Two Indicted for 2007 Home Invasion and Murders

January 21, 2010 - Earlier today a federal grand jury returned an indictment against two men for the March 23, 2007, murders of Brittany Kekedakis, age 15, Maria McLay, age 32, and Otahl Saunders, age 31, following a home invasion in St. Paul. The indictment charges Tyvarus Lee Lindsey, age 28, a/k/a Stick, and Rashad Raleigh, age 31, a/ka/ Shoddy, with three counts of murder resulting from possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking offense and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking offense.

In response to the indictment, U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones said, “Three individuals, including a mother and daughter, were senselessly gunned down in their home. While we can never fill the void left in their families, we can and will work diligently with our law enforcement partners in this case to ensure that those responsible for this reprehensible act are brought to justice.”

Police reports indicate that on March 23, 2007, officers responded to a call from the 200 block of Burgess in St. Paul at about 6:30 a.m. Upon arriving at the house in question, officers found Saunders’s body as well as the bodies of McLay, Saunders’s live-in girlfriend, and her daughter, Brittany Kekedakis. McLay’s other two children, ages 7 and 10 at the time, were in the home when the murders occurred but were not physically harmed.

The indictment specifically alleges that Lindsey and Raleigh knowingly possessed a firearm on March 23, 2007, in furtherance of a conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. It also alleges that during the course of the conspiracy to distribute those substances, they caused the deaths of Kekedakis, McLay, and Saunders through the malicious and premeditated use of a firearm.

The indictment includes a notice of special findings for both Lindsey and Raleigh. It alleges they intentionally engaged in an act of violence with reckless disregard for human life, and they took the lives of more than one person, including a 15-year-old. It also alleges the defendants committed the crimes in a heinous manner that involved the torture of Saunders, and that both Lindsey and Raleigh previously have been convicted of crimes involving the use or attempted use of a firearm against others.

If convicted, Lindsey and Raleigh face a potential maximum penalty of life in prison on the firearm possession charge and either the death penalty or life in prison on each of the three murder charges. All sentences will be determined by a federal district court judge and, if appropriate, a jury.

This case is the result of an investigation by the St. Paul Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jeffrey S. Paulsen and Christian S. Wilton.