14 replies to this topic

[Shannon]

http://fox17online.c.../#axzz2OnbCkwFQ

STILL MISSING: Latrice Maze Of Grand Rapids



by Dan Harrell

March 21st, 2013

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – It’s been hours since we last reported the Grand Rapids Police Department’s request for help from the public and the media in locating 26 year old Latrice Renea Maze, who was last seen near the intersection of Burton and Division yesterday, then reported missing by family after she failed to pick-up her child up from school.  The Grand Rapids Major Case Team is still on top of investigating her disappearance, but is still asking for your help.

Please, if you have any information on the disappearance of Latrice Maze, you are urged to contact the Grand Rapids Police Department at 616-456-3406.  You may also contact the Silent Observer by calling 616-774-2345, or leaving information online on www.silentobserver.org.

Remember, you do not to leave any personal or contact information.  Your identity is strictly confidential.

[Shannon]

http://newsone.com/2...-maze-michigan/

Family Prays For Safe Return Of Missing Michigan Mother Of Five



Mar 27, 2013

ByJeff Mays

Latrice Maze

Case Type: Endangered
Date of Birth: January 1, 1987
Missing Date: March 19, 2013
Age Now: 26
Missing City: Grand Rapids
Missing State: Michigan
Case Number: 13-29171
Gender: Female
Race: Black
Complexion: Medium
Height: 5’8″
Weight: 125
Hair Color: Black
Hair Length: Medium
Eye Color: Brown
Wear Glasses or Contacts: No

Location Last Seen: Maze was last seen near the corner of Division St. and Burton St. in Grand Rapids around noon on March 19th.

Circumstances of Disappearance: Unknown. Maze, the Mother of five, including an infant, was reported missing, after she failed to pick her daughter up from school.

Maze is known for cooking delicious breakfasts of eggs, bacon, and pancakes for her family and they are desperate to find her.

“I miss her. I want her to come home,” Maze’s mother, Wanda Rose, told Fox 17. ”Her family miss her. Her kids miss her. I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. I want my baby back. If anybody got her, please, please let her come home.”

Maze’s dad, Julius Jackson, feels the same.

“She’s always smiling,” said Jackson. ”You don’t know if anything’s going on with her because that’s the way she is. She keeps a smile going on.”

Especially missing her mom his Maze’s 7-year-old daughter, Renea.

“I always pray [that] my mom is alive,” said the girl.

Last Seen Wearing: Black slacks, white T-shirt, and a black, yellow, and green-striped scarf on her head.

Identifying Marks or Characteristics: A tattoo with a small heart on upper right buttock.

If you have information regarding the whereabouts of Latrice Maze, please contact the Grand Rapids Police Department at (616) 456-3400.

[Lori Davis]

https://www.findthem...ases/show/19769

NamUs profile for Latrice Maze - Case 19769

[Shannon]

http://www.wzzm13.co...man-holds-vigil

Family of missing woman holds vigil at Grand Rapids park

8:19 AM, Apr 2, 2013

GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM) -- The family and friends of a missing Grand Rapids woman say they are not giving up hope that someone will find her and bring her home.

Latrice Maze, 26, has not been seen for almost two weeks.  On Monday, several dozen people gathered at Garfield Park for a vigil, which they hope will bring attention to her disappearance.

"She didn't seem troubled," says Maze's father, Julius Jackson. "It seemed like she was doing well. She was smiling, smiling like she normally does. Always kept a smile on."

Maze's family says there was no indication that anything was wrong, and that it was out of her character to just disappear.

She wouldn't do," says her mother, Wanda Rose.  "She wouldn't leave her kids."

Maze has five children -- a boy and four girls.  The boy, 11, is the oldest, and her youngest daughter is two.

"We know for sure she dropped her daughter off at school, but she never picked her daughter up," says Maze's aunt, Delrise Saintil. "That's how people knew she was missing."

Maze disappeared on March 19.  According to relatives, police were called to her apartment near S. Division Ave. and Burton St. SE that morning to break up a fight between her and her boyfriend.

"Apparently it was physical," says Saintil. "The police had to be called. But nobody's seen my niece after that."

Family members say Maze's boyfriend had recently been released from prison.

"We miss her so much," says Rose. "I just want her home."

[Lori Davis]

http://www.wzzm13.co...sing-woman-case

Police looking for Latrice Maze need help from tipsters

1:04 PM, Apr 11, 2013

GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM) Police investigating the disappearance of a Grand Rapids woman and asking for a couple of tipsters to call back.

Latrice Maze, 26, was last seen March 19 in the area of Burton Street and Division Avenue. Family members reported her missing after she failed to pick up one of her children from school.

Grand Rapids Police report that on March 30th and March 31st two separate and independent tips were called in to Silent Observer about the disappearance of Maze.  Police say the information was helpful, but they have some follow up questions regarding the information and would like those sources to call back.  Investigators say that the tipsters will still remain anonymous.  The tipsters should call Grand Rapids Police at 616-456-3604 or call Silent Observer again at 616-774-2345 and leave contact information.

[Shannon]

http://www.wzzm13.co...opnews|bc|large

Latrice Maze's boyfriend jailed; family says case is a homicide

9:04 AM, May 4, 2013

By Phil Dawson

GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM) - -Six weeks after she disappeared in Grand Rapids, her family says police no longer consider Latrice Maze a missing person.

Now relatives say they've been told detectives believe the 26 year old woman is a homicide victim. And although her boyfriend, recently paroled Jahleel Hoskins, is in jail, he is not yet facing any formal charges.

Her family has long suspected Hoskins in the disappearance of Latrice. The day she disappeared, they say the couple had a violent argument.

Delrese Saintil, the missing woman's aunt, explained the circumstances to reporters a month ago during a vigil for Latrice. "There was an altercation at her house," she explained. "Apparently it was physical and the police had to be called. The police did show up but, by then, things had calmed down. But nobody has seen my niece after that."

Police have Jahleel Hoskins in jail on a "parole hold." They have also arrested another man who may be involved in what the family says detectives are calling "The Latrice Maze Homicide."

Friday afternoon, a small group gathered at Garfield Park to handout flyers with information about Latrice. Grand Rapids City Commissioner James White also spoke to those concerned her disappearance wasn't receiving a fair amount of attention.

"My concern is to make sure the police here are working on our case, and they're doing that. Whether the coverage has been fair or not, is not the major issue; the major issue is are we trying to help the family and help solve the case. And they're working on that very hard," said White.

We've asked, but so far police are not providing any additional details about their investigation.

[Lori Davis]

http://fox17online.c...hief-questions/

Latrice Maze’s Family Asks Chief Questions

05/09/2013
by Darren Cunningham
Reporter

Grand Rapids, Mich. – Family members of Latrice maze sat in the choir stand inside Mount Zion Church of god in Christ, on the city’s southeast side.

Maze, a mother of five, was reported missing on March 21st . Two days before that on the 19TH, police said they were called to 47 Burton Street for a domestic violence situation between Maze and her boyfriend Jahleel Hoskins.

According Chief Kevin Belk, officers offered to take Maze to a shelter, but she declined saying she didn’t feel her life was threatened.

“That was not true. Latrice was in an altercation with him and she was trying to leave,” Victoria Ezell, Maze’s aunt said to the chief.

We now know that Hoskins is in jail. He’s charged with her murder. Police believe he put Maze’s body in a dumpster.

Thursday night, family members wanted to know why police didn’t separate the two after Maze claimed Hoskins grabbed her.

“When we were at the home, there was not an adequate amount of evidence for the officer to make an arrest,” Kevin Belk, Grand Rapids’ police chief said to the family.

Ezell said to the chief, “We had so many… neighbors that heard [her], and she was trying to leave out of there.”

“She wouldn’t have made an effort to call the police and then when you get there not leave. So I don’t know where all of this is coming from, but we will see the light of it. We will see the light of it,” she added.

The chief said his officers followed procedure handling the reported dispute. Again, Belk said the officer didn’t see any physical evidence that Maze had been grabbed.

Otherwise, the situation would have been handled much differently. Hoskins would have been arrested. To add, he would have violated his parole.

[Shannon]

http://www.wzzm13.co...ged-in-stabbing

Latrice Maze murder suspect, Jahleel Hoskins charged in stabbing

6:27 PM, May 13, 2013 

GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM) -- A Grand Rapids man, already charged in the murder of his girlfriend, is now accused of stabbing a man earlier this year.

Jahleel Hoskins was arraigned Monday on an assault charge for the February 18 incident.

Police say Hoskins stabbed a man outside of a club on Linden Avenue. Investigators say Hoskins got into an argument inside the club and after the two men got kicked out, they fought outside.

Last week, Hoskins was charged with the murder of Latrice Maze. She disappeared in March and police believe she was killed and her body was incinerated after being disposed in a dumpster.

[Shannon]

http://www.woodtv.co...or-latrice-maze

Memorial service held for Latrice Maze
Friends,family came together to say their goodbyes

Updated: Saturday, 18 May 2013, 6:57 PM EDT
Published : Saturday, 18 May 2013, 6:53 PM EDT

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Friends and family of Latrice Maze gathered Saturday morning to say their goodbyes.

The service at Lamb of God Church was in tribute to and celebration of the life of Latrice Maze.

Several of those who spoke Saturday described Maze as a quiet soul. And while she had her struggles, she was on the path to turn things around.

Her focus in life: make sure her five children grew up to know one another as family.

Maze's body may never be recovered, but matching white casket and roses served as memorial to her.

Grand Rapids Police believe Maze was killed on March 19 in her Burton Street home and that her body was placed in a dumpster the same day by her boyfriend, Jahleel Hoskins.

Hoskins was arraigned on May 8 on charges of open murder , evidence tampering and perjury in the death of the 25-year-old mother of five. Hoskins says he is innocent of all the charges.

[Shannon]

http://www.mlive.com...iller_jahl.html

 

Truth from accused killer Jahleel Hoskins needed for any plea negotiations, Kent County prosecutors say

 

July 17, 2013 at 5:38 PM

updated July 17, 2013 at 6:44 PM

 

By  John Tunison 

 

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Kent County prosecutors say they'll consider plea negotiations with accused killer Jaheel Hoskins -- the man they say killed his girlfriend, Latrice Maze, in March and disposed of her body -- but only if he tells the truth about what happened to her.

 

Hoskins, who is charged with open murder and tampering with evidence in the death of Maze, was in Kent County Circuit Court Wednesday, July 17, to go over the status of his case.

 

Prosecutors said they would consider negotiating on a plea deal with Hoskins if he tells them exactly how Maze died and what happened to her body after she went missing March 19.

 

She was living with Hoskins at a home at 47 Burton St. SW and evidence showed police responded the morning of March 19 on a domestic violence call. Maze and Hoskins had been arguing.

 

During an earlier probable cause hearing, a man testified that Hoskins admitted to killing Maze and wanted help disposing of her body. He also testified that about seeing Hoskins put something into a Dumpster.

 

Police believe her body was later incinerated.

 

Prosecutors said that while witnesses can offer a pretty good idea of what happened to Maze, her family wants to know the full truth.

 

Relatives of Maze say they would accept such a deal, as long as Hoskins had little or no chance of ever getting out of prison.

 

"We want to know what happened to our niece," said Maze's aunt, Delrese Saintil.

 

"We don't want him out on the streets, of course. But my sister really needs closure," she said. "She wants everyone to know she's missing her baby."

 

Saintil said relatives want to make sure that Hoskins can never be a danger to the community again. Any plea deal would have to be consistent with that caveat.

 

"We can't bring her back, but we can make sure something like this doesn't happen again with somebody else," she said.

[Shannon]

http://www.mlive.com...uilty_to_p.html

 

Grandmother pleads guilty to perjury during investigation of alleged Latrice Maze murder

 

July 30, 2013 at 10:14 AM

 

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A 40-year-old grandmother pleaded guilty to lying under oath and faces up to 15 years in prison when she is sentenced in September.

 

After spending two months in the Kent County Jail, Tashara Brown agreed to cooperate with the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office when it comes to her testimony in the trial of Jahleel Hoskins, charged with the murder of missing mother Latrice Maze in March.

 

Brown was charged with perjury during an investigative subpoena interview, a charge that carries a potential life sentence since it involves a capital crime. But Monday, she pleaded guilty to perjury in a court proceeding, a charge that carries a 15-year maximum sentence.

 

According to court records, Brown was under oath when she falsely told Grand Rapids Police Detective Dan Adams that Hoskins did not move any furniture from Maze’s apartment near Burton Street SW and S. Division Avenue to Brown’s home on Cass Avenue SE.

 

She was also refusing to provide any information she possessed relative to the case, according to prosecutors.

 

Brown allegedly threatened Hoskins’ friend -- a man who saw Hoskins place items in a Dumpster-- that it was good he wouldn't confess to police or “you'll disappear too.”

Maze, a 26-year-old mother of five, was last seen on March 19 and her body has not been found.

 

Hoskins, 25, was charged with murder on May 8 and Brown was put behind bars on May 28 on a $100,000 bond. She was released

Monday, July 29, following her plea and pledge of cooperation.

 

Brown is slated to be sentenced Sept. 12, Hoskins is scheduled to go to trial on Oct. 14.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.mlive.com...al_weeping.html

 

Weeping Jahleel Hoskins admits to murder of Latrice Maze, mother of 5, in middle of trial

 

By Barton Deiters 

on December 11, 2013 at 2:22 PM, updated December 11, 2013 at 3:10 PM

 

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Moments before Latrice Maze's mother was to take the witness stand in the trial of the man accused of killing her daughter, Jahleel Hoskins broke down and wept.

 

A few moments after conferring with his attorney, Brett Stevenson, Hoskins was ready to plead guilty to murdering the mother of five and throwing her body in a trash dumpster in March.

 

Hoskins, 26, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and tampering with evidence as a habitual criminal offender on Wednesday, Dec. 11, before Kent County Circuit Judge James Robert Redford.

 

The surprising move put a halt to the third day of a trial during which Kent County Assistant Prosecutor Kellee Koncki was building a case to convince a jury that Hoskins killed the young mother of five because Hoskins feared Maze was about to tell police about Hoskins’ assault of the father of two of her children.

 

Hoskins was charged with open murder which could have resulted in a mandatory penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

 

By pleading to second-degree murder, Hoskins has the possibility of parole, but his criminal record includes a 25- to 75-year sentence from last month by the same judge after Hoskins was found guilty of assault.

 

Hoskins faces a maximum sentence of life in prison on Jan. 6 after pleading as a multiple offender, which greatly enhances a potential sentence.

 

According to Koncki, Hoskins strangled the young mother to death because she wanted to tell police about Hoskins’ assault outside a Southeast Side club.

 

Maze feared she would not regain custody of two of her children if she did not cooperate with law enforcement in the assault against the children’s father, according to Koncki.

 

Hoskins, police believe, took the woman’s body, wrapped in a blanket, to a Wyoming apartment complex and placed it in or near a dumpster. The receptacle was emptied and its contents incinerated before her body could be discovered.

 

Maze’s mother and other family members did not take the stand in the murder trial, but they will have the opportunity to make a victim impact statement during next month’s sentencing.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.mlive.com...murderer_o.html

 

Courtroom erupts as Grand Rapids man who murdered young mother is dragged away

 

By Barton Deiters

on January 06, 2014 at 4:21 PM, updated January 06, 2014 at 5:26 PM

 

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The tragic drama surrounding the murder of Latrice Maze, a mother of five, only intensified Monday when the man convicted of killing her violently erupted in the courtroom upon learning his sentence.

 

Jahleel Hoskins did offer a weeping apology to the family of the woman he killed last March. He talked of how the victim's body was disposed of in a trash dumpster, yet told her family and the judge that he loved Maze and her murder was unintentional.

 

But when Hoskins was handed a 50-to-100-year prison term, the handcuffed man threw the podium toward the bench of Kent County Circuit Court Judge James Robert Redford and lumbered forward until court deputies dragged him from the courtroom with his eyes bugging out in fury.

 

Even as the 26-year-old was being muscled out of the courtroom, the family of Hoskins began screaming at the family of the victim, which included the victim's mother and father, who made emotional statements to the court earlier.

 

While one especially vocal woman who described herself as a cousin of Hoskins yelled at the victim’s family, Maze supporters began to react loudly as well, The two groups surged toward each other as additional court deputies began to enter the courtroom to separate the groups.

 

Hoskins’ distraught mother yelled at the defendant’s cousin to shut up as Redford banged his gavel, demanding order.

 

The events of the sentencing followed by a few weeks the equally dramatic, if less violent, actions of Hoskins who halted his trial on Dec. 11 by pleading to second-degree murder in the midst of testimony.

 

But Assistant Kent County Prosecutor Kellee Koncki told the judge that his confession should not result in any benefit for Hoskins and called on the judge to craft a sentence that would guarantee a virtual lifetime behind bars.

 

Hoskins killed Maze at her apartment at 47 Burton St. SW and then placed her body in a dumpster outside a Wyoming apartment complex.

 

Koncki argued that Hoskins killed Maze because she was going to talk to police about an assault by Hoskins against the father of two of Maze’s children.

 

“After you killed her, you had a party in her house,” Rose said. “What kind of person are you?”

 

Hoskins told the judge and the families that his slaying of Maze was unintentional and the result of an argument that got out of hand.

 

Koncki argued that Hoskins' act was a premeditated murder, a slow and violent strangulation.

 

In his sentence, Redford said Hoskins’ crime was only made worse by his dumping the body in the garbage, which was then likely incinerated, robbing the victim’s family of having a funeral and final resting place for her.

 

Maze’s mother, Wanda Rose, spoke before Hoskins was sentenced. She spoke of trying to explain to her grandchildren about the fate of their mother.

 

Rose said shortly after her daughter went missing, Hoskins joined searches and vigils in honor of Maze.

 

Hoskins turned toward the victim’s family and apologized, then told the judge how much he loved the victim and how he worked hard to support her and her daughter, whom he also loved.

 

“Before this happened, everybody looked at me as a good person,” Hoskins said. “In the blink of an eye, I’m a monster.”

 

Koncki said Hoskins wrote a letter intended for the victim’s family in which the defendant minimized his actions and blamed Maze for her role in her own demise.

 

“It’s been the same self-serving stuff since the beginning,” Koncki said.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.inquisitr...0EvzIw4dVOJY.99

 

Latrice Maze, Jahleel Hoskins: No Body, Murder Of Missing Grand Rapids, Michigan, Mother To Air On TV One’s ‘Fatal Attraction’ Tonight

 

Posted: June 22, 2015
 

The Latrice Maze-Jahleel Hoskins no body-murder case will be featured tonight on a new episode of Fatal Attraction. Latrice Maze disappeared from her home and was thrown in a dumpster the day she went missing. Her body has never been found.

TV One’s Fatal Attraction is a weekly program that highlights true-story cases of domestic couples whose loving relationships go awry and end in murder. In tonight’s Fatal Attraction, viewers will see the tragic story of Latrice Maze through reenactments and personal interviews with law enforcement and family members.

 

Latrice Maze was a 26-year-old mother who vanished from her Grand Rapids, Michigan, home in March, 2013. Hours earlier investigators say the mother of five called 911 to report that her boyfriend, Jahleel Hoskins, had attacked her. Law enforcement officials arrived at the home but found no evidence that an altercation had taken place.

 

Maze told investigators that her live-in-boyfriend had grabbed her and shoved her toward the back of the home. Packed bags belonging to Latrice Maze indicated that she had planned to leave the home, but she told investigators that she had decided to stay.

 

Court documents show that Jahleel Hoskins asked police to kick Latrice Maze out of the home, but they informed him that they had no authority to evict anyone. Officers suggested that the two leave the home for the night, until things had cooled down — but both refused.

 

Cops offered Latrice Maze a ride to a family member’s home or to a shelter. Maze can be heard on the police’s dash cam video stating that she did not want to go, and didn’t feel that her life was in danger.

 

Sadly, her life was in danger. A cousin of Jahleel Hoskins would later confess to police that Jahleel Hoskins admitted that he thought about killing his girlfriend while she was in the bathroom soon after officer left the scene.

 

According to the cousin, Jahleel waited until Latrice Maze came out of the bathroom, then choked her to death before grabbing a bed sheet from her daughter’s room, wrapping her body in it, and throwing it in a trash bin.

 

Maze’s family reported her missing the next day after she failed to pick up her babies from school, something family members say that she would never do. Police returned to the scene the next day, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Jahleel Hoskins told cops that he had no idea where she was and had nothing to do with her disappearance.

 

Family members already knew that Maze was most likely not alive, and that Hoskins had everything to do with whatever happened to her. After repeatedly denying his involvement in her death, in a shocking turn of events, Hoskins admitted to choking and killing her during a fit of anger as the jury prepared to return a verdict. Hoskins sobbed while he admitted the truth about what happened to her, perhaps expecting a lighter sentence. But once the judge returned a 50- to 100-year sentence, Hoskins exploded in court.

 

According to Mlive, prosecutors say that Jahleel Hoskins killed Latrice Maze because he believed that she was going to turn him in to authorities for stabbing the father of two of her children in a bar fight weeks earlier. Hoskins, who was on parole at the time of the murder, was willing to do anything to avoid going back to prison. Prosecutors also told the courts that they believe that Latrice Maze’s body was most likely incinerated after Hoskins discarded it in the dumpster and will most likely never be found.

[Deborah]

Latrice has not been located/recovered.

 

https://www.findthem...ases/show/19769