May 29, 2024
(McKinney, Tex
as) – District Attorney Greg Willis’s office secured Life in prison for Ocastor Shavon Ferguson, 35, a Jamaican National, for the murder of his girlfriend, Kayla Kelley.
On January 12, 2023, a burned up car located by the Frisco Police Department in a nearby unincorporated area of Collin County. Sergeant Jay Reim of the Collin County Sheriff’s Office and Texas Ranger Thomas FitzPatrick responded to the scene. A check of the car’s VIN number linked it to a McKinney woman who had recently gone missing, Kayla Kelley. Kelley’s family and friends identified “Kevin Brown,” later revealed as Ferguson, as her boyfriend. Ferguson used the Kevin Brown alias for women with whom he desired extramarital relationships. Reim and FitzPatrick obtained cell phone records for both Kelley and Ferguson.
When contacted, Ferguson claimed he hadn’t seen Kelley and she wasn’t responding to his messages. Allen Police Department Detective Keith Compton performed a forensic examination on Fergusons’ phone, which revealed multiple relationships, including with his wife and Kelley. On the night Kelley went missing, she sent messages from Ferguson’s phone to his other girlfriends stating he had both a girlfriend and a wife. That was the Kelley’s last communication.
Sheriff’s Office investigators Joshua Duncan and Travis Monk traced Ferguson’s cell phone data to a wooded area near his home, where Kelley’s body was found in a shallow grave, face down and unclothed. Surveillance footage showed Ferguson stealing a gas can from Walmart, filling it, and buying a lighter. Lyft records placed him near the burned car. Ranger FitzPatrick testified Ferguson texted Kelley’s phone after her death to create an alibi. Dr. Stacey Murthy of the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed Kelley died from asphyxiation.
The jury found Ferguson guilty of murder. During sentencing, prosecutors presented evidence of a pending Tarrant County case, Evading in a Motor Vehicle. Ferguson took the stand and testified that he was kidnapped by three men the day Kelley went missing, and did not know what happened to her, a story he never mentioned while investigators were still searching for her body.
The jury sentenced Ferguson to life in prison. “Ferguson lied constantly, from the investigation to his sentencing testimony. But this jury saw through it all and gave him the life sentence he deserved. We’re thankful for the jury’s clear vision and for the dedication of Ranger FitzPatrick and Sgt. Reim and others in finding Kayla and bringing Ferguson to justice,” observed Willis after sentencing.
Assistant Criminal District Attorneys Kailey Gillman and Dewey Mitchell prosecuted the case, assisted by District Attorney Investigator Stephanie Strickland and Assistant Criminal District Attorney John Rolater.
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