Magee and Lodge plead guilty in 2021 kidnapping and rape case

Keldrick Jernell Magee, 35, of Bassfield, and Kim Stewart Lodge, 64, of Seminary, have pled guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Kidnapping, Kidnapping, Tampering with Evidence, Sexual Battery and Forcible Rape in the Circuit Court of Jefferson Davis County.

Judge Prentiss Harrell accepted the pleas and handed down sentencing Friday morning at the Lamar County Courthouse in Purvis.

The case originates from a report of a missing 2-year-old boy from an apartment complex in Bassfield, Mississippi on Dec. 30, 2021, which led to a multi-agency search for the child.

Fifteen hours later and 15 miles away from where he was originally taken, the child was found abandoned and naked in Sumrall, on the side of the road.

The child was taken to Forrest General Hospital where medical personnel noticed injuries indicating sexual abuse. He was transported to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi for further evaluation and treatment. During this time, law enforcement began an extensive search for the kidnappers.

Magee, who was 33 years old at the time and a biological cousin of the victim, was the last known person to have been with the baby when he was taken. Using surveillance cameras and working backwards from where the victim was found, law enforcement was able to track the red truck Magee was in to a home in Seminary.

Law enforcement apprehended Kim Lodge and Keldrick Magee inside the home on Jan. 5, 2022 in the middle of an attempt to flee the state. Kim Lodge, who at the time was 63 years old and had been in a relationship with Magee, later confessed to the charges and detailed the horrors of what he and Magee did to the child.

“This case is the nightmare of every person. To have a baby taken and abused in the way these defendants abused this two-year old is horrific. That the child lived and healed from these brutal crimes is a miracle. That he is now a normal, happy child is a miracle. There are no words to adequately describe the defendants in this case. In the same vein, there is no penalty under the law that they can receive that adequately punishes them for their vile crimes. However, we have ensured that they do not walk in the light of day again. Their sentences, which equate to a day less than their individual life expectancies, begin to provide justice for not only the community, but for the victim in this case. This case is so egregious that everyone, from law enforcement to medical personnel, crime lab analysists to lay witnesses have been emotionally impacted by it. We are thankful for the work in this case by the Jefferson Davis County Sheriff’s Department, the Convington County Sheriff’s Department, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations, Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, Sumrall Police Department, Hattiesburg Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations in their investigation and dedication in this case. I also want to thank Carpenter Marsalis and Laurel Brinkley for their work in this case. Even though they are seasoned prosecutors who have both specialized in prosecuting crimes of sexual assault, this case impacted them more severely than other cases of this nature and I appreciate their efforts.”

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