Plans to demolish the abandoned Dallas home where investigators recently found the bodies of 13-year-old Shavon Randle and 19-year-old Michael Titus have been put on hold.
The house in the 2200 block of East Kiest Boulevard in east Oak Cliff is now surrounded by a still-growing tribute to the teens in the form of flowers, balloons, piles of stuffed animals and handwritten notes on the exterior walls of the dilapidated, boarded-up building.
Randle, of Lancaster, had been the subject of a recent Amber Alert after being kidnapped June 28 in retaliation for a drug theft with which she was not involved, according to court records.
Hundreds attended her funeral Sunday.
Randle, and Titus, who had initially been named as a person of interest in Randle’s disappearance, were found in the house the morning of July 2. The Dallas County Medical Examiner has determined that Randle and Titus were shot to death.
Six people have been arrested in connection to the crimes, but none have been charged with homicide.
According to a City of Dallas official, preparations were underway to demolish the home in the wake of the crimes that happened inside. That included obtaining the permission of the property owner.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
But in recent days, prosecutors with the Dallas County District Attorney’s office stepped in to stop the planned demolition in an effort to preserve the crime scene.
In 2016, the City of Dallas demolished 275 abandoned, problem properties. Nearly 50 vacant buildings were also taken down by the Texas Army National Guard as part of its annual “Operation Crackdown,” which uses money from drug seizures to fund its efforts in cities across the state.
