Keon King, the man charged in the kidnapping of missing Philadelphia woman Kada Scott, is being held on $250,000 cash bail Thursday. He was arraigned shortly before 10 a.m.
Before being charged in connection with Scott’s disappearance, King was allegedly involved in two other violent incidents, where the charges were withdrawn.Â
Police are still searching for Kada Scott, who has been missing for nearly two weeks and was last seen on Oct. 4 when she went to work in Chestnut Hill Â
CBS News Philadelphia
Philadelphia police and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office revealed Wednesday that King, 21, was previously arrested and charged with kidnapping and choking another woman.
In arrest records obtained by CBS News Philadelphia, detectives say on Jan. 13, King climbed over a fence at his ex-girlfriend’s home on North 23rd Street. Police say a video posted on social media shows King trying to get inside.
Police say King returned later that day and grabbed the victim off the street, forcing her into his car. Arrest records allege that King drove at a high rate of speed while biting her in the face and choking her. She was treated for minor injuries.
The charges were filed on April 25, but they were withdrawn by May, according to police. Numerous law enforcement and legal sources said given there were two felony counts of kidnapping and strangulation, withdrawing the charges was seen as highly unusual.
At Wednesday’s news conference about King, Assistant District Attorney Ashley Toczylowski said the victim didn’t come to court for King’s first hearing, which led to the charges being withdrawn.
“After the first listing when the victim failed to appear, the case was marked what I’ll call ‘must be tried,’ which is a little bit of court lingo, but basically saying if it’s not tried by the next listing, it’ll either be dismissed or withdrawn,” Toczylowski said. “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and then at the second listing when again we didn’t have the witness or victim in court, it was at that point it was withdrawn given the previous marking.”
Keon King, the man charged in the kidnapping of missing Philadelphia woman Kada Scott, is being held on $250,000 cash bail.
Philadelphia Police Department
CBS News Philadelphia has also learned King was charged in another case with that same woman.
Police sources say on Nov. 5, 2024, King had broken into her home, where he forced her onto a bed and choked her. Police sources also said the charges were withdrawn. The Philadelphia DA’s office said the November case went before a judge three times, but the victim didn’t show up for any of the appearances.Â
“We all agree we wished this happened differently,” Toczylowski said. “We see we could have done a couple different things.” Â
Police are still searching for Scott, who has been missing for nearly two weeks and was last seen on Oct. 4 when she went to work in Chestnut Hill. Police recovered King’s car, a gold 1999 Toyota Camry, Wednesday in East Falls. Detectives are looking for forensic evidence, or any trace of DNA that may provide more information about Scott’s whereabouts. Investigators believe Scott, 23, might have been inside the car before going missing. Police are also working on obtaining video of King’s Toyota Camry.
CBS News Philadelphia reached out to King’s attorney for comment, but we’ve yet to hear back.