The Strange Mysterious Death of Keith Warren

Before Kendrick Johnson, a teen was found dead in the gym mat, there was a teenager named Keith Warren from Maryland, he was found dead hanging from a tree in Silver Spring, Maryland (my hometown) during the 1980s. His death was ruled a suicide however Keith's family doesn't believe his death was ruled as a "suicide". Warren's family believes he was murdered. The family has found evidence that the police refused to believe.

Finding Kendrick Johnson Film Review:

Who's Keith Warren?

Keith Waddell Warren was born in 1967 to his mother Mary Courey. Warren was raised by his single mother along with his sister Sherri. According to Warren's family and friends, Warren was a quiet, charming, and introverted type of guy. Courey moved her family to Maryland In high school, Warren was a smart student and popular in school.

July 1986

On Tuesday, July 29th, 1986, Keith received a call from friends and went to hang out with them but never returned home. The next day, Warren's mother called the police to report a missing person. However, the police informed Mary that she should wait for 48 hours. On July 31st, 1986, at approximately 2:00 pm, a woman called paramedics at the nearby Fire and Rescue Station to report a suicide. They arrived at the house of Chip Wynn, where they found out his girlfriend, Michelle Lawson had called it in. They were directed to the nearby woods, where they found the body of Keith Warren hanging from a tree. Officer Luther Leverette responded to the scene, where his death was almost immediately ruled a suicide. Police had the body taken down and delivered to the funeral home to be embalmed. The family was notified about 6 hours after the discovery of his body.

There was no open investigation after his death was ruled a suicide. Just when the family was about to accept it they noticed something wasn't right. According to Warren's families', they found numerous discrepancies that the Montgomery County police missed and refused to investigate. Her doubts began after she heard from a friend of Keith’s named Rodney Kendell. Rodney reported that a parade of suspicious characters had been looking for Keith shortly before his death:

“It was mainly black males that were in the car. And Keith did not associate much with black males. Most of his friends were white males, so I thought that was pretty strange. After I told them I hadn’t seen Keith, they left.”

Weeks after Keith’s death, Mary asked Rodney to show her the tree where her son’s body was found. But when they arrived at the site, they noticed that only the stump remained. Mary contacted the authorities however the police refused to do anything about it. The police said they needed to cut down the tree for evidence, but this seemed strange since they had already closed the case. Keith’s mother no longer trusted the police or their explanations. She launched a letter-writing campaign, targeting state and federal officials. On April 9th, 1992, ten months after Keith's death, Mary found an envelope with no return address at her door, containing police photos of her son's crime scene. It is still not known who sent these photos or how they got them. She had noticed that the items of clothing that she received from the police were not the same ones in the photos. He didn't commit suicide. He was lynched. Courey had appeared on Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack.

Years After

Years after Warren's death, Mary and Sherri continued to live in Maryland hoping to get justice for Kevin. Mary started a foundation in honor of Kevin hoping to raise awareness and hopes to get his case reopened.

Sadly, Kevin's mother Mary passed away in 2009 leaving behind her daughter Sherri who would later take over the foundation. In April 2021, former Montgomery County Councilmember Hans Riemer requested Montgomery County to order an independent investigation into the Montgomery County Police Department’s handling of Keith Warren’s death. His letter to County Executive Marc Elrich below:

“County Executive Elrich,

I am writing to request that you order an independent investigation into the Montgomery County Police Department’s handling of Keith Warren’s death. Mr. Warren was a young black man found hanging from a tree in a wooded area near his home in Silver Spring in 1986. An independent investigation should examine whether there is cause to re-classify Mr. Warren’s cause of death from “suicide” to “unknown.” His family has found many troubling inconsistencies in this case, which linger today despite previous reviews. We must dispel any questions about our County government’s handling of this incident.

We may or may not be able to find out the true cause of death, but I strongly believe that there is more uncertainty about the situation than is recognized by the County’s official position and that the treatment of Mr. Warren and his family has been unfair and unreasonable. I have talked with Mr. Warren’s sister, Sherri Warren. She has been fighting for decades, along with her now deceased mother, to bring justice for her brother’s memory. She deserves our support and recognition of Keith Warren’s humanity. An independent review to determine whether the cause of death is actually “unknown” would provide that.

Sincerely, Hans Riemer Councilmember, At-Large”

In 2023, Uprooted, a docuseries set on the Warren's case this time Warren's sister and his family shared their side of the case including the former detective involved in the case. Sherri hopes the series will be the impetus to have her brother's death certificate changed from suicide to homicide or undetermined.

Honestly, this case and story is just too similar to Kendrick and very sad that this was taken place in my hometown before I was born. Plus, I have a feeling that someone in the MCPD might knew who was behind it but I'm just saying.

Source

YouTube

https://mocoshow.com/2024/07/06/the-1986-death-of-keith-warren-a-black-teenager-found-hanging-from-tree/

https://people.com/crime/uprooted-docuseries-investigates-1986-case-of-keith-warren-a-black-maryland-teenager-found-hanging-from-tree/

https://unsolved.com/gallery/keith-warren/