FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – An FBI expert’s analysis of mobile phone data took center stage on Wednesday during the trial of Florida rapper YNW Melly for the two murders of his fellow YNW Collective rappers.
Jamell “Melly” Demons could face the death penalty if convicted of the murders of Christopher “Juvy” Thomas Jr., and Anthony “Sakchaser” Williams on Oct. 26, 2018, in Broward County.
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Assistant State Attorney Kristine Bradley aimed to use the mobile phone data to prove that Thomas, 19, and Williams, 21, were not the victims of a drive-by shooting.
“It’s very, very accurate, but it’s not very precise,” FBI Special Agent Jeff Collins, the state’s witness, said about the data’s margin of error on a specific location.
Miramar Detective Jonathan Zeller also testified, and he said he was involved with the “extraction of the data.” Bradley said messages show Demons identify the phone number that detectives linked to the data, and detectives used this to identify his whereabouts on the day of the murders.
The defense claims the data doesn’t prove Demons was holding that phone or was at the scene since all involved shared phones on the same plan.
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The prosecution had already shown the jury surveillance video of Demons “playing” with a cell phone, as he walked away from the New Era Recording Studio in Fort Lauderdale, and got into the driver’s side back passenger seat of a gray Jeep Compass in Fort Lauderdale.
The video also shows Demons left with Cortlen “Bortlen” Henry, who was driving the Jeep, and the two victims. The jury also watched a surveillance video showing Henry arriving at the hospital with the two bodies.
Henry told police there was a drive-by shooting at Miramar Parkway, but Bradley claims the shooter was in the Jeep. Bradley also said the cell phone tracking data places Demons, Henry, and the two victims at Miramar Parkway, Pines Boulevard, and Pembroke Road.
Detectives didn’t find evidence on Miramar Parkway, but at a desolated area on Pembroke Road that the cell phone data pointed them to, and that is where Bradley said Demons and Henry staged the drive-by shooting
Bradley said cell phone records also show Demons was with the two victims up to 15 minutes before Henry arrived in the Jeep Compass at Memorial Miramar Hospital with the two bodies. The defense claims the prosecution isn’t able to prove that the data is connected to Demons.
Kurt Rhodes, a DNA analyst with the Broward Sheriff’s Office, also testified on Thursday afternoon about the technicalities of his work with the evidence in the case. He said a report that he issued on Jan. 25, 2022, after his analysis of evidence on Aug. 24, 2021.
“He was excluded,” Rhodes said about Demons’s DNA not being on most of the evidence that he examined, which included a spent casing, a water bottle, Gucci sandals, blood stains on a T-shirt, and blood stains on a pair of Air Jordans.
The only evidence that had Demons’s DNA on it, Rhodes said, was a door handle. Rhodes told the defense that the first test did not find his DNA on it, but the second test on June 1, 2023, which involved a third party, resulted in a “may have been” his.
Demons, who has maintained he is innocent for over four years, surrendered to face two counts of premeditated murder on Feb. 13, 2019, and a judge denied him bond.
Demons grew up in Indian River County’s Gifford community and had an arrest record there and in Lee County. He is in music videos on YouTube with the victims and other teenage boys who appeared to be playing with guns, cash, alcohol, and marijuana.
Demons became known as YNW Melly when he released his breakout song “Murder on My Mind” on SoundCloud and on YouTube in 2017. His golden single while signed with 300 Entertainment made it onto the Billboard Hot 100, and he partnered with Kanye West for “Mixed Personalities.”
YNW Melly released “Melly vs. Melvin,” his debut album, in 2019, and “Just a Matter of Slime” — which features Lil Uzi Vert, Kodak Black, and Lil Baby — in 2021.
Henry, who was on house arrest, is awaiting trial. Detectives reported finding an empty shell casing under the driver’s seat of the Jeep. Court was in recess by 4:30 p.m., and the trial was set to resume at 9 a.m., on Thursday.
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