UPDATE (10/25/23): Dibiah was sentenced to 52 years after pleading guilty to murder at the Indiana Department of Corrections. He was given a jail credit of 1,180 days and 394 good time credit days.
INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis man has pleaded guilty to murder after reportedly killing and dumping his son’s body in 2020.
In July 2020, Indianapolis metro police officers said they believed 10-year-old Nakota Kelly was dead after his mother explained Kelly told her that his father was angry with him and would kill him.
Court documents had also documented the father called at least two people and confessed to the killing.
Previous reports showed the case led to a large search on the city’s west side. Anthony Dibiah, 40, was charged with murder while police searched for the boy’s remains.
According to IMPD, officers were dispatched on July 19, 2020 around 11:45 a.m. for a welfare check of a child at the 6000 Block of West Lake South Drive. A caller told police that he had received a call from Anthony Dibiah in which Dibiah said he’d killed his son.
IMPD said they didn’t find Dibiah or the boy but did find evidence at the scene suggesting that Kelly was dead.
The probable cause stated investigators found what appeared to be “blood spatter, blood smears and brain matter” in the apartment’s bathroom. They also found a small amount of blood in the apartment’s entrance.
According to court documents, Dibiah called at least two people and told them he’d killed his son.
“I just killed my son!” Dibiah said, according to a relative, who told police that Dibiah repeated the phrase multiple times. Dibiah was crying during the call.
Previous reports detailed, a detective had also spoken with a Department of Child Services worker managing the 10-year-old’s case. The worker described a “concerning comment” the son reportedly made to the mom on July 14, 2020.
When the mom told the boy he was going to see his father, the boy said, “Oh, I’m dead. Don’t expect me to come home.” The boy added Dibiah was angry with him because the boy hung up during a phone call.
Dibiah was eventually located in Missouri and then charged with murder on July 20, 2020. He reportedly declined to provide a statement during an interview with detectives.
Despite extensive search efforts in the summer of 2020, Kelly’s body was never recovered and a funeral has never been held.
A plea agreement was filed with a “guilty but mentally ill” plea to the one count of Murder, on Sept. 25.
The filing set a cap of 55 years on the total sentence and all other aspects would be determined by the court.
A sentencing hearing has not been set.
