GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – A 63-year-old man awaiting trial in connection with the kidnapping and death of a teenage girl has died, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District confirmed Tuesday.
Authorities said Gerald Bennett, a resident of Detroit, died Monday, Nov. 13, due to medical complications from cancer.
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Bennett was facing the following federal charges: conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death, kidnapping resulting in death, kidnapping of a minor victim and solicitation to commit a crime of violence.
The charges stem from the sexual assault of a 15-year-old Grand Rapids girl. In 2017, Mujey Dumbuya accused Quinn James of sexual assault and after learning about the criminal complaint, James reportedly hired Bennett to help kidnap and kill the teen. After several weeks of planning, the two reportedly abducted Dumbuya, who was 16 at the time, from a bus stop in January 2018.
Her body was found in Kalamazoo a few days later.
Both James and Bennett were charged in connection with her murder. While James was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, Bennett’s case was dismissed after being deemed not competent to stand trial.
Law enforcement remained convinced Bennett was competent and he was arrested in 2022 on the federal charge of kidnapping a minor. After an evaluation, a forensic psychologist reported that Bennett was faking it and was competent to stand trial.
While being lodged at a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility, Bennett reportedly admitted to inmates that he was faking incompetency and also attempted to hire another inmate to kill a key witness against Bennett.
A grand jury then added charges of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death, kidnapping resulting in death and solicitation to commit a crime of violence against Bennett.
Jury selection for trial was scheduled to begin on February, 2024.
Bennett was admitted to a hospital for cancer treatment Nov. 7 and his health quickly declined. He died less than a week later.