Keon King, the suspect in the kidnapping of Kada Scott, faces additional charges after Scott’s body was found over the weekend, investigators revealed during a press conference on Monday, Oct. 20.
On Sunday, Oct. 19, The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office approved new charges against King, including arson, causing catastrophe, conspiracy, unauthorized use of an automobile, tampering with evidence, recklessly endangering another person, and receiving stolen property.
Investigators determined King had used a stolen 2008 black Hyundai Accent to move Scott’s body and that he later burned the vehicle.
While King faces several new charges, he has not been charged with murder as the medical examiner works to determine a cause of death.
“We will bring homicide charges when we can confirm everything we need for probable cause,” Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said on Monday.
During Monday’s press conference, officials also shared the following statement from Scott’s family:
It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved daughter, Kada Scott.
We kindly ask for space and privacy at this time as we process the heartbreaking events of the past few weeks. Our hearts are shattered, yet we are deeply grateful for the outpouring of love, support, and prayers from people across the nation and around the world.
Please continue to keep us in prayer as we navigate this unimaginable loss.
Our hearts are broken beyond measure. We are profoundly thankful to every person who shared Kada’s story, joined the search efforts, prayed with us, and stood by our family during this devastating time. Your compassion, love, and strength have carried us when we could not carry ourselves.
Kada was deeply loved. Her light, kindness and beautiful spirit will forever remain in our hearts.
We also wish to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Mayor Cherelle Parker, the Philadelphia Police Department, all first responders, local volunteers, community organizations, and media outlets, as well as everyone who worked tirelessly to help find our daughter. Although the outcome is one no parent should ever have to face, we remain thankful for the unity, leadership, and love that surrounded us through it all.
As we continue to grieve, our family now seeks justice for Kada. We place our full trust in the Philadelphia Police Department and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office to ensure that the truth is revealed and that those responsible are held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. Please honor Kada’s memory by showing kindness and care to one another – just as she did every day of her life.
With love, strength and gratitude,
The Family of Kada Scott
Philadelphia Councilmember Anthony Phillips, who represents the 9th District, also revealed during the press conference that his office is accepting donations for Scott’s father, mother and sister.
Those items include self-care items, toiletries, comfort and relaxation products, gift cards, and non-perishable food items.
Anyone who wishes to donate to the Scott family can drop items off at the Wadsworth Office on 1514 Wadsworth Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the following times:
- Tuesday, Oct. 21, through Friday, Oct. 24, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 25, from 9 a.m. through noon
Anyone with additional questions about donations can call the office of Councilmember Phillips at 215-686-3454.
Finally, while King is in custody, officials are still asking the public for tips and for any other victims of King to come forward.
If you have any information on the death of Kada Scott or were victimized by King in the past, please call Philadelphia Police at 215-686-TIPS or the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office at 215-686-8000.
A candlelight vigil for Scott took place on Monday, Oct. 20, at 4 p.m. at the vacant Ada H. Lewis Middle School, the same location where her body was found over the weekend.
Kada Scott
Timeline of Kada Scott’s disappearance and death
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.
Law enforcement sources told NBC10 they believe Scott was killed shortly after she vanished, possibly within 20 to 30 minutes of her disappearance.
Prior to her disappearance, Scott had complained that someone had been harassing her through her phone, investigators said. Police said they hadn’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.
“They knew each other to some extent,” Toczylowski said. “We believe maybe there was some cellphone communication obviously.”
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 believed Scott was inside at one point. Later on Wednesday, police responded to the vacant 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. 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.
Meanwhile, community members and Scott’s family members continued to search for Scott each day. Those who searched on Friday, Oct. 17, at the school said they found signs of a point of interest, such as fresh dirt and a strange smell.
“Sign number one, fresh dirt under a board,” one man who searched for Scott said. “So we begin to try to dig with our hands, and there’s maggots there under the ground, and there’s a strange smell coming from the ground.”
Then later on Friday around 10 p.m., police received a “very specific” anonymous tip regarding Scott’s whereabouts. Police then returned to the Ada H. Lewis Middle School on Saturday, Oct. 18. They then found the body of an unidentified woman in a shallow grave in a wooded area near the school.
The body appeared to be around a week old or less, Deputy Commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department John Stanford said at the time.
Then on Sunday, Oct. 19, the remains were identified as Scott by the medical examiner’s office using DNA evidence, sources confirmed with NBC10.
Community members gathered behind the crime scene tape at the search site on Saturday, where they voiced anger and frustration at police, who they say could have found the body sooner. Stanford said he understood people’s frustrations amid the tragic circumstances, but said he believed the department had done enough in the case.
“I’m not offended by some of the passion in some of the remarks that have been made as we are walking back,” Stanford said. “I’m not offended at all by emotion, and this is an emotional situation. However, I know what we have done and the amount of hours that have been put into this process to try and locate Miss Scott.”
In a statement on the disappearance of Scott, released on Saturday night, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said that the city would support Scott’s family in their time of need.
“There are no words that I can employ to remove the unimaginable pain and turmoil that the family of Kada Scott is experiencing with the tragic loss of their beloved daughter, sister and loved one,” the mayor said.
What we know about Keon King
King was initially charged with kidnapping for ransom, false imprisonment, criminal use of communication facility, stalking, recklessly endangering another person and tampering with physical evidence after he surrendered to police on Oct. 14, officials said.
On Oct. 19, a day after Scott’s body was found, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office approved new charges against King of arson, causing or risking catastrophe, conspiracy, unauthorized use of a vehicle, tampering with evidence, recklessly endangering another person, and receiving stolen property.
Investigators determined a 2008 black Hyundai Accent, had been stolen on the 6600 block of Sprague Street in Philadelphia on Oct. 3, a day before Scott was reported missing.
On Oct. 7, around 3 a.m., police responded to a report of a burned Hyundai Accent on the 2300 block of 7th Avenue. When they arrived, they discovered the car was no longer at the location but instead had been compacted at a nearby junkyard.
Through surveillance video from the East Arbury Recreation Center — which is located on the property of the Ada H. Lewis Middle School — and cellphone data, officials determined King used the stolen vehicle to move Scott’s body and that he also set the car on fire.
While King faces several charges in connection to Scott’s disappearance, he has not been charged with murder as the medical examiner continues to work to determine Scott’s cause of death.
Toczylowski also said Monday that other people may have been involved.
“At this point we did charge conspiracy, so we do have reason to believe that other people may have been involved after the fact, but who they are and level of involvement not going to comment at this time,” Toczylowski said.
King is currently being held on $2.5 million bail at 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.
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 a press conference on Friday, Oct. 17, District Attorney Larry 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.”
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