Murder suspect Anthony Kennedy strangled girlfriend in 2019, court records show

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – 19 Investigates has uncovered disturbing new particulars concerning the Cleveland man accused of murdering his girlfriend and burying her physique in Pennsylvania.

Anthony M. Kennedy was arrested in 2019 for strangling his then-girlfriend throughout a violent incident exterior of the couple’s dwelling, in line with court docket information.

Kennedy, 43, is charged with aggravated homicide for the capturing demise of 23-year-old Adrianna Taylor, whose physique was found Thanksgiving evening within the yard of a house in Wilkinsburg, a suburb of Pittsburgh.

He turned himself in to the Allegheny County Police Division on Wednesday afternoon.

In response to police, Kennedy and Taylor lived collectively in dwelling on West 98th Avenue in Cleveland.

Court docket information present Kennedy was dwelling in that very same dwelling in March 2019 when he was arrested for home violence. Police stated he attacked his girlfriend after she pulled her automobile into their driveway.

The 2019 arrest warrant states Kennedy climbed into the girl’s automobile and began “strangling her with each fingers on her neck.” The sufferer was “unable to yell for assist, as a result of she couldn’t breathe.”

In response to the warrant, Kennedy additionally “put his forearm towards her throat and started utilizing his physique weigh to strangle her once more.”

Detectives famous the girl had seen scratches on her neck, and that Kennedy had additionally pulled his girlfriend’s hair, “pulling out strands of her dreadlocks.”

19 Investigates first reported Monday that Kennedy was charged with home violence and illegal restraint, that are each misdemeanor offenses.

Ohio is the one U.S. state the place strangulation shouldn’t be a felony crime.

Consultants say strangulation is massive crimson flag in home violence conditions, and sometimes foreshadows an escalating use of violence and homicidal intent.

In response to the Coaching Institute on Strangulation Prevention, ladies who’ve been strangled by their companions are 750% extra more likely to be murdered than home violence victims who’ve by no means been strangled.

State lawmakers are at the moment pushing for more durable home violence legal guidelines in Ohio, together with making strangulation a felony offense.

Kennedy’s 2019 arrest was labeled by Cleveland Municipal Court docket as a “excessive threat home violence” case, a designation given to offenders with prior home violence arrests or incidents that had been particularly violent.

Court docket information present his home violence cost, a first-degree misdemeanor, was later diminished to felony mischief, a third-degree misdemeanor.

After pleading responsible in Could 2019, Kennedy acquired a suspended jail sentence and was positioned on neighborhood management supervision.

He was additionally ordered to enter the court docket’s Home Intervention, Training and Coaching Program, which supplies home violence offenders a possibility to “take part in a psychosocial schooling program in lieu of incarceration.”

In response to the court docket’s web site, offenders within the diversion program are required to attend 16 two-hour periods that stress “non-violence, non-threatening conduct, respect, help and belief, accountability and honesty, sexual respect, partnership and negotiation, and equity.”

Final month, Kennedy was scheduled to go on trial for a felony weapons violation in Summit County. The trial was continued on the request of his protection lawyer.

Court docket information present Kennedy was arrested in Oct. 2021 in Macedonia for OVI and improperly dealing with a firearm in a motorized vehicle.

In response to the indictment, he was in possession of Smith & Wesson M&P on the time of his arrest.

A warrant was issued on Sept. 20 after Kennedy failed to seem at a court docket listening to for the OVI and weapons fees. The warrant was recalled six days later and Kennedy’s $5,000 bond was continued.

As a situation of his bond, he’s not allowed to own any firearms.

Court docket information affirm Kennedy appeared for a listening to in his felony case on Nov. 15, two days after Adrianna Taylor was reported lacking to Cleveland Police.

Taylor’s kinfolk stated they’d not heard from her since early October.

The 23-year-old’s physique was recovered from the yard of a house within the 800 block of Hill Avenue in Wilkinsburg on Nov. 24 after a neighbor tipped off police about suspicious exercise on the residence, which was captured on surveillance video.

Taylor died because of a gunshot wound to the top, in line with the Workplace of the Allegheny County Medical Examiner. Her demise was dominated a murder.

Regulation enforcement sources instructed 19 Investigates her physique was discovered within a tote bag which had been positioned within an even bigger development bag.

The baggage had been discovered below concrete, which was nonetheless partially moist when investigators made the invention.

Cleveland Police issued a warrant for Kennedy’s arrest final Friday, the day after Taylor’s physique was discovered.

In response to the warrant, the suspect’s sister “both at the moment or just lately resided” on the Wilkinsburg dwelling, and he had just lately been seen within the yard.

Kennedy was accompanied by an lawyer when he surrendered to police in Pennsylvania on Wednesday afternoon.

Blaine Jones, a Pittsburgh felony protection lawyer, stated he was first contacted by Kennedy on Tuesday.

Jones stated the FBI knowledgeable him that there was a nationwide manhunt for his consumer.

“It’s at all times harmful when you’ve gotten a warrant, not to mention a nationwide manhunt for an arrest warrant like this, and it was Mr. Kennedy’s need to show himself in ASAP,” Jones stated. “He didn’t need any sort of hurt to come back to him or his household and, fairly frankly, he needed to face the costs.”

“I perceive that there’s video on the market,” Jones stated. “I’d ask everybody to affected person, permit due course of to play out.”

“I believed that it was commendable that he turned himself in. I imply, that’s a primary constructive step. It’s not like he’s on the run someplace, he’s not taking place the freeway in a white Bronco,” Jones stated, making a reference to the notorious 1994 police pursuit involving former NFL star O.J. Simpson, who was needed for the homicide of his spouse.

Jones stated Kennedy can be extradited to Cleveland, since police consider that’s the place Taylor was killed.

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