What to Know
- Kayla Kelley, 33, reported missing on Jan. 11 after loved ones, and co-workers said they hadn't heard from her for several days.
- Kelley had been dating a man named Kevin Brown since last summer and her friends say she planned to confront him after learning he was married and that his real name was Ocastor Ferguson.
- Ferguson is accused of kidnapping Kelley. Detectives say he admitted to the relationship and that his phone records put him near her home and where her vehicle was abandoned and burned on Jan. 10.
Detectives in Collin County remain tight-lipped about their investigation into the disappearance of Kayla Kelley, but documents obtained by NBC 5 shed some light on what may have taken place in the days before she was reported missing.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit dated Jan. 14, on Jan. 11 the Collin County Sheriff's Office learned 33-year-old Kayla Kelley had been missing for several days and had not been in contact with either her aunt or co-workers.
During interviews about her disappearance, investigators learned Kelley planned to confront her boyfriend "Kevin" after finding out that wasn't his real name and that he was married. When Kelley told her friends she intended to blackmail him they told police they didn't want to talk about her dating a married man and didn't learn much else about him.
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Investigators said she was added to a nationwide database of missing persons on Jan. 11 and that the next day they were notified by the Frisco Police Department that Kelley's car had been found burned and deserted on a rural county road.
Detectives with the sheriff's department examined the car but said it revealed no clues about Kelley's location.
They then went to Kelley's duplex on Jett Drive in McKinney and verified she was not home. Inside her residence, investigators reported finding Kelley's dog, who had been without food and water for several days. Family members told investigators her dog was like a family member and she would have never left it unattended for an extended period of time.
KAYLA KELLEY
Detectives looking into Kelley's phone records learned she'd been talking to a 32-year-old man named Ocastor Shavon Ferguson. He and his wife had recently reported their 2004 Lexus stolen, which was later found near Kelley's duplex. The arresting document said gloves, duct tape and a blanket were found inside.
Detectives also learned Kelley's phone was last used on Jan. 10 at 6:59 p.m., near the Dallas location of Ferguson's employer. NTTA records showed Kelley's vehicle traveling north on the Dallas North Tollway earlier in the afternoon, near Eldorado Parkway in Frisco, at 1:56 p.m.
On Jan. 13, investigators said they visited Ferguson at work and that during an interview he admitted to knowing Kelley and said he last saw her on Jan. 10 when she dropped him off at work at about noon. He said she was supposed to bring him lunch at about 6 p.m., but that she never showed up. He said his Lexus was at Kelley's because he was hiding it from his wife.
During the interview Ferguson allowed detectives to look at his phone and he showed them texts between him and Kelley that included one threatening to tell his wife if he didn't answer her. He admitted to investigators they met online and started dating in the summer of 2022 and that she knew him as "Kevin" because she didn't want him to find out his real identity. He said she was never at his home and they always met at her house or hotels or other places.
Detectives said they analyzed Ferguson's phone records which indicated he was at work on Jan. 10 and then at his home in Grand Prairie. He then apparently left home and drove up the Dallas North Tollway toward Kelley's duplex and then to the area where her burned car had been located before returning home to Grand Prairie.
Officials investigating Kelley's disappearance talked to Ferguson again who denied being where the burned car was found and said he had no idea what happened to the vehicle, though he did admit to driving the car during that time period and said Kelley was in the back seat. He told investigators he didn't know her current location or condition.
Investigators then visited Ferguson's home in Grand Prairie and talked with his wife who said on Jan. 4 she received a text from an unknown person who said they needed to tell her something. She said she never contacted the person but thought it was from a woman based on the language used in the message. The woman told investigators her phone had since been broken and she was unable to provide them the number.
Detectives arrested Ferguson on Jan. 14 and accused him of kidnapping, a third-degree felony. He's currently being held in the Collin County Jail on bonds totaling more than $1 million. It's not clear if he's obtained an attorney.
Search One Rescue Team, a local nonprofit that helps law enforcement with lost and missing cases, said they were deployed twice on Friday and Monday to help with search efforts.
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