Texas Mother Seeks Truth About 20-Year-Old Daughter's Death From Crash On Road Trip With Friends: 'Is Not Adding Up'

After Zkira Kemp’s untimely death in a car accident, while traveling with friends, Kemp’s mother is searching for the truth.

According to Jalanda Kemp, her daughter was last seen alive in July of 2022, before she embarked on a cross-country road trip with a group of friends. Nothing makes sense so far, the information is hazy, and even the details on the body of the deceased are inconsistent. 

Zkira, a 20-year-old student at Prairie View A&M University, spent the summer in her hometown of Killeen. However, she and her friends decided to return to the campus ahead of schedule. Her mother said that Zkira voluntarily left early to accompany Michael Dukes and his girlfriend, Rhonda Ellis Tinsley, to Maryland for Rhonda’s birthday celebration. Aydon Fair, a mutual friend, was to host the visiting trio.

Jalanda shared that before she left on July 4th, she instructed Zkira to keep her location on at all times. Zkira complied with her mother’s wishes until Friday morning, when Jalanda realized Zkira’s location had been turned off. The worried mother told The North Carolina Beat that she had located her daughter at a Maryland bowling alley on the evening of July 7 at about 10:30 p.m. When she left her job at 1 a.m. and checked her phone, Zkira’s location services were disabled. 

Zkira’s friend, Lakisha Coles, called Jalanda later that morning to tell her that Aydon’s mother had been trying to reach out to her. Something terrible had happened to the kids but Coles didn’t know what. When Jalanda finally got through to Aydon’s mother, she was unable to learn the news. It was difficult for Aydon’s mother to speak through her sobbing, and Jalanda frantically yelled, “Is my child dead?” She asserted that’s when the phone hung up in her face. 

The Maryland Sheriff’s Office for Charles County said Zkira died in a car crash. However, Jalanda contended that the police and her daughter’s friends have given her conflicting versions of what transpired. Zkira was driving while intoxicated when the collision occurred, according to her friends at the time.

The autopsy, however, showed that Zkira was not drunk at the time of the collision and was sitting in the back seat. Additionally, Jalanda revealed to 6 News that Zkira’s dental records found at the crash site were never verified to be her daughter’s. She was also denied the chance to view her daughter’s body after the crash. 

“Another thing, the autopsy reported that the body they found inside of the car after the crash was 88 pounds and three-feet three-inches tall. But my daughter was 169 pounds and five-feet four-inches tall. It’s not making sense,” Kemp also shared with the outlet. 

Jalanda learned that everyone in the car, except Zkira, had survived the accident. Michael’s mother even informed her that he required open heart surgery and had two collapsed lungs in addition to a fractured skull, broken hip, and broken leg. However, after hearing Michael call her name and seeing him in person, Jalanda was doubtful of his wounds. 

Hearing Michael’s version of events only heightened Jalanda’s suspicions. His first report of the area around the crash site was that it was entirely a forested area. Then he added that he had only been able to get Rhonda out of the vehicle and couldn’t save Zkira. Jalanda was baffled as to how someone with such severe injuries was able to help someone else out of a car. She also affirms to have heard that the car caught fire while Zkira was still inside. Neither Michael nor Rhonda made any effort to rescue her. 

According to Rhonda, all she can recall from that evening is hearing everyone laughing and then waking up in the hospital. Jalanda said she has suspicions that everything was staged and planned because the medical examiner’s office in Maryland refused to allow her to see Zkira’s body until she signed an agreement to cremate it. 

To top it off, she went to the location where the accident happened, which she was told was in the middle of the woods and discovered that the crash site was in fact in the middle of a residential area. “When I got there everything looked staged and I knew something just wasn’t right,” she suspiciously said. 

Social media users became aware of this case and immediately started generating countless alternate explanations for what they think actually occurred. There were even some conspiracy theories mentioned. 

Jalanda said to 6 News that she has tried to get answers about her daughter’s death by contacting local, state, and federal officials, but her pleas have been completely disregarded. She is optimistic and thinks her daughter may be alive and hopes to see her again. 

 “I don’t feel like she’s gone. I don’t know if I’m holding on to hope, but I don’t feel it. I never felt it, but I thought I was crazy. I thought I just didn’t want to let go. But the more I’m seeing all of these different reports and more of these people come out with information, it is not adding up.” Jalanda said. 

According to Baller Alert, no 911 call was ever made to report the crash.