LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- Ricky Lewis Kelly was indicted on eight counts of complicity to murder, a major development in the closing of several cold murder cases. WHAS spoke with a victim’s mother. She was very emotional and said this news brings back memories of her son, but she's also happy police never stopped working on this case.
Darlene McNealy has lived a life that many couldn't relate to or hardly imagine. Three of her children have been murdered. Her daughter, Suwanda Cole, in 1996, her son, Deron Cole, just 30 days after that, and last year her son, Joseph, Jr.
She knows who killed Suwanda and Joseph, but for 14 years, Deron's killer remained a mystery, but a piece of that puzzle may be fallin into place. Police say Ricky Lewis Kelly, already in jail on a weapons charge, is linked to killing eight people, including Deron Cole.
His lengthy arrest history dates back to 1989, when Kelly was only 19-years-old. Police, however, are mum about how they connected Kelly to these eight murders. The victims thar police have linked to Kelly include Gail Duncan. She was shot and killed in front of her 9-year-old daughter in April 1996. Duncan was an FBI drug informant and a key witness in the drug conspiracy case against Zelner Hamilton and Cornelius Anderson.
A third defendant in that case, Deron Cole, had accepted a plea deal with federal prosecutors. His family found the 20-year-old dead from a single bullet wound in his back in July 1996.
Police have also linked Kelly to several other murders. John Sanders died of multiple gunshot wounds in October of 1996, Charles Lewis was killed in July 1998, Blair Kidwell was shot several times and killed in a wrecked car in 1998, Craig Jones, Jr. was shot to death in his yard in 2005, LaJuante Jackson was gunned down in Shepard Square the same year, and Warren King, father of 7 children, was found in a car under Shawnee Expressway shot in the head in 2006.
Darlene admits her son was involved in the drug life, but he saw his plea deal as an opportunity to quit that life and start over. She has wondered what kind of life he would have made for himself. Darlene says "He [the killer] took away an uncle, a brother, a son. He took away a part of our future."
Police say this is an ongoing investigation and they are looking for tips related to any of these cases. If you can provide any information, please call (502) 574-LMPD.
