ST PAUL, Minn. — A man who recently arrived in Minnesota is now charged with second-degree murder in the shooting deaths of his former girlfriend and her two children.
A criminal complaint lays out the case against 26-year-old TeKeith Jones, who has no permanent address and by his own admission has only been in the state between eight months and a year. Prosecutors say he killed 30-year-old D’Zondria Wallace, her 14-year-old daughter La' Porsha and 11-year-old son Ja’ Corbie in their home on the 700 block of Jessie Street in St. Paul on January 30.
If convicted, TeKeith Jones faces a potential 40-year sentence on each of three counts of second-degree murder.
A nephew of D'Zondria Wallace told investigators that Jones was her boyfriend until she broke up with him, but that the defendant continued to come to Wallace's house. The cousin says the last time he saw Jones he broke into the home on Jessie Street, threw Wallace on the ground and accused her of seeing other men. The next morning, the nephew told detectives, he became angry again and fired a shot at her.
No one called police after that incident, but around 3 p.m. St. Paul squads were dispatched to Wallace's home, where they found her and her daughter fatally shot, and her young son Ja' Corbie on the couch shot multiple times. When officers asked the boy who shot them, he said "Keith."
The child was rushed to the hospital where he died after surgery.
Surveillance video from a neighboring home shows a man in dark clothing leaving the Jessie Street home about a half-hour before running out and jumping into a Jeep Compass with unique damage to the front fender and headlight.
Later that day, a state trooper came upon the vehicle stalled on the side of Highway 61. The trooper says the driver, a slender Black man matching Jones' description, said he was out of gas. The trooper promised to return and help after completing a call he was responding to. By the time the trooper returned, the driver had left the scene. The Jeep was towed and St. Paul officers were soon able to identify it as the vehicle seen leaving the murder scene.
The owner of the Jeep told investigators that a man she knew as Gungang Santana - later identified as TeKeith Jones - had taken the vehicle without her permission. She also said that she had previously dropped him off at the Jessie Street address, and at a apartment building on Wilson Avenue. Police obtained a search warrant that was served on January 31, and found and arrested Jones inside an apartment. They also located a 9mm handgun that is believed to be the murder weapon.
The criminal complaint details a rambling interview with Jones, who prosecutors say eventually admitted to shooting D’Zondria Wallace and her children. They also say Jones told them he did it to "save" them, pointing upwards and telling detectives that "they can go up there and be holy."
Autopsies performed by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office say D'Zondria Wallace was shot twice, her son Ja' Corbie five times, and daughter La' Porsha 10 times.
"My heart sinks to know that a mother and her two children were taken from us in such a senseless and violent way," said Ramsey County Attorney John Choi in a released statement. "We will do everything in our power to bring justice to the victims and our community in this case."
Choi's office also provided a list of local domestic violence prevention resources:
- The Saint Paul & Ramsey County Domestic Abuse Intervention Project 24 hour crisis line
- Women’s Advocates 24/7 crisis line
- Tubman Crisis Line and Safety Plan
- Statewide domestic violence resource sheet from the Minnesota District Court
- View a comprehensive report on intimate partner violence from Violence Free Minnesota