KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — A color photograph in a federal trial brief shows Carlos Watts Jr. moments before his escape from the KPEP halfway house in Kalamazoo, where he was finishing up a sentence for an old cocaine case.
It shows him reaching around a counter at KPEP and grabbing a pair of scissors that the feds say he used to cut off his tether.
The U.S. Attorney's Office, in recently filed documents related to Watts' escape case, accuse him of fleeing the halfway house to avoid prosecution in the Dec. 10 disappearance and presumed murder of Heather Kelley. Police have said they believe Kelley, a 35-year-old mother of eight, was killed that day. Her body has not been found. Watts, 38, has not been charged in the case.
Kelley left her home on Dec. 10 to pick up Watts, described as her on-again-off-again boyfriend, from his job as a busboy at the Park Club in Kalamazoo.
Watts' tether, which he wore as a condition of his stay at the halfway house, stopped working just after 9 p.m. and didn't come back on until just before 6 a.m. the next day. Police have said they believe Kelley was killed and her body disposed of during that 8.5-hour window.
On Dec. 11, the afternoon after the disappearance, Watts met with his brother, the U.S. Attorney's trial brief says.
About three hours later, records show, police found Kelley's car abandoned by the side of the road. They found her blood on the front and back seats. The feds say the driver's seat was partially burnt with trace evidence of gasoline. They also found a small hole punched in the driver's side window.
Police later found clothing in a field about half a mile away, including women’s underwear, women’s jeans, boots and a durag. Tests later determined that the jeans and durag had DNA from Kelley and Watts, court records say.
Police interviewed Watts that night at KPEP. The feds say he cut off his tether and escaped through an emergency exit early the next morning.
Police later stopped Watts' brother and found pieces of car window glass, a screwdriver with glass embedded in the handle and two cigarette lighters, records show. They say the screwdriver appeared to fit the hole in Kelley's car window.
Records don't show whether the brother was arrested.
On Dec. 14, police arrested Watts after a two-hour standoff at a home in Battle Creek.
Police say Watts had scratches on his chest.
"After Defendant was found and arrested for escaping KPEP, police met with him on December 14 to execute a search warrant for evidence related to (Heather Kelley's) disappearance and suspected murder – pictures of his body, including scratches on his chest, and DNA samples," according to the U.S. Attorney's trial brief. "Defendant talked throughout that process, including telling investigators that (Heather Kelley) was 'promiscuous' and that he could 'help (investigators) find her.'"
Watts told investigators he left KPEP justifiably after Kelley's brother sent him threatening messages "regarding the whereabouts and wellbeing of the man's sister," court records show.
But the feds argue that Watts' motive "for cutting off his tether and escaping KPEP was not to (avoid) the victim’s brother, but to escape prosecution."
Court records also show it's not the first time Watts has escaped from federal custody. He also escaped 20 years ago from the same halfway house. Watts' escape trial is set for next month.