Mother of missing rapper feels hopeless

DETROIT, Mich. (WNEM) - A mother is feeling hopeless after her son and two others disappeared more than a week ago.

The search has stretched from Oscoda to Detroit after three rappers vanished while on their way to perform in Detroit.

The concert was reportedly canceled, but Lorrie Kemp, the mother of 27-year-old Armani Kelly, said something isn’t adding up.

“It’s been hell. I’m tired. I’m overwhelmed. I’m angry. And I’m frustrated. Because all I want is his body,” Kemp said.

Kemp said she believes her son is dead.

“He would not go this long without talking to me or his fiancée,” Kemp said.

Kelly, a rapper who lives in Oscoda with Kemp, hasn’t been seen or heard from in 10 days. Kemp said her son left home on Jan. 21 to perform with two others at a concert in Detroit. Kemp said she was told the event was canceled, but she doubts that there was really going to be a performance in the first place.

“This was a setup. Him to go to Lounge 31 on Gratiot and 7 Mile, they lured him there,” Kemp said. “Isn’t it funny that little flier for him to do his rap, ‘Marley Whoop’ is his name, nobody has it. Lounge 31 doesn’t have it on their Facebook page, the promoter doesn’t. So, you explain to me where’d it go? What happened?”

Police agencies from Oscoda to Detroit are looking for Kelly, Montoya Givens, and Dante Wicker.

Kemp said somebody knows somebody who knows something.

“Some people can’t keep water, and it’s going to come out eventually. I would pray sooner than later,” she said.

At this point, it is closure that the exhausted mother covets.

“I would love for him to come home, but I don’t think so, and I don’t want to be on Dateline in 20 years saying we still haven’t found his body,” Kemp said. “Just give me the body. If you give me the body, I don’t have any questions, I don’t have anything, just give me his body so I can lay him to rest.”

Police in Warren, where Kelly’s car was located, are also investigating.

Detroit police said cell phone activity for all three men stopped on the night of Jan. 21 or the morning of Jan. 22

“In this case, the fact that the three of them are missing together is very concerning and very alarming for us,” said Commander Michael McGinnis with the Detroit Police Department

Investigators are trying to piece together what happened after the show was canceled.

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