ID’s true-crime show See No Evil chronicles rising high school athlete Kelvin “KJ” Taylor’s murder by Dekotis Thomas. The episode titled “Fallen Star” will air on the network this Wednesday, January 10, 2024, at 9 p.m. ET.
The official synopsis for the upcoming episode reads, “In 2021, talented high school football star KJ Taylor is killed during a drive-by shooting outside a West Virginia convenience store; CCTV helps detectives follow the trail of the truck spotted stalking KJ’s friends leading up to the shooting.”
Kelvin “KJ” Taylor, Charleston’s Capital High School student-athlete, died of a gunshot wound to the chest, as per CBS News. The shooting occurred around 8:15 p.m. on April 7, 2021. Months later, in July of that year, police identified 19-year-old Dekotis Thomas as a suspect in the murder using surveillance footage. The following August, Thomas entered a Kennedy plea to one count of first-degree murder, receiving a life sentence.
According to the West Virginia Department of Corrections, Dekotis Thomas is now serving his sentence at the Mount Olive Correctional Complex.
How did police link Dekotis Thomas to Kelvin “KJ” Taylor’s shooting death?
WOWK-TV News 13 reported that on July 8, 2021, authorities arrested Dekotis Thomas, then 19, in connection with Kelvin “KJ” Taylor’s death. Police reportedly identified Thomas as the shooter using surveillance footage from the night of the shooting. The United States Marshal Service (USMS), Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force (NOVFTF), and Akron Police Department were working on the case together.
NOVFTF members located Thomas in a home in the 600 block of Glendora Avenue in Akron, Ohio, where he was hiding. They made contact with him in the home and attempted to negotiate surrender. However, Thomas allegedly set fire to the house and threw “an item similar to a Molotov cocktail at officers.” Two hours after the arrival of the USMS at the scene and the fire was put out, the teenager eventually surrendered.
The report stated the Charleston Police Department had named Thomas a suspect in Taylor’s shooting death on April 28, 2021. Following this, in May, he also faced an indictment on four charges, including murder.
Fox News stated that in August 2022, Dekotis Thomas, then 20, entered a Kennedy plea to first-degree murder. The plea deal meant that he did not admit guilt but agreed that the state had enough evidence for a conviction. As part of the same plea deal, prosecutors dismissed three other counts related to KJ Taylor’s death. They also dropped four separate counts stemming from Antwan Curnell’s October 2019 death.
Another WOWK-TV News 13 report mentioned that Thomas received a life sentence without mercy on December 2, 2022.
KJ Taylor was a star Capital High School athlete when Thomas shot him in the chest on April 7, 2021. The shooting occurred on the corner of Glenwood and Central Avenue on the west end of Charleston. The 18-year-old high school senior played football and basketball and was to graduate a month later. Charleston City Council Member Deanna McKinney said, “He [KJ Taylor] didn’t have a chance to graduate. He didn’t even make it to have a family and he is dead and gone.”
See No Evil’s episode on Kelvin “KJ” Taylor’s shooting death will air on ID on January 10, 2024. The episode will delve into the police’s investigation and use of surveillance footage to catch the killer.
