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Prosecutor Kym Worthy has charged Jacob Paul-Anthony Barnes, 23 (DOB: 10/13/1992), of Lincoln Park, and Jeremy Lee, 16 (DOB: 8/24/2000), of Detroit, in connection with the homicide of Amanda Lynn Benton, 29, of Melvindale. Defendant Lee will be charged as an adult in this case.

It is alleged that on September 26, 2016 at approximately 3:30 a.m., Barnes and Lee fatally assaulted Ms. Benton at Woodmere and Cabot in Detroit. She was approximately five months pregnant and beaten in the head, neck and abdomen. It is further alleged that the defendants placed her in the trunk of her car and drove her to an abandoned house in the 8000 block of Vanderbilt in Detroit where they set her body on fire. The defendants drove off in her car and abandoned it in Southwest Detroit.

On September 30, 2016, an investigation by the Detroit Police Department led to the arrest of Jacob Paul-Anthony Barnes and Jeremy Lee in connection with the homicide of Ms. Benton.

Both defendants have been charged with Felony Murder, First Degree Murder, Assault of a Pregnant Individual Causing Death of a Fetus and Mutilation of a Dead Body. Both defendants were arraigned this morning in 36th District Court before Magistrate Bari Blake Wood. The probable cause conference is scheduled for October 13, 2016 at 8:30 a.m.; the preliminary examination is scheduled for October 18, 2016 at 9:00 a.m. Both hearings are before Judge Lydia Nance Adams in 36th District Court.

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