Seven people are charged with murder in the slaying of a woman who went missing from the District in December.
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Police in Durham, N.C., say 28-year-old Antoinetta McKoy was the victim of a religious cult there. Remains that police believe belong to her were found in a backyard on Wednesday.
“Everything indicates to us that it’s her,” Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez said at a news conference.
McKoy was last seen on Dec. 5 on the 1600 block of K Street NE as she was preparing to leave for North Carolina, according to D.C. police. Family members reported her missing to District police in February.
The search for McKoy spanned from Washington to Durham to Teller County, Colo., where members of the religious group she stayed with in North Carolina moved. In Durham, McKoy lived at a house with about 10 other members of a home-based religious sect called the Black Hebrews.
All seven people accused in her death are in custody. They are: 27-year-old Peter Lucas Moses Jr., 40-year-old Lavada Quinzetta Harris, 21-year-old P. Leonard Moses, 20-year-old Sheila Falisha Moses, 56-year-old Shelda Evelyn Harris, 40-year-old Larhonda Renee Smith and 25-year-old Vania Rae Sisk.
Kammie Michael, a Durham police spokeswoman, said Thursday that a medical examiner is still working to confirm that the body is McKoy’s and to determine when and how she died.
A search warrant filed to search the group’s home in Colorado says that an informant who escaped from the Black Hebrews told investigators that McKoy got into an argument over lost car keys with accused sect leader Peter Moses, who reportedly had relationships with several women in the group.
McKoy ran from a Durham house and flagged down a passer-by. Two women came from the home, brought McKoy back inside and beat her unconscious, the warrant says. Moses later ordered one of them to shoot and kill McKoy, and they then buried her, according to the warrant.
Authorities found the remains after plumbers called 911.
“We see something buried in a plastic bag and it has a horrible smell,” a plumber told the dispatcher, according to a copy of the call provided by Durham police.
A young Durham boy is also believed to have been killed by the group, according to court records. Durham news outlets reported Thursday evening that authorities were investigating additional remains at the house, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether they belonged to the boy.
