Watch CBS News

Suspect In Murder-Suicide That Killed A City Worker Accused In Separate Homicide

(CBS DETROIT) - Quentin Degreaffenried's family is mourning his sudden death.

"Quentin. Quentin is something else. The life of the party. So loving, so charming, so giving," said the victim's aunt Adrienne Hayes.

They say he died by the hands of his lover Deontez Jones.

"He had reached out to a couple of people that we knew and he was trying to one minute say he didn't do it and then another minute saying it was an accident," said Hayes.  

Westland Police says Jones committed suicide after allegedly killing Detroit City Council staffer DeAndree Watson early Sunday morning.

But another family claims Jones beat another man to death a week before the murder-suicide. 

"Detroit police came out and they did the check, and they bust in the door, and as soon as they bust in the door they backed up, and then they went back in and he came back out and he said, 'it's your nephew,'" she said.

The 27-year-old's family says it all started at a multi-housing complex on Ewald Circle. After days of not hearing from Degreaffenried, Detroit police were called to do a welfare check and that's when his body was found inside a hot apartment.

"I went to his window and the window was so covered with flies. And you talking about some body heart, I said 'Lord I don't want to believe this God, but you know,' and so, I knocked on the window. I bammed on the window and as I bammed on the window I could smell this smell," she said.

Degreaffenried's aunt told CW50 her nephew was in an abusive relationship with Jones for over two years.

The couple got into a fight June 26, and that's when the victim told his family that Jones was threatening to kill him.

June 29 he was found dead in his home with severe head injuries.

"They was still trying to get him to turn himself in and he wouldn't, so the last posting that we saw was him apologizing to his mother and then apologizing to Quentin's family," she said.

Jones also posted "Imma wait it out until my bday and baby I'm with you." 

"So we kind of felt like this is what it was gonna end up being, a suicide but we had no idea he was going to take someone else's life as well," she said.  

It's still unknown why Jones took Watson's life before turning the gun on himself.

DPD and Westland Police are still investigating both cases.

© 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.