A HUGE development has taken place in the case of a 26-year-old mom whose body was found decomposing inside a car trunk.
Destini Smothers’ boyfriend, Kareem Flake, who is the father of her two kids, was arraigned in Queens Wednesday almost two years after she vanished the night of her birthday.
Kareem Flake, 30, has been arraigned almost two years after his girlfriend and mother of his two children went missing after her birthday[/caption]
Smothers went missing in November 2020. She was from Troy, New York, and had two young children, Kareem Jr and Kayden, with Flake.
Her decomposing body was discovered in the trunk of a car in March 2021 when Department of Sanitation workers towing a sedan popped the trunk.
The city medical examiner’s office initially determined the cause of death was a blunt impact to her head which caused a skull fracture and brain injury, and the case was then ruled a homicide.
Flake was taken into custody on April 9 of this year for a separate domestic assault charge and was held at a correctional facility in Osceola, NY Daily News first reported.
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He was extradited to New York and arraigned on Wednesday to face charges.
Smothers was last seen in November 2020 when she was leaving a bowling alley after a birthday party.
She attended the party with Flake according to the missing person’s report filed at the time.
The report also said the couple got in a “heated argument” that night.
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Smothers’ mother Loretta King told NY Daily News that the two were supposed to go shopping the following morning, but Smothers never showed.
Family members said that Flake claimed the two got in an argument while driving together, and Smothers eventually ran from the vehicle without taking her keys, purse, and wallet.
Flake was the last person to see Smothers alive.
While intial reports listed Smothers’ cause of death at blunt trauma to the head, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said on Wednesday that she died from a gunshot.
“On the run for more than a year, this defendant is now in custody and charged with the brutal murder of his girlfriend, who was also the mother of his two young children,” Katz said in a statement, according to NY Daily News.
“This is the worst possible outcome for any individual experiencing intimate partner violence, and we express out condolences to the victim’s family.”
Flake has been slammed with multiple charges including two counts of second-degree murder, kidnapping, weapon possession and tampering with evidence, Katz said in a press release.
He pled not guilty to all charges.
The judge ordered that Flake be held without bail.
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He is scheduled to appear in court on August 11.
If convicted, he will face anywhere from 25 years to life in prison.
