Teen Feared 'Something Would Happen to Her.' Then She Was Killed

Man convicted of raping Mujey Dumbuya now on trial for her murder
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 27, 2019 11:15 AM CST
Teen Was Afraid of Man Now Charged With Killing Her
In this March 9, 2018, photo, Quinn James appears for a hearing at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich.   (Cory Morse/The Grand Rapids Press via AP)

In November 2017, Michigan teen Mujey Dumbuya said that Quinn James, 43, had raped her multiple times starting when she was 15. He was arrested and charged with criminal sexual conduct, released on bond days later, and ordered to have no contact with Dumbuya. On Jan. 24 of the following year, the 16-year-old went missing; she was found dead four days later. James is charged with her murder. Per WWMT, Dumbuya's guidance counselor testified Tuesday the teen "was afraid" when reporting the rapes to police, and that afterward, she told the counselor that James, who once worked as a groundskeeper for her school district, knew where her bus stop was and that she feared "something would happen to her." Dumbuya had been scheduled to testify against James in the rape trial when she disappeared, CBS News reports.

James was convicted on four counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in October, after her death. He's now on trial for her murder. Dumbuya, who went to East Kentwood High School near Grand Rapids, was found dead 50 miles or so away in the woods in Kalamazoo; her partially clothed body had been strangled and soaked in bleach. Earlier this week, prosecutors played jailhouse calls in which James talked about Dumbuya after he was arrested on the rape charges: "You know what's crazy? That if she didn't show up then the whole thing will be over, if she doesn't show up," he allegedly said to his fiancee (whose nephew Dumbuya was dating). Prosecutors say he kidnapped her from her bus stop, as she'd feared, to keep her from testifying. In another call after her death—as he was jailed for another rape case—he allegedly asked his fiancee to write down his whereabouts the day Dumbuya vanished. (Woman found dead in a suitcase feared "someone" would kill her.)

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