

And feel okay with that. Whoever is involved, if there is an accomplice, like, like Joe Holden saying, in moving her body or burying her, this is somebody that has a similar, after her arrest, Rebecca Hotto says her husband would never hurt an infant and declared her own innocence. She lies not just for herself, but. to me because the group that Mr. King is is within and the circle of apologies that he works with have a similar another incident as he does. So, you know, they probably didn't really see Ms. Scott much as a human being.

This was somebody that they were burying in order to please Kian or to help Kian. So the psychopathy is similar in that you're dealing with folks that are sociopathic. And then went on to murder baby Emmanuel. What more do we expect? organization is Mr. King. The other alternative, Nancy, which you probably aren't going to want to hear, is that maybe the accomplice or person may have been under some type of coercive control, afraid of him, afraid of retaliation from him. That's also an option. But I feel as though it's more, you know, people that are floating in the same circle as he is and also have the same type of mindset as he does.

Our office approved charges, as the DA just said, of arson causing catastrophe, conspiracy, unauthorized use of an automobile, tampering with evidence, recklessly endangering another person, and receipt a stolen property. Those charges are in reference to the burning of a vehicle. That vehicle is a 2008 black Hyundai accent. Cater was deeply loved. Her light, kindness, and beautiful spirit will forever remain in our hearts. Our family. now seeks justice for Kata. Kada Scott mattered. Her life matters. A second car, does that indicate? Is that the proof of an accomplice some ghoul

that thought it was okay to throw the body of a Miss USA hopeful into a shallow grave or dig the grave and then just walk away? I'm not thinking another thing about it. Okay. You're hearing about arson charges. Where's that coming from? Listen. There was a 911 call that a vehicle was on fire.

So police didn't respond to it. The fire department responded to it, ruled as an arson. And at that point when they were finished with their investigation, the car was, it was demolished. It was burned, so it was taken and towed and compacted. From our friends at CBS Philly and speaking off, straight out to Joe Holden, tell me about the car of fire. It seems disconnected, but it is very connected. Man, probably don't get any evidence from it, but it's comprehensive. Who does it belong to?

What do we know? It was stolen. It was stolen on October 3rd, so that is the day before Cato Scott goes missing, and then we know once she goes missing, it's 20 minutes later that police sources believe that she is killed. But then that is the car seen on video from the rec center that sits next to the middle school that Keon King is removing Katie Scott from the hunting emergency help when you need it. day accent, 2008 Hyundai accent, then she's placed on the middle school.

Again, I need to understand exactly what he's saying. Joe Holm, tell me that one more time. Car stolen on October 3rd, Katie Scott goes missing on October 4th, and then the car is found burning on the street October 7th. Miraculously, Philadelphia gets right to it and finds the car and takes it off the street because it is an abandoned burning car. It goes to a junkyard where it is crushed and compacted. We've confirmed that there is no valuable DNA or evidence that can be retrieved from that car because it all burned up in the fire.

And it was compacted. But at the time it was taken to a toilet and compacted, crushed. They likely didn't know it was connected to Cato. Absolutely true. And that is where, you know, they're explaining why they can't get, you know, any sort of usable evidence from this car. Because it's destroyed every day. And they do say it was, they say it was destroyed in the fire. So whatever actions happen at the junkyard, it's not like they could go back in piece this thing together.

Yeah, I don't know if I believe that. Fitzgibbons, even if a car has been through fire, I don't know how much of it was burned. I don't know if the. That's why simply safe was honored. could have had DNA or fingerprints still on it. I don't know if the interior was intact in any way. I mean, without seeing the car. They were ranked.

I don't know that we could have gotten a fingerprint, but that's the would have could have showed up again, because it's over. It's being compacted. You're not going to get anything from it now, Fitzgibbiz. This vehicle being compacted makes it nearly impossible. And, you know, I will say that there are cases after a vehicle is burnt that we can recover some physical.

evidence. This is going to speak directly to the amount of blood that was present in that vehicle. Guys, this is what we know about the vehicle. Take a listen to the ADA, Ashley Tislauski. That vehicle was stolen on October 3rd from the area of 6600 Sway Street. We believe that vehicle is the vehicle that was used in this case. That vehicle was then on scene at that rec center, which ultimately, as we all know, is where we found, Ms. Gotts'Hauts Humboldened. remains. Video evidence indicates it was on location. Video evidence then indicates it leaves the location. It is burned on October 7th. It was located on the top 300 block of 7th Avenue. Straight back to CBS Philly, Chief Horsetting Report and anchor Joe Holden. Now tell me about the video because the car is destroyed.

I'm not getting anything from that. Okay, I would stay up all night's fuming if I'm prosecuting this case. but immediately fall back for Hill Mary. The Hell Mary. The Hell Mary is at video. What does the video show about how this car is connected to Kada? So the video shows the car arrives at that middle school property there in East Germantown where Kada is later found buried just this past weekend.

The Toyota that they were furiously searching for a week ago is also there now. So Kian King, according to processing. prosecutors and sources is using both cars in tandem. And at times separately, he is apparently using someone else to help him with both cars. So both cars are in motion, so to speak, in this investigation. But it is the Hyundai accent that is the car believed to take Kate of Scott from her place of work in Chestnut Hill. Saturday, October 4th, just moments after 10 p.m., then to the middle school property. And then that car on video is seen coming and going two to three times in the time since October 4th.

We recovered additional evidence, including video evidence that confirms that this vehicle, we believe, is the vehicle that Mr. Kean King used to move Ms. Scott. We recovered video out from near the Ada Lewis Middle School. where our search and the investigator search has been focused. There's a rec center directly next to that school. Video evidence was recovered from that rec center, and we are now able to say that this Hyundai accent was on location at all of the times we're looking at, at all of the pertinent points in the investigation.

Keda was kind. She was a kind woman. She was kind to her friends. She was kind to her family. Keda is someone who could have been our sister, our cousin, cousin, just someone that is a friend or family member in our lives. Could have been anybody, any one of us. I want to go quickly out to Dr. Thomas Coyne, guys. He is the chief medical examiner, District 2 in the state of Florida.

Forensic pathologist, toxicologist, neuropathologist, and it goes on. How are we going to get a COD cause of death, given the amount of time between Katie's death, her murder and the discovery of her remains. It really depends upon if sufficient tissue is present still on the body that allows us to identify an injury. So decomposition has progressed far enough where most of the soft tissues on the neck and on the torso or absent. It may be hard to see if she was strangled or even stabbed. So they may have to employ the help of an anthropologist that can do a little more detailed examination in the skeleton and see if there are any. fracture.

Why? So for instance, if a person was, let's say, stabbed. So you may actually have- You can't do that with an x-ray coin? No, very hard to sometimes see the difference between, let's say, scavenging activity like tooth marks from an animal compared to knife mark from a tool. But if you're able to actually get the bone, not only can you actually see the knife mark, you can make a determination as to whether or not that occurred before death as opposed to

just artifact after death. And then you can also maybe use that to create a mold to compare to a murder weapon if you actually find one. So it gives you all more options. But all that is predicated, Dr. Coyne, upon the knife, if the knife was used, hitting a bone. Exactly. So that's a difficult part about having a body that's found in the ground. If a body is found in the ground. Coin.

Coim. Coim. Don't you think the likely COD is going to be asphyxiation in that car? I do. In this case, I do. And the only thing you hope for is that they were, the fact that they haven't released a cause of death tells me that they didn't have sufficient evidence to determine asphyxiation. You know, if you strangle a person, if a person has recently deceased, you may be able to see bruising in the neck, bruising in the neck muscles. Sometimes you can get a fracture of the thyroid cartilage or a hyoid bone. But in a body that's decomposing outside, you hope that you even find a hyoid bone. If there is a scavenger and you're carrying in the necker, bear, bear, Wait, wait, wait, wait, hold it. Coin, buried, buried. Wouldn't that preclude, quote, scavenger activity, animals tearing her body apart? Let's just put it out there.

That's what it is. If she were buried, coin, then I don't know that scavengers had gotten to her. No, well, flies did, right? So she was covered in maggots. So just because she's in the ground and a shallow grave doesn't mean scavengers can't have access to the body. those chemicals of decomposition volatileize, they're able to be smelled by animals all around. And there are burying animals that can go into the ground. But what I'm saying is that even if he strangled or because she's young, she may not have

fractures in her neck. All of the injuries may be in soft tissue like bruises. And if that tissue is gone from decomposition or maggot activity, let me see him for a piece sake. Coin. You can see the monitor, right? You can see, Katie Scott. Does it ever bother you?

bothers me badly that we're talking about animals burrowing into the ground to eat her body and tear it apart. It's hard to separate the dad in me, you know, from the doctor. So when I have these cases, I have to turn that off. I mean, it certainly does bother you when those cases come into my office. And this is horrible. Joe, I'm going to have to quit thinking about everything Dr. Thomas Coyne is saying because I know it's all true and I know he's right.

But I need to think about the evidence. That I can handle. How am I going to prove this case and get the killer and all of his minions that helped him? Can we talk about cell phone evidence very quickly, Joe Holden? Cell phone evidence places him at all of the pertinent locations the district attorney's office says in this whole, you know, sort of a scheme where it starts on October 3rd with the stealing of a car, October 4th, she goes missing. and then that car is back and forth a few times to this middle school property. Is he moving her? Is he doing what?

Is he trying to conceal further evidence that he's been there? We will wait and see. The district attorney's office, Nancy, if you hear a lot of how they phrase this, they don't say body, they don't say dead. They don't, they're really just of a degree of respect for Cato Scott, that he moves her, that he takes her there. And so we're scratching our heads at a lot of the time trying to figure out, Well, is she dead as she's being moved?

And after all of this, we determined we were able to find out from our sources 20 minutes after she leaves her work. They believe she is killed. So as far as the evidence, there's video, there's cell records, and of course now there is this tipster who provided information on two occasions to Philadelphia police. They are actively investigating the person's identity and are hoping to uncover the trail that that person provided the information that then led police here.

That tipster is now part of this investigation. In the last days, a judge orders the prime suspect and the murder of a Miss USA hopeful be held for trial. Following Kada's murder, her family created a foundation in Kada's name on what would have been her 24th birthday. The family still trying to make sense

of this terrible tragedy they wake up in the middle of the night thinking about her, says Kevin Scott, that's Cata's dad. He says, to be honest, I'm not good. My daughter's not here anymore. Missing her every day, especially thinking of her on her birthday. The Cata Scott Foundation will provide scholarships, grants, and mentors for girls

with the same type of positivity and ambition Cada had before she was murdered. Remember, Kada was a Penn State student. After going to her job at an assisted living facility, she disappeared. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace, crime story signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.