Tonica Jenkins

A vicious attack leaves a Cleveland woman fighting for her life.

“She was bleeding heavily from her head, her scalp.”

She's trembling in fear and screaming that they're trying to kill her. But the investigation quickly turns into a case of she said, she said. They tried every which way to describe it. She was yelling that, that's her, that's the lady that tried to kill me. When detectives finally unravel the truth, it turns out to be stranger than anything

they could have possibly imagined. We were dealing with somebody that was just incorrigible. She picked her way in the early university. She gets her story about being abducted.

“She's snapped when she actually realized she was going to have to face justice.”

I've never seen anybody try to fake their own hat to avoid going to jail.

This was easily the most diabolical incident I've ever had in a mess of game. You're my mother, a female. She's seated right there. [MUSIC PLAYING] April 21st, 2001.

It's a pleasant spring afternoon in East Cleveland, Ohio. But for the workers inside a fast food restaurant, things take a violent turn. On that particular day, there was a 911 call that came in from the Kentucky Fried Chicken.

“What they were witnessing is a woman who bursts into the restaurant,”

trembling in fear, bloody about the head, and screaming that they're trying to kill her. Not knowing whether this is something that is drug and do store or otherwise, they pick up the phone, call 911. [MUSIC PLAYING]

When first responders arrive, they find the woman, 27-year-old Melissa Laython, in a state of shock.

She had a large, laceration or cut on her forehead, and was also bleeding heavily from her head, her scalp. She was very coherent at the time, but she was definitely hysterical. Melissa was telling officers that there was a woman across the street, and her male cousin that assaulted her and tried to kill her. She did mention that she was injected with insulin during her assault. But she did not go into white or anything that lit up to it.

[MUSIC PLAYING] Melissa is very believable, but at the same time, due to the fact we don't know the parties or who's involved. It's a big question mark.

As the first responders are taking in what Melissa is telling them,

so many unseen appears another woman, well put together, and she has her own story, contradicting what Melissa is relaying to them. Black female walks in yelling at the victim that she tried to take her money from her $1,000. Melissa saw her and actually climbed over the counter to get away from her. And was yelling that's her, and that's the lady that tried to kill me. While first responders tend to Melissa inside, police take the new arrival outside.

She was asked her identity, and she identified herself as Tonica Jenkins. The story that Tonica Gibbs is that Melissa stole money from her and from her cousin Kyle Martin. Tonica seemed very believable. She didn't have any marks on her. She seemed very clean cut and pretty much kept with her story that Melissa took a $1,000 from her. She didn't indicate that she was involved in no way shape or form with the assault of Melissa.

So based on the totality of statements, it was imperative that we'd find out what was going on. Melissa Rochelle-Latham was born July 14, 1973. She grew up in East Cleveland, along with four siblings. My father was a truck driver, and my mother wasn't nurse, and we lived good. Everything was structured. We had chores. We had Bible studies.

I could communicate with effectively.

We just had that bond. Melissa was bubbly outgrown, always energetic, always making us laugh.

Despite a happy early childhood, the 90s brought on a difficult era for the Latham family. When my mom was going through her addiction, that was the time when we were supposed to be being nurtured. It was hard. My father did all he could. I ain't know what was going on. I was a kid. We ended up moving from place to place with my mom's friends. Melissa started acting out from trying to replace what was missing from what we knew to be normal.

When she was 13 years old, she got pregnant and had a baby, her first child. She really tried, but she was a baby herself.

A second child followed a few years later, and Melissa liked her mother before her, began using drugs as an escape from reality. The drug didn't take over her like that. She still was functional. So, I really didn't know the difference until it was obvious.

“She started looking different. She started acting different. She would be out of stress all night. That's what addiction does.”

Melissa eventually had seven children, and to fund her increasing drug use, she turned to a life of petty crime. She was a booster. A thief still had a lot of stores closed, you know, selling to other people. Often, she'd get caught and she would have to go sit down in the county jail for lamps of times, and to she, you know, go to court and she'd come out. Then she'd go right back to doing what she'd do, and get back in trouble, and end back up in jail. As a result, the state declared Melissa an unfit mother, and placed her children in foster care.

When she found out the kids was going a crusher, I think it made her slip deeper into her addiction. It feels like helpless, hopeless, dark. It made her forget about everything that made her hurt. I remember her trying to seek help.

But everything she did she always found herself going back to the drug.

As Melissa entered her late 20s, the family moved from East Cleveland to the suburb of Oakwood in the late 90s, hoping to help turn her life around. When we moved to Oakwood, Melissa started working, often not. She gets a job at McDonald's, and he's getting a little bit better. He gave him more clarity, he gave him more purpose, having a job, but she still would go and do what she wanted to do eventually.

“She would find a way to get out, and unfortunately that's what happened at night.”

Instead of escaping her addiction, it appears Melissa might have become the victim of a drug deal gone wrong. As officers continue speaking with Tonnika, Melissa's condition worsens. EMTs on scene definitely need to stabilize her. Melissa mentioned she was just injected with amounts of insulin that definitely started to affect her, so they needed to rush her to the hospital. So as Melissa's being wielding to the ambulance, she points at the residence, letting officers know that is where the assault occurred.

That was definitely indicative for us to get over to that house, and find out who is there, but also corroborate what happened.

“Coming up, one of the women that this bizarre scene is lying to officers, the question is, who?”

Melissa tells the police that the attack happened across the street, Tonnika says, "No, it didn't." And investigators hear the details of a diabolical scheme. She wanted to know if he knew any females that wanted to make some money. When the car pulled up on me, she say, "Uh, would you do it in life?"

According to her, Melissa has the story all wrong.

“Tonnika gave the impression that for that day or previous days, Melissa was doing drugs with her cousin Kao Martin.”

Melissa tells the police that the attack happened at the family home across the street from the fast food restaurant. Tonnika says, "No, it didn't happen at the house, it happened at an abandoned building next door." Tonnika indicated whatever occurred that happened between Kao and Melissa Latham. She had no involvement. Although Tonnika seems to be the more believable of the two, officers decide to check for themselves. They've been directed to the family home by the Melissa and Tonnika agrees to let them into the home, but then there is delay.

Tonnika indicated it was hard to get in. She had to ring the door bail because her parents were inside and they were in fact eagerly.

“But after a few minutes, officers were able to make entry with Tonnika into the residence.”

But officers did notice that she was being a basin.

Since Melissa claimed she was attacked in the basement, that's the first place the officers look.

The basement was not finished and pretty much appeared to be used for storage. They were bikes, boxes, a refrigerator. The first thing they noticed was a strong order of bleach, and they noted that Tonnika's mother was cleaning. They asked her what she's doing, and she says that she's cleaning after the dogs because her grandbabies played down there. Officers noticed the coincidence and quickly spots something that doesn't add up.

Officers noted blood splatter on the stairs and a couple other locations in the basement.

It was indicative of the officers as something definitely happened, and further investigation was needed to follow up on what physical evidence might still remain at the house. Based on their findings, police put Tonnika in police custody, while other officers focus on tracking down her cousin Kyle. His officers were in the basement with Tonnika and her mother. Another set of officers happened to be checking next door to both residences, and that's where they happened upon Kyle Martin. Kyle Martin is sweaty, he scratched up.

They handcuffed them and let them outside. They were in the basement with Tonnika who was also handcuffed. At that point, Kyle noted she was handcuffed and said, "You can uncover a matter of go." This was all me. Kyle Martin tells the police he is the one that attacked and assaulted Melissa.

So with that admission, police then do release Tonnika Jenkins at that point to further investigation by taking Kyle in for further questioning. Checking into Kyle, he had a long extensive criminal history. Receive a stolen property, carrying case of weapons, selling of substitute illicit drugs, and also grant that. While waiting on a warrant to inspect the scene, investigators employ a little trickery to get Kyle to talk. We indicated that Melissa had passed away.

“There is no clear-cut rule that you have to tell the entire truth to be transparent during investigation.”

The tactic works, and with the added pressure from detectives, Kyle breaks. Once he was advised that Melissa lengthened past away, he was very cooperative at that point and wanted to give his side of the story. What we learned, I think this was easily the most diabolical and thought-out incident I ever had investigating.

Police have Kyle Martin and custody for the attack on Melissa Latham, and he has agreed to reveal what really happened.

“Kyle starts by explaining how he and his cousin first encountered Melissa Latham.”

He mentioned that Tonica wanted to know if he knew any females that wanted to make some money. It was through an insurance fraud, where they could find females who would get examined whether it was dental visits, half smears, breast examinations, and they would make money from doing this. Kyle says he didn't know the details on how the scam would work, but Tonica offered him compensation for his help, so he agreed without question.

Four days ago on April 20, he and Tonica went cruising for volunteers.

They drive around East Cleveland and happen upon Melissa Latham. She's walking westbound late at night on Euclid Avenue by United Furniture in East Cleveland.

“They approach her in a red, small mid-sized vehicle with Pennsylvania plates. Kyle has seated in the back of the vehicle and Tonica is driving.”

They ask her, "Would she be interested in making some money just doing some insurance fraud?" And she agrees to do so. Kyle says Melissa was under the impression that she was doing this insurance scam for medical payout.

According to Kyle, they stopped to buy drugs and returned to the house on Delmont.

The next day, they took Melissa to the dentist for X-rays. They went to Strongsville High to the dental appointment and he remained in a car while Tonica and Melissa went in for their appointment.

“About an hour later, they come back to the car and from there they go to retrieve more drugs and then after that they went back where they smoked the drugs.”

Their scheme had been a success, but Kyle says the following morning things took a turn for the worse. Kyle Martin wakes up and he's paranoid from using drugs the night before. Latham is still there, which kind of upset him. He didn't feel comfortable with her being there. While she's in the bathroom, Kyle notes that $800 and some crack is missing. When Melissa comes out of the bathroom, Kyle is agitated and strikes her.

In the forehead and also in the back of the head. Tonica here in the commotion comes downstairs and asks what's going on with the problem. At this point, Kyle says, "Gee's your problem." Kyle then mentions that Tonica assaults Melissa with a break. She was laying in a pool of blood and Kyle is watching Tonica inject her at least four times in a left arm when insulin.

At this time, Kyle's like, "Wow, Dr. Kavorkin, what are you doing?" Kyle claims he left the basement at that point to get some air, but Tonica joined him a few moments later. Tonica mentions that Melissa has gotten away. At this point, Tonica takes the break and also the syringe that was used in the assault. Raps it in a great plastic bag and takes the next door to that abandoned area between the house and throws it over to fix.

They have Kyle Martin in custody. He's detained upon the basis of his admission that he used the one that assaulted Melissa. It was imperative to not only corroborate his interview with Melissa, but also check on Melissa's condition. Upon arriving to the hospital, we were unable to interview her because she was still out of it. She had six stitches to the front of her forehead and she had 25 to 30 staples to the back of her head from the attack with the break. Due to the insulin that was injected with her, her blood sugar was dangerously low.

When investigators talk to Melissa's doctors, her injuries seemed to match the story Kyle told them.

That was mentioned by Kyle Martin. Her insulin levels are off the charts. That corroborate with Kyle is telling the police.

Melissa was in a very critical state.

We were very worried that she wasn't going to pull through with this. Melissa, Leitham, L-A-T-H-A-L. I just remember saying I was lucky. Milk of God must definitely need.

“I remember waking up looking at her, like, scales all across my face.”

A lot of staples in my head and I had stitches in my forehead. I couldn't believe I was in that situation. The day after Kyle Martin's confession, investigators get good news. Melissa Leitham has regained consciousness and is finally able to talk to them. We definitely wanted to be sensitive to her and her condition.

First, we wanted her to be able to identify the possible suspects.

So she was one photo array where she positively identified Kyle Martin and she was shown another photo array where she was able to identify Tonic of Jenkins. So that helped us immensely and she established that those were the two individuals that attacked her. After identifying Kyle and Tonica, Melissa tells police everything she can remember about what happened.

It was pretty much identical to Kyle's from starting with her walking,

“was found down Euclid that they offered her some money.”

So she could do this insurance fraud. When the car pulled up on me, she said, "Um, what you doing?" And I'm like, "I'm trying to make some money."

She said, "Um, well, we can have you make money.

All you gotta do is go to the dentist." I'm like, "Well, ain't no dentist offers open at two o'clock in the morning. She's like, "No, we're gonna take you on the morning." She gave me a sweat shirt, which was a yellow shirt. She said, "Okay, when we go, we're gonna make up a name to put on the paperwork."

And she was acting like she was making up a name, right, for this insurance scam. At the time I didn't know it, but she was putting her name under my dinner work. The reason wouldn't become clear until they got back from the appointment.

“She takes us back to the house on their mind.”

Go back to where we was at in the basement doing the same thing, which was smoking drugs. I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and stuff. The light was on the bathroom when I came out. What no, light song. I'm like, "You all turn the lights on, I can't see."

And that's when I felt Kyle swinging at me. I'm acting while y'all doing it to me. What did I do? I know I didn't steal nothing. I'm acting on what did I do.

They was hitting me and punched me. And then, she picked up a sledgehammer. And she was like, "No, don't use that. Don't use the bricks." So he hit me in the head with the brick about three times. He was like, "She ain't passed up yet, and that's when she grabbed the brick and hit me two more times."

Now, start putting up a fight and was fighting for my life fighting and fighting for my life fighting and fighting, but I had ran out of energy. All of a sudden, I feel needles going into my body. Kyle was like, "What did you do on? What did you stick at her wing?" She was like, "Oh, this mama's insulin. I just wanted to pass out."

And I'm like, "Lord, I got to play there because if I don't play there, I'm going to be there." They was talking while I would when I thought I was unconscious. She was telling Kyle that she's your cousin right here. We're going to get this ankle bracelet off me, put it on her, because she's going to be me, and I'm going to be there.

She was like, "We're going to check her to this band of apartment next door and burn her up." While they go ahead and I didn't afraid of it, this is about her dinner wreckers. I was scared to death. I just knew I was about to die. At that point, Tonica has Kyle go upstairs with her to find something to wrap up, a listen's body, so they can burn her and the garage outside.

I was a little dizzy from the insulin, and the spoon that me and Kyle was cooking drugs up on.

“I used to enter that spoon to unlock the door, and I got up the door.”

On the outside of the door was a pitbull. I'm scared to say all the pitbulls, but I want scared this day. I got that door open, running across the street, went in the car, and I said, "They tried to kill me. They tried to kill me. Could you please call on that one?" For investigators, Melissa's story changes everything.

At this point, the whole plot became very nefarious to us.

It went from a robbery over drugs and money to basically an attempted murder case.

“Why was it important for Tonica to kill Melissa Latham to make her appear to be her?”

Next, homicide detectives look into Tonica Jenkins background. Taka grew up in East Cleveland. She grew up with two brothers. She was living in the greater Cleveland area with her mother and father. Her father was a retired police officer. The relationship between mother and daughter seemed to be as one would expect.

They seemed to be very tight, very close, travel together, and I'm sure leaned on one another for support.

Tonica was always the person that was labeled as a smart one of the family,

“and attended Kaihoge County Community College for a number of years back in the early 1990s.”

She then applies for a graduate program at the Yale University in their neuroscience department. She was able to get a full ride as well as $16,000 additionally with the grant. It's during her classwork that the professor is perplexed because she's not at the level where she should be based on her transcripts based on the letters recommendation. So he picks up the phone and calls one of the professors from her community college. Then once some insight as to how can I help Tonica succeed here, and that's when it starts to unravel.

They have no record of her. What she'd done was apparently created a paper trail that represented her to be a gifted young neuroscientist. One in fact she was not. When they pull up her criminal history, detectives discover the ankle bracelet, Melissa Latham described is actually an ankle monitor. Tonica is required to wear from a previous conviction.

We were able to see that in 1998. She was charged with fraud. Once her deception was uncovered, Tonica was charged with counts of forgery and larceny. But on the morning of her court date, she failed to show up. This is not good. There's going to come out in a few minutes, and he's spitting nails today, where is she? They made efforts to call her, but we were unable to find her. Eventually, Tonica returned to her home in East Cleveland with a dramatic explanation.

She said the reason she didn't make it to court was because she had been kidnapped, raped, thrown in the back of a trunk, and driven to Philadelphia, where they dumped the car. I mean, this is the kind of stuff that shows up in fiction, in novels, you know. Coming up, Tonica Jenkins motive is revealed. She lied to get in the jail. She lied about what happened to Melissa. She's a liar. She'd already been convicted of fraud. She just was stepping up again.

Detectives look into Tonica Jenkins' history and discover a stunning pattern of lies and deceit. A charge from 1997 for forgery and larceny after being admitted to jail under false documentation. Tonica failed to show up for sentencing, claiming she was kidnapped. Tonica gets her story about being abducted in rape, then I hear stuffed in the trunk of her car, and somehow she managed to get out and drive home.

Her attorney even receives an anonymous delivery.

“I was showing photographs of her purportedly in the trunk.”

Who took the photographs, how she got 'em? They raised some pretty significant credibility questions. Despite the outlandish excuses, Tonica's attorney was able to negotiate a plea deal for her to repay the money she took from Yale and serve three years of probation. I was prepared to try the case rather than agree to a plea bargain that involved the prison time. Then the state insisted that she get a felony.

But after several court appearances, the state agreed to submit her to what's called accelerated rehabilitation,

which is a program that says if you'll complete a brief period of probation, the charge will be dismissed. Tonica's police record shows that months after starting her probation, she was arrested again this time in Florida.

“We learned that Tonica and her mother Tanika were up for a trial for trafficking drugs.”

We spoke with the hit agent. At that particular time, I was in a narcotic group. Yet undercover agents contacted by two ladies from Cleveland about coming down here and negotiating the drug deal. So we set up a time and they met at a restaurant here in Tampa. Tonica said that she had people that she could sell this cocaine to,

and ultimately what she wanted was she wanted to take 10 kilos.

We've made an arrangement for them to show up to a location here in Tampa warehouse that we controlled, and they were to bring $100,000. When they came in the warehouse, the undercover was letting them know that you needed to see the money. The two ladies pulled the money out out of back you seal bags. Once he saw the money, he made a phone call where the second undercover showed up with a flash amount of cocaine. The mother actually cut it and taste tested it, which no professional drug dealer does that.

Nobody with any sense puts their finger in anything and puts it in a mouth they don't know what it is. So we thought they would definitely be watching too much television. Once Tonica and her mother committed to the exchange, the rest of the undercover teams swept in and made the arrests. They were charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine. With those charges, they were facing a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years up to life imprisonment.

They had their initial appearance in federal court here in Tampa, and the judge granted them a bond so they could go home to Cleveland prior to trial. As a condition of her bond, Tonica Jenkins was going to be required to wear an ankle monitor. To detectives in East Cleveland, Tonica's motive for using Melissa to fake her own death is now clear. Just as Tonica faked her way into a rape and kidnapping, she was trying to make this into a ag murder where she can avoid her charges in Tampa, Florida. She lied to get in the jail. She lied about where she was when she was supposed to show up for court.

She lied about what happened after Melissa was attacked and escaped. She's a liar. She'd already been convicted of fraud. She just was stepping up her game. This troublesome thing that Jenkins thought Melissa was so worthless and that her life meant nothing. This was going to kill her to avoid going to prison for something as she did.

“I believe Tonica Jenkins snapped when she actually realized she was going to have to face justice.”

So after speaking with the U.S. attorney and also with the head agent for her case, we were able to get two warrants, one for Tonica, four attempted murder and for her mother, for tampering with evidence, complicity and obstruction. Investigators returned to the Delmont address and discover both women are gone.

Please go to look for Tonica and her mother and find that they have already left the state

“on their way down to Florida to stand trial for the drug case that they're trying to avoid.”

Kyle Martin, Tonica Jenkins and her mother Tonica Clement have been charged in connection to the attempted murder of Melissa Latham. But prosecutors in Cleveland will have to wait their turn to try them. April 2001 they returned to the Tampa for trial. Once I found out about the attempted murder of Melissa Latham, I figured we would deal with somebody that was just incorrigible.

To go from committing fraud to dealing cocaine is one thing.

But taking her house arrest bracelet off and putting it on a dead body so you could fake your own death.

There's really no explanation for that. Tonica and Tonica were both found guilty on each of the two counts. Conspiracy to possess will then tend to distribute five kilograms of more of cocaine and possession will then tend to distribute five kilograms of more of cocaine. The judge ended up sentencing Tonica to 24 years and seven months.

And Tonica was sentenced to 15 years and seven months. We had to wait a couple of years before we were able to extradite them back from Florida.

In February 2003, mother and daughter returned to Ohio to face the attempted murder charges.

We presented 16 witnesses that testified. The picture that was painted was one that Tonica Jenkins, the daughter was the mastermind behind what happened to Melissa. Melissa had to relive that night when she saw her life almost snuffed out. Telling the story in the factual sense was easy, but in an emotional sense, I'm sure it took a toll on her. You remember the female blood?

Yes.

“Could you point out for the record where she is seated and article the polling that she is working?”

She's seated right there with them the wrong sweater on her. You're honored to record with reflect that Ms. Latham has identified Tonica Jenkins. The defense has no witnesses to call, but they insist Melissa's testimony can't be trusted. Kyle will not testify and one of the challenges was, our witnesses for the most part were all either recovering drug addicts or are still under the influence still in the grips of addiction starting with Melissa herself.

They tried every good way to discredit me. You were convicted of a theft offense in Maple Heights, were you not? Yes. When did you begin using crack cocaine? About four years ago.

The evidence spoke for itself. They had the dentist, they had the clothes, the brick, the staples in my head, I hit myself. And they found traces of my blood in the basement, the mama was trying to clean it up.

“And I think that they believed me because Kyle confessed.”

In her corner was the truth. And I think it really struck a chord with the jury. In just one day they returned their verdict. Taken Jenkins was found guilty of two cows of tamper with evidence, attempted to aggravate it murder, complicity to commit murder, kidnapping, and falling assault.

She was sentenced to 20 years in Ohio Penitentiary. The mother Tonica Clement was found guilty of obstructing justice and was sentenced to one year. In a separate trial, Kyle Martin is found guilty of kidnapping and sentenced to ten years. Kyle said that he was get a Tonica because she would have had him killed too. He was just trying to make it seem like he didn't have to undo it.

I felt Tonica definitely received her appropriate time. Meet it to her for actions. I felt Kyle should have received a lot more.

This case is different on several different levels.

“Her prior criminal history, for example, is something that one would never hear of.”

That literally is a made for TV movie.

When 30 years as a federal prosecutor, I mean, I've seen people who have been killed, mostly witnesses, so that they wouldn't testify.

“But I've never seen anybody try to fake their own death to avoid going to jail.”

Tonica Jenkins is the kind of person that would be friends somebody and smile in a face.

And laughing till jokes, what promises and just for the control to complete whatever objective she got planned. That's taking emptiness.

“She called, she ain't called enough though.”

I got scars, but I'm still me. I'm still Melissa Rochell, lighter my dinner today. I know addition is a beast. I just am be careful and be aware you're surrounded and try to get help because there is help out here. It's help, you know, and forget yourself.

[Music]