Texas mother wants answers about what happened to her daughter Zkira Kemp on trip with “friends”

A Killeen, Texas mother is searching for the truth about what happened to her 20-year-old daughter, Zkira Tysha Kemp.

It is another story where so-called friends lie about what happened. However, Zkira’s mother, Jalanda Kemp, tells The North Carolina Beat that she will not rest until she knows the truth about what happened to her daughter.

Jalanda said her daughter was attending Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas but was at home in Killeen, Texas, for summer break. She said her daughter left Killeen a few days early to return to Prairie View because Zkira, Zkira’s guy friend, Michael Dukes, and his girlfriend, Rhonda Ellis Tinsley, were going to Maryland to celebrate Rhonda’s birthday. They would be staying with a friend up there named Aydon Fair. Jalanda said she told her daughter before she left Killeen and when she got on the road to drive to Maryland to make sure she kept her location on at all times.

Zkira, Michael, and Rhonda hit the road in the early morning hours of Sunday, July 3, 2022, and they arrived in Hanover, Maryland, on the evening of Monday, July 4, 2022.

Jalanda said the whole time her daughter was gone; she had her location on. She said she went to work Thursday, July 7, and worked 5 pm-1 am. Jalanda said at 10:30 p.m. Thursday, July 7, when she checked her phone, her daughter’s location showed that she was at a bowling alley. When Jalonda got off early Friday morning, July 8, 2022, at 1 am, she noticed her daughter’s location had been turned off, which was around the time her daughter was allegedly involved in an accident, which you will learn more about below.

Jalanda told The North Carolina Beat that she thought about calling her daughter when she noticed the location was off but did not and said she would call her later Friday morning. At this time, Jalanda didn’t know that her daughter had been in an alleged car accident.

“I said to myself, I’ll call her in the morning and tell her to turn her location back on and I got home and went to sleep,” Jalanda said.

Later Friday morning, Jalanda said she woke up around 7 am and did not have a phone call or text from her daughter. Later that morning, Jalanda said she got a call from her friend Lakisha Coles, who told her that Aydon’s mother was trying to contact her because something was happening with the kids. Jalanda asked, “what is going on with the kids.?” She said Lakisha told her that no information about what was going on was given to her, just that Aydon’s mom needed to speak with her.

Jalanda said she was frantic, but she called because she did not know what was going on and wanted to know what was happening with the kids. Aydon’s mom was so nervous to speak to Jalanda that she called Michael’s mom Tracy three-way to join the call. Jalanda said Michael’s mom was sobbing, so she knew something wasn’t right. Jalanda said she was still confused about what was happening and kept asking, “what is going on with the kids?” but they would not say anything.

Out of the blue, Jalanda said she just came out and asked, “IS MY CHILD DEAD?” and that is when the phone was hung up in her face.

“I started calling my family going crazy because I didn’t know what to do,” Jalanda said. “I’m outside frantic, and just didn’t know what to do or what was going on.

Jalanda said she was finally able to get everyone back on the phone and was able to speak to Aydon. She said Aydon told her that he did not go out with Zkira, Michael, and Rhonda, to which Jalanda said she was confused because her daughter and her friends had driven to Maryland to celebrate Rhonda’s birthday with Aydon. Jalanda said that when she spoke back to Aydon’s mom, she was told that Zkira was drunk driving, hit a tree, and did not live, but according to an autopsy report obtained by The North Carolina Beat, Zkira was in the backseat of the car.

Everyone in the car survived but Zakira. However, Jalanda said Michael’s mother told her he had serious injuries. Jalanda said she was told that Michael had a broken hip, leg, fractured skull, two collapsed lungs, and had to get open heart surgery. However, Jalanda said what was suspicious was when she heard Michael calling her name and asking to see her face-to-face while she was talking to his mom.

“My antennas went up when I heard him calling my name in the background and asking to see me face to face because his mom said he had open heart surgery and two collapsed lungs, so how can he talk so fast?”

LISTEN TO THIS AUDIO OF MICHAEL’S MOM TRACY SOUNDING LIKE SHE’S LYING IN AN AUDIO CLIP WITH JALANDA:

Jalanda said she knew something was not right when she had just been told of Michael’s injury by his mother but was able to talk so fast, and the accident had just occurred hours earlier. 

“They were lying about what happened to my daughter, Jalanda said. “I am trying to understand how my daughter is the only one that did not make it.”

Jalanda told The North Carolina Beat that she had later learned that the car had engulfed in flames and her daughter was trapped inside, and neither Michael nor Rhonda tried to get her out, but they got themselves out.

“I lost it,” Jalanda said. “I didn’t know what to do or what to say because they hadn’t told me that the car had caught fire.”

Jalanda said her daughter was burned so badly that she was unrecognizable.

“They could not identify her,” Jalanda said. “She had to be identified by her dental records.”

Jalanda said she was told different stories about what happened after the wreck. She said that Michael had told her that where the accident happened, there were only woods and no house, so they couldn’t get help. She said then Michael told her that he was able to save Rhonda from the car and not Zkira. Jalanda said Michael’s story didn’t seem real because how could a person with a broken hip, leg, fractured skull, two collapsed lungs, and need open heart surgery be able to get someone out of the vehicle?

When Jalanda spoke to Rhonda, her story wasn’t any better. Jalanda said Rhonda told her that all she remembered was them all laughing and the next thing she knows, she wokeup in the hospital. 

On Monday, July 15, 2022, Jalanda said she went to Maryland to see her daughter’s body but was denied and told that it was against Maryland Medical Examiner guidelines, and while she was there she was going to go to the crash site at the address that was listed in the local newspaper. She said she remembered being told by her daughter’s friend that the accident happened in the middle of nowhere and there were no houses around.

“They told me it happened in the middle of nowhere, it was just trees and they couldn’t get help,” Jalanda said.

Jalanda said that they were in someone’s yard when she and her friend pulled up to where the accident occurred.

“If they were in someone’s yard, then why didn’t they run to the people’s house and get help,” Jalanda said. “I’m just like ain’t no way this is where this happened at, but it was.”

While Jalanda was at the wreck site, she said she had a photo of her daughter that she wanted to place at the crash site to honor her daughter. Jalanda said that as she was getting ready to put her daughter’s picture in the ground, a woman came outside the house and spoke to her. Jalanda said she told the woman that her daughter was killed in a car accident in the spot and that she was placing a photo to honor her.

Jalanda said the woman told her that a man had come with children the day after the accident and was crying beside the tree and told her husband that his son was killed in a fire there. She said the woman told her that the man came out a second time, telling them again that his son was killed in the fire there and that his other son was in critical condition, and a girl walked away.

“I said WHAT?”, Jalanda said.

Jalanda said the woman reiterated that a man came out the following day with children and told her she and her husband that his son had died in a fire. 

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE AUDIO ABOUT THE MAN SAYING A MAN TOLD HIM HIS SON WAS BURNED UP IN THE PLACE WHERE JALANDA’S DAUGHTER WAS SUPPOSEDLY KILLED AT:

Jalanda said she felt everything was staged and planned, and stuff was not adding up. She said that she could not identify her daughter’s body, and the medical examiner’s office in Maryland told her that she had to agree to cremate her daughter’s body before they released it to the funeral home.

“I wanted my daughter’s body shipped home but they didn’t give me that choice,” Jalanda said. “They would not release my daughter’s body to the funeral home until I signed cremation paperwork.

The autopsy report stated that the 3’3″ body they received right forearm was greater than the left, and both legs were amputated. However, Jalanda said that when she was shown a photo of a body that was said to be her daughter’s, that body had legs and contradicted the written report.

“I wanted to know why the photo she showed me contradicted her report,” Jalanda said.

Jalanda said she wonders if her daughter is even deceased.

“At this point, I’m like, is my daughter even dead?” Jalanda said.

Jalanda said there was no 911 call and wants to know who called 911 and how did the police, fire, and ems get to the scene. 

“Who called 911? Because I was told there was no 911 call,” Jalanda said. “Where is the 911 call?”

The North Carolina Beat is looking more into Zkira’s alleged death and all involved.

Gerald will be interviewing Zkira’s mother, tomorrow, Tuesday, December 6, 2022, at 8PM EST.

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