As the search continues for missing Philadelphia woman Kada Scott, District Attorney Larry Krasner shared the latest updates on the investigation as well as the suspect charged in her kidnapping, Keon King.
Krasner and other members of his office held a press conference on Scott and King on Friday, Oct. 17, at 3 p.m. Krasner said that his office along with Philadelphia Police and the FBI are all involved in the investigation.
Krasner said other victims of King have come forward since his arrest and he urged any other potential victims or anyone with information on Scott’s whereabouts to come forward as well.
“I’m asking you, please come forward. All Philadelphians. Please come forward. Let us know any information you have,” Krasner said. “Whether it’s information about a car. Whether it’s information about a phone. Whether it’s information about a piece of evidence. Information about another victim. Something that you saw in social media. Even if you don’t know that it’s accurate or true but you know you heard it or saw it, we’re asking you to come forward.”
Anyone with information on Scott’s whereabouts should call Philadelphia Police at 215-686-TIPS (8477). Scott’s family also created a GoFundMe to raise reward money for anyone with information on her whereabouts. As of Friday afternoon, the reward fund reached more than $11,514.
The disappearance of Kada Scott
Kada Scott, 23, went missing on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. Scott’s family saw her around 9:45 p.m. that evening when she left their home along the 8300 block of Rodney Street in Philadelphia to head to her overnight shift at the Terrace at Chestnut Hill, a nursing home on East Abington Avenue.
Scott never finished her shift. Police said that she drove to work and parked her car there but she didn’t leave in her vehicle. The car was found by police in the parking lot of the nursing home after she was reported missing, officials said.
Prior to her disappearance, Scott had complained that someone had been harassing her through her phone, investigators said. Police said they haven’t seen any cellphone activity from Scott since she went missing.
On Oct. 10, investigators searched through the Awbury Arboretum on 1 Awbury Road in Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood but didn’t find Scott. As the investigation continued, police determined that 23-year-old Keon King of Dover, Delaware, was the last person to see Scott before her disappearance. King was then identified as the suspect in Scott’s kidnapping.
On Tuesday, Oct. 14, King surrendered to police. Police then announced King’s arrest during a press conference on Wednesday, Oct. 15. They then released surveillance photos of King’s vehicle, a gold 1999 Toyota Camry which they believe Scott was inside at one point. Later on Wednesday, police responded to the abandoned Ada H. Lewis Middle School on the 6100 block of Ardleigh Street – which is located near the Awbury Arboretum – after receiving a tip. Police recovered a cellphone case outside the school, according to sources.
Then later Wednesday afternoon, police received another tip and responded to the Gypsy Lane Condominiums on the 4000 block of Gypsy Lane Wednesday afternoon. That’s where they found the Toyota Camry in the parking lot. Sources told NBC10 King has family members who live at the complex. Police towed the vehicle and searched through it but didn’t find Scott.
What we know about Keon King
Keon King had a criminal record prior to his alleged involvement in Scott’s kidnapping. Investigators said King kidnapped and assaulted another victim earlier in the year.
Videos posted on social media showed a man – who investigators identified as King – hopping a fence and walking up to the window of a North Philadelphia home. The woman recording the video tells King to leave before telling another woman to call police, officials said. The video then shows King walking to the side of the home, peering into another window and trying to get inside, according to investigators.
The video was recorded earlier this year, about an hour before King allegedly kidnapped a woman, threw her in a car, assaulted her and then let her out of the vehicle. Investigators described that incident as “domestic” in nature. Assistant District Attorney Ashley Toczylowski told NBC10 that King’s 2-year-old child was in the backseat of the car during the incident.
“Ultimately when the complaining witness and eyewitness on that case stepped out of the property later that day is when the kidnapping occurred and he grabbed the victim, put her in the car, drove away and assaulted her,” she said.
While King was charged for that incident, the case was withdrawn in May 2025 because the victim didn’t show up in court, officials said.
“In this specific case what I can tell you is that after the first listing when the victim failed to appear, the case was marked what is called ‘must be tried.’ Which is a little bit of a court lingo but basically saying if it’s not tried by the next listing, it’ll either be dismissed or withdrawn,” Toczylowski said during a press conference on Wednesday. “It was marked that way after the first listing when she didn’t appear in court. And then at the second listing, when again we didn’t have the witness or the victim in court, it was at that point withdrawn given the previous marking.”
The charges against King in connection to the earlier kidnapping were refiled on Tuesday, Oct. 14, following his arrest in Scott’s disappearance, officials said.
Krasner blames cash bail system
During his press conference on Friday, Krasner addressed criticism his office has received over King’s initial kidnapping case being withdrawn.
“There is no doubt that there’s a list of people in this office, outside of this office, and no it doesn’t matter who they are, but there’s a list of people who made a lot of good decisions and a couple decisions that could’ve been made better,” Krasner said. “That could have been better. Certainly that has been discussed. But we also can’t skip over some of the systemic issues here that are not small.”
Those systemic issues, according to Krasner, are related to Philadelphia’s cash bail system. Krasner claimed his office had requested nearly $1 million bail for King for the initial kidnapping case.
“A million dollars minus one dollar bail and we did not get it. We don’t set bail. Judges do. The bail was set at $200,000,” Krasner said. “Why? Well probably because the commissioner who set the bail probably imagined that was enough to hold Keon King in custody. It wasn’t. Keon King had access to a lot of money and so he paid $20,000 bail almost immediately and was out of custody as a consequence of that, alright? This is the problem with cash bail.”
Krasner claimed that victims are less likely to appear in court if they know that a suspect is not in custody.
“That victim is more likely to walk in the door of the courthouse and testify if that victim knows that the defendant can’t walk out right behind her if he’s locked up,” he said. “Well, he wasn’t locked up here.”
Krasner then called for an end to the city’s current cash bail system.
“Someone profoundly dangerous should be held, I don’t care if they’ve got a lot of money. Someone whose not dangerous at all shouldn’t be held, I don’t care if they’re poor,” Krasner said. “That should have nothing to do with this. Money should be divorced from determining who stays in custody as has been done in the District of Columbia and many other states, it is a successful system. Now without pointing a finger at any individual, I am pointing a finger at the cash bail system because its role in this is frankly very problematic.”
Krasner also said his office has supported the kidnapping victim who didn’t show up to court and that they continue to support her.
Meanwhile, Patrick Dugan — the former judge who is running as a Republican against Krasner in the 2025 Philadelphia district attorney’s race — claimed that his opponent’s “failed policies” led to Scott’s kidnapping.
In a statement released Friday around the same time as Krasner’s press conference, Dugan claimed the District Attorney’s Office failed to produce a witness and present evidence to keep King in jail on his initial kidnapping charge.
“Withdrawals like Keon King’s are typical in Philadelphia’s Municipal Court because the District Attorneys are often vastly unprepared to hold preliminary hearings,” Dugan said. “This is the normal policy of the DAO, and it happens far too frequently. Cases like this are why I stepped down from the bench and was moved to run for District Attorney of Philadelphia.”
King is currently charged with kidnapping for ransom, false imprisonment, criminal use of communication facility, stalking, recklessly endangering another person and tampering with physical evidence in connection to Scott’s disappearance.
King’s bail was set at 10% of $2,500,000. He is currently being held in the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility.
NBC10 reached out to King’s attorney for comment. We will include a statement as soon as we receive one.
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