CNN
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Three bodies found Thursday in the Detroit area are believed to be those of three rappers missing for almost two weeks, a municipal spokesperson said.
The bodies were found in a “rat infested,” abandoned apartment complex in Highland Park, roughly 6 miles northwest of Detroit, said Michigan State Police, which is leading the investigation.
The Michigan State Police Second District tweeted Friday afternoon that the homicide task force identified the three bodies but are not releasing names until the families have been notified.
The state police tweeted a day earlier that the agency has yet to confirm a manner of death.
“Please remember all victims have families and we don’t have the luxury of guessing on their identity and then retracting if we didn’t get it right. Once information is confirmed we will update,” the state police tweeted on Thursday.
Lt. Mike Shaw said via Twitter Friday morning that “due to weather conditions and the conditions of the victims” their identities were “unable to be determined just by sight alone.”
The missing men – Armani Kelly, 28; Dante Wicker, 31; and Montoya Givens, 31 – were associates whose January 21 performance at a Detroit club was canceled, police have said. Activity on their cell phones stopped early on January 22, according to authorities.
Police were first alerted to their disappearance by Kelly’s mother, who reported him missing the next day, said Michael McGinnis, commander of major crimes at the Detroit Police Department.
“That mother became very proactive in the investigation and started searching for her vehicle through OnStar,” McGinnis said this week.
She found the car in Warren, Michigan, just a few miles from Highland Park, McGinnis said, and authorities recovered the car on January 23.
As the story of Kelly’s disappearance gained media attention, “other family members of the other missings come to realize that that’s a friend of their loved ones and they haven’t seen them either, so then they both get reported missing,” McGinnis said.
A homicide task force was at the Highland Park complex Thursday evening, state police said.