INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indianapolis bail bondsman accused of murdering two teens on Christmas Eve 2015 believes police are “manufacturing” a case against him and harassing witnesses.
Kevin Watkins, 50, was arrested in late 2015 for the deaths of 16-year-old Satori Dionne Wililams and 15-year-old Timmee Jackson.
Watkins was charged with their murder after trails of blood were found leading from the front step of his home to a garage in the rear of his house. Blood was also found in his vehicle and at a dumpster near his bail bondsman business. Police believed Watkins killed the boys because he suspected them of being involved in a burglary at his home.
Watkins was scheduled to begin his jury trial next week – but on Friday, it was moved to February 2018. The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office said discovery in the case remains ongoing.
TIMELINE | The murders of Timmee Jackson and Dionne Williams
Last week, Watkins wrote a letter to the judge presiding over his case, Judge Grant Hawkins, telling him he has PTSD and that his incarceration is exacerbating it. Watkins also wrote “54:17” twice on the letter – apparently a reference to the Bible verse Isaiah 54:17: “No weapon formed against you shall prosper / And every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn.”
The letter is one of two Watkins has written to Judge Hawkins.
In April, Watkins wrote a lengthier letter outlining his belief that the authorities have “manufactured a case and or cases against me” in order to “obtain a tainted conviction.” Specifically, he accuses IMPD detectives of harassing a witness in the case.
As evidence, Watkins included a portion of a deposition in which a witness appears to describe feeling “harassed” because detectives were coming to her house trying to talk to her about the case. The woman said she wasn’t keen on talking to police because she hoped to put it all behind her.
In both letters, Watkins takes pains to express to the judge that he is happy with Jeffrey Neel, the attorney representing him, and that he isn’t trying to “step on his toes.”
The Long Wait for Justice
By the time Watkins is now expected to begin trial, more than two years will have passed since Dionne Williams’ and Timmee Jackson’s deaths.
The teens disappeared around 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve 2015. When they hadn’t returned by Christmas morning, their mothers told police they began to worry.
Williams’ mother told police she searched for him throughout her neighborhood, eventually ending up at a home on the 5900 block of 23rd Street, where she knew her son had been having problems with residents.
It was there that police found bail bondsman Kevin Watkins – and two trails of blood leading from Watkins’ front step and around his house. Inside Watkins’ vehicle, police found “blood in just about every passenger compartment,” according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case. Police also found an outfit matching on described by one of the victim’s families saturated in blood.
More bloody clothing was found in the dumpster at Watkins Bail Bonds at 6001 Massachusetts Avenue.
Jackson’s body wasn’t found until late February 2016, when it was located near 34th Street and Shadeland Avenue. In April 2016, human remains were discovered just outside of Fairland, Indiana, on County Road 325 West in Shelby County. Four days later, the Marion County Coroner’s Office determined the remains belonged to Williams.
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By that point, Watkins had already been in custody for four months – charged with murdering Williams and Jackson at his home and disposing of their remains.
Watkins was also charged in January 2016 for an incident four days before the boys’ murders in which he allegedly handcuffed another teen he suspected of breaking into his home and telling him there would “be a bloodbath.”
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Watkins’ next scheduled appearance in court is set for jury selection on Feb. 16. His trial is slated to begin on Feb. 26. The trial is expected to last a week.
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