GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The man accused of murdering a Grand Rapids mother of two the day after Christmas was in court Wednesday morning.
Keyante Newbern appeared in court for a preliminary hearing for the murder of Mya Kelly.
During the hearing, Marquise Welch testified.
Investigators believe Welch drove Newbern away from Kelly’s home after the shooting.
Grand Rapids police say 23-year-old Mya Kelly was shot and killed just before 10 p.m. on December 26 inside a home on Canton Street SW near Division Avenue.
Police say Mya was killed in front of her children, who are just 1 and 3 years old.
Newbern is charged with open murder, carrying a concealed weapon and felony firearm.
Security camera video at the Sunoco gas station down the street from Mya’s house shows someone running away seconds after the shooting.
Police believe the person seen running in the video is Newbern.
Minutes before the shooting, a silver 2013 Dodge Journey is spotted on the same Sunoco security camera.
That Dodge is distinct. It has front-end damage near the driver’s side front wheel.
Detectives then track that Dodge using multiple security camera videos, which ultimately leads them to Newbern.
But first, they find Marquise Welch driving the Dodge around Grand Rapids, near the intersection of Cherry and Commerce, just one day after Mya was shot and killed.
Welch told detectives it was his mom’s car and he had heroin/fentanyl on his person, according to police. He was arrested.
A black Samsung phone was seized from Welch by police, and detectives got a search warrant.
Looking through Welch's phone records, detectives find a conversation with a person saved as “Tae Man.”
Police identified “Tae Man” as Keyante Andrew Michael Newbern.
The phone records show that Newbern texted Welch asking for a ride, the same day Mya was killed.
Newbern asked to be picked up at the Big Top, which is at 3630 Clyde Park on Dec. 26, according to phone records.
Police say Newbern was caught on security camera wearing the same clothes he was seen wearing in the Sunoco surveillance footage as in the Big Top security camera video.
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Conversations between Welch and Newbern were monitored by police while Welch was being held in Kent County Jail.
Welch and Newbern’s conversations led police to Newbern in Lansing, and Newbern was taken into custody.
Newbern denied being near Mya’s home the night she was killed to investigators.
Newbern told police he had never even been to Mya’s home before.
Newbern told police he was at a rap video shoot before the shooting, and then told police he took a Lyft to an address on 36th Street.
Eventually, Welch told detectives he was with Newbern most of the day when Mya was murdered in front of her children.
Welch told investigators he drove Keyante to the rap video shoot and that he dropped off Keyante in front of Mya’s home the day after Christmas.
Welch told detectives he didn’t hear any gunshots but that Keyante came running back to a Dodge Journey a short time after dropping him off on Canton Street, where Mya was inside with her two children and their father.
Welch parked near Mya's home, at the Luna Auto Repair on Division, after driving a loop around town.
Welch told detectives he gave Keyante the gun seen in a rap music video: a Glock. Ballistics from a bullet pulled from Mya's remains confirm she was shot with a Glock.
Police say security footage from Luna confirms Welch’s story about picking up Newbern after the shooting. Police believe the video shows Newbern running into Welch’s distinctly damaged Dodge.
Welch testified he has known Newbern for about 15 years. He said he didn’t know anything about what happened in the time when Keyante was out of his car and that he didn’t see a gun when he got back into the car.
Welch also testified that Keyante was drunk at the time. He said in court that he remembers Keyante saying, “We shot that b----,” but said he didn’t know what Keyante meant and didn’t know that Mya was dead.
Welch was given immunity for his testimony, though no formal offers have been made.
The hearing adjourned just before noon and is expected to resume on May 16 at 9 a.m.
