Three KC teens accused of killing eighth-grader Alexis Kane are held without bond

A judge on Monday ordered three Kansas City teens charged in the killing of 14-year-old Alexis Kane to be held without bond.

The defendants — Isaac M. Carter, 17, Ce-Antonyo D. Kennedy, 17, and Dominic McDaniel, 18 — made their initial court appearances Monday morning in Jackson County Circuit Court. All three are charged with first-degree murder.

Lashonda Kane attended the hearing to get her first glimpse of the teens who allegedly killed her daughter. Afterward, she described the experience as devastating.

“It was very difficult,” she said. “They took my 14-year-old child for no reason.”

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker stood beside LaShonda Kane as the shackled defendants appeared in front of Associate Circuit Judge Jalilah Otto.

Otto appointed attorneys to represent the teens and scheduled them to be back in court Feb. 23 for arraignment.

Alexis, an eighth-grader at Smith-Hale Middle School, was beaten and shot to death Jan. 11 at The Bay Water Park in the 7100 block of Longview Road in south Kansas City. Friends told police that she was killed after meeting someone she had been communicating with on Facebook, according to court documents.

Baker, in announcing the charges Sunday, said that a motive for the killing was not known.

LaShonda Kane and other family members said Monday they detected no remorse from the defendants.

“One of them kind of smiled at me,” she said. “That was hard to deal with.”

LaShonda Kane did not hesitate when asked what she thought justice should be in the case. “The death penalty,” she said.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2005 outlawed the death penalty for criminal defendants younger than 18, but under Missouri law, the three defendants could each receive life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder.

This story was originally published January 26, 2015 at 11:46 AM with the headline "Three KC teens accused of killing eighth-grader Alexis Kane are held without bond."