Buffalo man charged with manslaughter | News, Sports, Jobs

In this Jan. 24 file photo, a Jamestown police vehicle is pictured outside the Park View Apartments, 401 W. Fourth St.

A Buffalo man has been identified and formally charged in connection with an execution-style homicide in Jamestown.

District Attorney Jason Schmidt announced Wednesday that Darius Kadenhead, 33, was indicted by a grand jury and arraigned in Chautauqua County Court on a charge of second-degree murder in the Jan. 22 shooting death of Marlon Clay at the Parkview Apartments in Jamestown.

Bail was set by the Honorable David W. Foley at $2.5 million cash, $5 million real estate bond, or $10 million secured by the posting of a 10 percent deposit.

Two days after the shooting, Jamestown police announced they had identified a suspect in Clay’s death, but the suspect’s name was not released, saying only that he was a Buffalo resident.

The next day, the suspect was taken into custody and detained in Erie County.

On Wednesday, Schmidt provided details of Kadenhead’s arrest. “Mr. Clay suffered a single gunshot wound to the back of the head. His body was later discovered by a tenant of the apartment complex who alerted police. What followed was an immediate and intensive investigation by members of the Jamestown Police Department, the Chautauqua County Forensic Investigation Team and the District Attorney’s Office, leading to the identification and arrest of Mr. Kadenhead in Buffalo, New York, three days later on January 25. Mr. Kadenhead’s arrest was conducted by our own Jamestown detectives who themselves traveled to the City of Buffalo to make contact with Mr. Kadenhead in coordination with the Buffalo Police Department and the FBI,” he said.

Schmidt added that “the manner of his death suggests that Mr. Clay was executed. At the time Mr. Kadenhead is accused of committing this brutal and irreversible act, he had been on parole for only four months after being released from state prison for a previous manslaughter conviction. When Jamestown detectives approached Mr. Kadenhead, he was found to be in possession of a loaded firearm and was subsequently taken into custody on a parole violation and new weapons charge that is currently being pursued by the Erie County District Attorney’s Office in consultation with me and my office,” he said.

After the indictment, Schmidt said he was legally permitted to release the suspect’s name. “Removing Mr. Kadenhead from the streets on these charges satisfied our public safety concerns, which are always our number one priority when investigating violent crimes, and gave us the time we needed to continue our efforts to gather evidence that we ultimately presented to a grand jury. The resulting secret indictment was then made public (Tuesday) at the time of Mr. Kadenhead’s arraignment, which now allows us to update the community on these developments,” he said.

See the full story in Thursday’s edition.