Kansas City, Kansas, man charged in 2014 killing of 16-year-old girl from Kansas City
A Kansas City, Kansas, man has been charged in the killing of a 16-year-old Kansas City, Missouri, girl more than eight years ago, authorities announced.
The body of Deleisha Kelley, 16, was found on Dec. 21, 2014, near an abandoned building in the 3600 block of East 24th Street, police said at the time.
Deleisha’s mother, Kelli Blewett, told The Star in 2015 that Deleisha liked her independence, was a member of the Jesus Steppers at Pleasant Green Baptist Church and had spoken of someday becoming a police officer.
On Friday, following an investigation that spanned several years, Billy I. Dupree, 38, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder, according to a news release Sunday from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The Kansas City Police Department assisted the KBI in the investigation.
“In August 2022, the Kansas Attorney General’s Office requested the KBI join the homicide investigation when the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department determined the murder had taken place in Kansas City, Kansas, and not in their jurisdiction,” the release read.
When KBI agents obtained a warrant for Dupree’s arrest, he was already serving time at the Lansing Correctional Facility.
Dupree has been incarcerated at Lansing since November 2020 for robbery, drug possession and criminal restraint in Wyandotte County, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
He was previously imprisoned for child sex crimes, aggravated assault and criminal damage to property, all of which occurred between 2003 and 2006 in Wyandotte County.
