Body of man killed in Lansing Sunday was dismembered; three charged
LANSING — Three people have been charged in connection with the death of a man whose dismembered body was found on Malcolm X Street on Sunday, hours after a fight involving "multiple suspects."
Lansing police on Tuesday identified the man who was killed as Zacarri Marquise Taylor, 25, of Battle Creek.
Taylor died following an incident that began in the 2100 block of Georgetown Boulevard in south Lansing, north of Interstate 96. Officers were called there for a “serious physical altercation between a victim and multiple suspects,” police said.
Charged in connection with the incident are Marcus Lee Hayes, 35, Leonard Felton Hayes, 42, and Terrance Jones, 37, Lansing police Chief Ellery Sosebee said.
Marcus and Leonard Hayes are charged with open murder and dismemberment and mutilation of a dead body, court records indicate. Jones is charged with dismemberment and mutilation of a dead body and accessory after the fact to a felony, the records show.
No attorneys were listed for the men in court records. A hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence for them to stand trial was tentatively set for May 31.
The records indicate the charges were filed on Tuesday.
Police have said officers were called to the Georgetown Boulevard address about 7 a.m. for a physical altercation. On Tuesday, Sosebee said they learned two suspects had left that location with the victim, Sosebee said.
About 11 a.m. Sunday, roughly four hours after the fight, officers found Taylor's dismembered body in the 1400 block of Malcolm X Street near Interstate 496. He added that he could not discuss the details of the condition of Taylor's body, but said police believe it was dismembered to dispose of evidence.
Sosebee said the incident was not gang related. He said more suspects were outstanding but did not specify how many. Investigators were "working around the clock" to get those suspects in custody, he said.
The motive behind the incident is unclear, he said.
"Because of their efforts to hide their crime, there are details of a sequence of events that we are not yet able to share, including the extent of injuries from the assault," Sosebee said.
Sosebee said cooperation from citizens helped in the investigation.
Police had said Sunday evening that multiple suspects were in custody in connection with the incident but did not say how many.
The killing was the sixth homicide of the year announced by police in the city, all since April 1.
"It is not a good time to be a bad guy in city of Lansing," Sosebee said. "I can tell you why. We've had six homicides in two months. Of those six homicides, we have five people in custody."
Police have yet to make an arrest in the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old boy early this month on the city's west side. Sosebee said investigators have a person of interest in that case and were still gathering information.
In one of the incidents, police and prosecutors say Dennis Whaley shot and killed two people - a woman he had previously assaulted months earlier - and another man in a Lansing home in April. Although Lansing police obtained a warrant for domestic assault for Whaley on Jan. 4 in connection with an assault on the woman last fall, he was never arrested before the killings.
Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on X @KBPalm_lsj.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Body of man killed in Lansing Sunday was dismembered; three charged
