Was the black hanging victim who authorities say committed suicide in a Morris County park last weekend really the victim of a pedophile seeking revenge for being outed by an online vigilante group?
That’s among questions posed Friday by Black Lives Matter Morristown, which is demanding answers from the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office about the death of Amani Kildea, 20, whose body was found Sunday in Lewis Morris Park in Morris Township.
Nearly 25,000 people have signed an online petition demanding “Justice for Amani Kildea.”
“Amani’s work in the community to expose sexual predators was brave, but dangerous, leaving him vulnerable to retaliation from those criminals,” Black Lives Matter Morristown founder T’Anna Kimbrough said in a statement Friday.
“Despite Prosecutor Knapp’s assertion that there is ‘no cause to believe there is any criminality involved’ in his death by hanging, Amani’s work in the community sheds light on a possible motive to kill and silence him,” she said.
Across the country, a spate of hangings of black or Hispanic males — all ruled suicides– has rekindled searing memories of lynchings as America grapples with issues of police brutality and racial inequality.
“As of this time, no evidence of a criminal act has yet been found, however, our efforts to
determine what occurred remain very active,” Morris County Prosecutor Fredric Knapp said in a statement issued late on Friday afternoon.
“We have followed and continue to follow all investigative leads and will go where the evidence takes us.”
On Wednesday, Knapp announced that the county medical examiner’s office, which is an independent agency, had determined Kildea’s death was a suicide, and there was “no cause to believe there was any criminality involved.”
Black Lives Matter questioned the swiftness of the suicide finding, and the thoroughness of the investigation.
So did Change.org, petitioner Taylor Packwood. “Amani was found an hour away from where he lives. His death doesn’t make any sense… this was clearly a racially charged lynching and Amani deserves better than to have his death ruled a suicide,” he posted.
Knapp defended his initial release–a departure for his office, which rarely discusses investigations at all–as meant to “provide as much transparency…as possible” regarding this “tragic death.”
Friday was the first time the prosecutor identified the victim as Amani Kildea, though Amani’s father acknowledged the death — describing it as suicide — early in the week.
Release of any further details, Knapp said, must await completion of the investigation, which includes the Morris County Sherriff’s Office and the Morris County Park Police.
“The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office is committed to the thorough, appropriate, professional and prompt investigation of any suspicious and/or unnatural deaths. There will be no further comment on this investigation at this time out of respect for Mr. Kildea’s family,” Knapp said.
Kildea, who was a Washington Township resident and football player at West Morris Central High School, appears to have participated in PedoGotCaught, a group of young men who run sting operations loosely reminiscent of the former TV show, To Catch a Predator.
PedoGotCaught members pose online as minors, lure potential predators to stores and other public places, then shoot and post videos of them.
Sometimes their targets are told to state on camera: “I got caught on PedoGotCaught.” One was forced to perform pushups in a snowy Walmart parking lot as the camera rolled.
The group claims it has outed 32 predators, including the son of a mayor. Attempts to reach members for comment so far have been unsuccessful.
Washington Township Police Chief Jeffrey Almer said his officers have forwarded information provided by PedoGotCaught to the Morris County Prosecutor in the past. The Warren County Prosecutor’s Office also may have had interactions with the group, he said.
“We wanted to make sure that everybody was safe and whatever was going on didn’t put anybody in jeopardy,” Almer said.
The Warren County Prosecutor’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A video by a civilian led Ocean County authorities to charge a suspected child predator in March.
NBC News last year identified more than 30 Facebook operations that “catfish” for predators and attempt to shame them publicly. A 20-year-old closeted gay black man from Connecticut hanged himself after being exposed and berated by such a group, the network reported.
David Frattare of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a national consortium of law enforcement agencies, told NBC that these civilian posses actually complicate efforts to prosecute predators.
“It’s detrimental to what we’re trying to do,” Frattare said. “We spend an inordinate amount of effort to train officers to conduct these investigations in a secure and safe way that will maintain the evidence and end in prosecution.”
Chief Almer of Washington Township echoed that point.
“Don’t go out there and do it on your own, because that’s when problems could arise,” he said. In addition to risking harm, “you don’t want to burn whatever evidence you could have against somebody by doing something improperly.”
‘A CLEAR AND UNSUBSTANTIATED RUSH’
In an online tribute earlier this week, Amani Kildea’s father, Tom Kildea, described his adopted son as a beautiful but troubled young man who took his own life.
Asked Friday about his son’s involvement with PedoGotCaught, and whether it might have factored into his death, the Lutheran pastor told Morristown Green:
“This is all very upsetting. In addition to the obvious things, I’ve only just been made aware of the chatter on social media, and I really can’t make a comment at this time.”
With hangings of black or Hispanic males in California, Texas and New York raising alarms in recent weeks, Kimbrough of Black Lives Matter Morristown said more facts are needed to allay concerns surrounding Amani Kildea’s death:
Were the persons targeted by PedoGotCaught questioned, and their alibis vetted? Was Amani in the process of outing another suspected pedophile before his death? Why was he in Lewis Morris Park? How did he arrive there? From what, and with what, was he hanged? Was it tied like a noose?
Kimbrough wants an independent autopsy report. She also is asking the prosecutor to disclose whether Amani left a suicide note, and what his cell phone records indicated about his last travels and conversations. Did he have a history of mental health issues? Family problems?
“We have been forced to conclude that this investigation was insufficient given Prosecutor Knapp’s failure to provide the Morris County community with the pertinent details of Amani’s death,” Kimbrough said in her statement.
“Without these details, our community will not be able to heal nor can we be reassured that Amani’s family has received the justice and the due process that they are guaranteed under the laws of New Jersey and this Country.
“It appears there was a clear and unsubstantiated rush to deem this hanging a suicide rather than conduct a thorough investigation as to the possible lynching of a Black man in Morristown in 2020 – yet another in a series of unexplained hangings that have occurred in recent weeks,” she said.
‘IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO LOVE HIM’
Amani graduated in February from basic training as a military policeman in the Army Reserves, dreamed of a career with the FBI or CIA, and was scheduled to attend James Madison University in the fall, according to his father.
“He made basic training fun, I miss it because of him. His big smile and dumb jokes…It was impossible not to love him,” posted Noah Brammer, an Army pal who called Amani his best friend.
“I just wish he would’ve reached out to his family and friends. He never ever acted like he was depressed or talked about it,” Brammer said.
Video: Amani gets a military trim:
Posted by Noah Brammer on Thursday, July 2, 2020
In another online tribute, Owen Caulfield, a high school friend, said he never met anyone “as funny, ballsy, caring, friendly, smart and empathetic… I’m sure I never will either.”
“No matter what the circumstance, you would always have a smile on your face, even when we were getting in trouble (which was pretty often). You held our nut job friend group together like glue, every second spent with you was fun,” Caulfield said of Amani.
Videos depicted Amani’s prankster side: Springing from beneath clothes racks to startle shoppers, deliberately spilling popcorn while playing catch in a store, leaping onto tables at school.
One video tribute that shows high school scenes includes pictures of Amani posing with fellow members of PedoGotCaught.
Posted by Owen Caulfield on Wednesday, July 1, 2020
Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Amani was adopted at age 5. His native language was Amharic, but he quickly learned English and became an American “through and through,” according to his obituary.
He loved basketball, was “sensitive, tender-hearted, gentle and kind,” and was a great listener, who especially enjoyed hearing family stories.
“He felt deeply, observed closely. He was broken in ways that very few could see or would ever know… Although life with Amani was often challenging at home, we loved him dearly. His departure from us and from this world is an unspeakable tragedy for us all,” his obituary said.
Amanuel Tamirat Kildea is survived by parents Tom and Janice Kildea; siblings James and Jennifer; his grandfather, James Muller; his birth mother, Genet, in Ethiopia; and many aunts, uncles and cousins.
Because of COVID-19, a service will be held privately on July 6, 2020, at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Roxbury.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Cross Roads Camp and Retreat Center (29 Pleasant Grove Rd., Port Murray, NJ 07865), or any organization dedicated to suicide prevention.
Correspondent Tyler Barth contributed to this report.
However it transpired what happened to Amani is a tragedy. Speculating and questioning the motive or state of mind of someone who has (allegedly) committed suicide is a fool’s errand. It’s arguably the least rationale decision a human can make so you can’t view a suicidal person’s actions through your own world view. All the family and police can do is interpret the facts and draw conclusions.
While it’s unsettling, the fact is suicide by hanging is a very common method. To say a black man wouldn’t do that because of historical events is just not accurate.
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/suicide.shtml
I have just gone browsing for answers to the following questions, without success —
When, where, and by whom was young Amani Kildea last seen alive?
Lewis Morris Park covers more than 3 square miles. Kildea’s body was found on a summer Sunday midafternoon, at least 7 hours into broad daylight. The question is why it took so long for anyone to notice. Was his body near a frequently- visited area or along some remote shaded trail? Was the nearby ground trampled and cluttered? Had there been witness reports of odd activity, light, motion and noise at any time?
What is the medical examiner’s estimated date and time of Kildea’s death? Was his body bruised, cut, or injured in any way other than from hanging?
The state of public knowledge is still incomplete. As best I see, no one who “suspects” foul play has bothered to ask any relevant question (still less sought answers) and probably wants no other conclusion. Myself, I have trouble supposing the authorities to miss what would be obvious signs of an abduction and lynching, or to falsify the case intentionally. Time will show pretty soon.
The Truth…or rather the Trump perspective, please spare me your racist logic. No African American person would LYNCH themselves from a tree in a public park. That’s just nonsensical. Most suicides are done in private so that it can be completed, in public there’s a chance someone could stop you. He was in the army, surly a fire arm to the skull would be much faster, or even jumping in front of a moving train. How about all the pills he could possibly consume. No, he traveled an hour away to a public park to put a noose around his neck and die hanging from a tree. Yeah, sounds like his best way to escape his troubled life, as his father said, he was a troubled man. That’s what you keep quoting right? His dad, how about those mass shooters whose parents say. “my son was such a good boy” we “never saw this coming”. Parents don’t know everything buddy, and this suicide story is not a logical one.
You’d have to be pretty dam naive to automatically rule this a suicide like Mr. Knapp did. There are lots of questions still surrounding this case. The public as well as Mr. Amani deserve justice. If this is so cut and dry why can’t they tell us what makes them think so? Perhaps they are trying to thwart the real killer from catching onto an active investigation and hoping he slips up.
I meant to say, I did NOT read about Black Lives Matter statements making any false claims, It appears Truth was Quilty of what he or she is accusing others of doing.
I read about any automatic assumptions or false narratives by Black Lives Matter. Just reasonable questions under the circumstances. His grieving family is entitled to know the facts involved. Just the fact that so much of the reporting claimed it happened in Morristown or was being investigated by Morristown law enforcement, indicated to me that many facts about this case were not accurate.
Yeah Law & Order no it’s called reasoning. There is ZERO evidence that this was anything other than a suicide. You are merely speculating. Guess the quarantine makes some peoples’ minds wander. HIS OWN FATHER SAID HE WAS A TROUBLED KID AND ACKNOWLEDGED IT WAS SUICIDE. And how many people commit suicide by hanging? LOTS of people it is one of the most common forms of suicide.
Take off the tinfoil hat and get a clue.
I’m glad someone it pushing the prosecutor to look at this. So little of it makes sense – how many people commit suicide by hanging? And all the questions asked are totally relevant, especially regarding the scene and the plausibility of someone hanging themselves without a ladder, stool, stump… something. And driving from almost an hour away to do this in a town that’s not your own? None of it passes the sniff test that our Law & Order fans like Mr. Truth here would normally apply if this were say, a young upper class white female.
And the world is full of pedos. And who knows what sort of anti-black rage a young black man outing the Netcong mayor’s pedo kid could have unleashed? That town has an endless string of pedos and pedo-enablers, and who knows what sort of other folks were upset about the stings? I saw one of their videos years ago and the kid they caught was the son of some cop somewhere. I can see lots of folks finding a reason to “suicide” this kid. Really proud of the local BLM org for asking VERY REASONABLE questions.
The evidence is he was hanging from a tree with a noose an hour from his house . When’s the last time someone lynched themselves. Christ, wake up
Hello the truth,
Until a proper investigation is done it’s not right to rule as a suicide when it’s the ..5th hanging of a black man in a month? Why was he an hour from his house? Why are all these black men hanging themselves in public? He was outing pedophiles.. did that have something to do with it? People are rightfully spectating this before it is closed.
in response to the comment above by “the truth,” i do not believe that people are questioning the cause of death purely because he was a black man. it has more to do with the circumstances you seem to be minimizing, such as the fact that he was nearly an hour away from home in a public park. usually when people have intention to harm themselves, they don’t travel an hour away into a completely public place where anyone could stop them. in addition, i cannot see why someone would choose to go about it in a way that resembles how their ancestors were brutally and publicly murdered. with the rise in lynchings happening across america in response to the black lives matter movement, i’m sure no one is trying to deliberately “offend” the white race by insinuating that there may be another cause to this death when you look at the unanswered questions. there was never any insinuation that “a white person” had any part in this. i do not see why you are insulted by this tragedy or feel that it is a personal attack to question the clearly strange circumstances of the death. you are right, there is no evidence to prove it was a homocide. but does that mean it should not be investigated at all?
I do believe in light of recent racial tensions, and due to the unusual ruling of a suicide carried out in a public place, further investigation is warranted before a determination of suicide is made. With today’s technology, for tracking cell signals, and so many other resources and tools available to law enforcement and Investigators, why jump to conclusions. If foul play is happening in our own local parks, we need to know about it. While there is nothing to suggest it is murder, there is likewise nothing to suggest suicide. There appears to be very little information at all about what happened.
Welcome to the new America, where whenever a black person dies of whatever reason, it is automatically deemed murder at the hands of white people. This has gotten ridiculous. There is no evidence to suggest he was murdered, and his own father said it was a suicide and that his son was a troubled man. But blacklivesmatter need to keep creating false narratives to fit their agenda.