Men plead guilty to cold case killing of Terrance Kinard in suspected murder-for-hire

Two men have been sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder in a cold case killing from 2016.

Both Murad Diggs, 40, and Raheem Brown, 35, pleaded guilty this month to second-degree murder for the May 2016 killing of 34-year-old Terrance Kinard in Wilmington's Hilltop neighborhood.

Details about the investigation are largely hidden from the public though one document suggests Kinard was killed in a murder-for-hire plot.

How this cold case was reheated

Kinard's murder went unsolved for years before Wilmington Police announced last year that the duo had been charged with first-degree murder for the killing.

Facing the potential of life imprisonment if convicted at trial, they each pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and were sentenced to 15 years of incarceration.

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Their indictment, plea deals and sentencing were executed in such a way that conceals police documents setting out what evidence arose over the five years the case remained cold.

However, a pretrial motion filed by prosecutors in the case gives some details as to their theory of the duo's guilt. It also states that the investigation was "cold" until "additional witnesses were located and interviewed."

What prosecutors pose as the theory of motive

The document filed by Deputy Attorney General Joseph Grubb summarizes some evidence that would have been presented at trial seeking to establish a motive in the killing. He wrote that Diggs owed a drug debt of $3,000-$4,000 to someone.

Kinard was friends with both Diggs and the person Diggs owed money to, so Kinard was enlisted to collect the debt, which led to a feud between Kinard and Diggs, court papers say.

The document filed by prosecutors details four incidents in which that feud escalated with name-calling at the Christiana Mall, fist fights on the street, shots fired during a card game and gunshots outside the Safari Lounge.

The last incident occurred five weeks before Kinard was killed. Responding to a "shots fired" report, Wilmington Police discovered Kinard inside a bullet-riddled BMW on Third Street. He was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after.

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The court document states that prosecutors believe Diggs hired Brown to kill Kinard and afterward, paid him in drugs.

Grubb wrote that prosecutors planned to establish this in court through the "testimony of multiple witnesses."

Both men were initially charged with first-degree murder.

Murder-for-hire cases often involve conspiracy and weapons charges. Grubb wrote that the statute of limitations had expired on all other potential charges.

Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Wilmington cold case killing of Terrance Kinard ends with guilty pleas