Arrest made in connection to McKee Street homicide

UPDATE: Court documents obtained by ABC 17 reveal that Jamale Marteen had texted a man, whose identity we will not reveal due to the ongoing investigation, to meet him on McKee Street. The two exchanged these texts less than three hours before police were called for gunshots in the area.

According to the court document, Marteen wanted to buy weed off this man, who was driving a white Chevrolet Tahoe. Witnesses told police the same type of car was parked outside Marteen’s residence “just prior to the shooting.”

After the shooting, Marteen told investigators he did not text the person who drove that car, and that he was not there the day of the shooting. Police obtained a search warrant for Marteen’s phone, and Marteen admitted to deleting the texts.

ORIGINAL STORY: Jamale Ewayne Marteen, 34, of Columbia, was arrested for felony tampering with physical evidence related to the homicide investigation in the 1800 block of McKee Street.

According to the official release, Criminal Investigations Division detectives got information that Marteen deleted text messages from his phone that were connected to incidents leading up to the shooting.

Marteen was arrested on Monday at 10:55 a.m. in the 1800 block of McKee Street. He has a cash only bond of $100,000.

Police identified the victim in the shooting as Nathan Earl Taylor, 31, of Kansas City.