A tragic and heart-wrenching story unfolded on January 22, 2022, in Mesquite, Texas, where 16-year-old Key’mydre Anderson lost his life in a horrifying series of events. A couple driving along Clay Mathis Road saw the teenager hanging out of a car window before he fell onto the pavement. They rushed to help, using their coats and jackets to cover him as he lay injured and half-dressed on the ground.
Key’mydre, a sophomore at John Horn High School and known affectionately by his family as “Ears,” was pronounced dead shortly after being taken to a nearby hospital. Initially, authorities thought it was a car accident. But when they discovered a puncture wound in his chest, the truth became clear: the teen had been shot and then thrown from a moving car, just a mile away from his home.
Investigators soon pieced together what had happened that fateful evening. Four people, including three teenagers and a mother, were eventually charged with Key’mydre’s murder. One of them, 21-year-old Johnathan Pyle, is now on trial in Dallas County, facing the possibility of life in prison without parole.
Key’mydre wasn’t just any teenager. He was a hardworking and dedicated student who also held a job as a cook at Sonic Drive-In to help his single mom, Shenika, support his five younger siblings. On the day of his death, he had finished his shift, taken a quick shower, and even gone grocery shopping with his grandmother, Tonya Palmer.
Later that evening, Key’mydre got into a black Honda Civic outside his house. Shenika had seen the car before and believed her son knew the person inside. However, authorities later revealed that he had been communicating with some of the suspects and got into the car to allegedly buy a firearm. His grandmother, Tonya, expressed her disbelief at this revelation, insisting, “He wasn’t in danger or any kind of harm, not that we know of.”
What happened next was a robbery gone terribly wrong. Around 7:05 p.m., a witness called 911 to report seeing someone fall from a moving car on the 2800 block of Clay Mathis Road. When police arrived, they found Key’mydre wearing only a t-shirt and underwear, with his jeans torn off during the ordeal. The investigation revealed that the suspects tried to rob him of $250 he had earned from his job. During the robbery, he was shot, though it’s unclear if it happened inside the vehicle or not.
To solve the case, detectives turned to doorbell camera footage and Key’mydre’s social media accounts. They found evidence on TikTok and Instagram suggesting that Pyle, then 19, and another suspect, Simon Guillen, 18, had planned the robbery. Guillen’s mother, Crystal, who was 34 at the time, and a 15-year-old boy were also arrested. All four were charged with capital murder.
Key’mydre’s grandmother, Tonya, was outraged, especially by the involvement of Guillen’s mother. “That’s not a parent,” she said. “That’s called a madman, not a mother.”
In the days following Key’mydre’s death, the community mourned. Teddy bears and flowers were left on the roadside where he fell. A vigil was held at Cornerstone Baptist Church, just two minutes from his home, where Mesquite Mayor Dan Aleman spoke about the need for healing in the city. “The problem in our city is not so much the presence of the demonic, as it is the absence of the glory of God,” he said.
On February 2, 2022, Key’mydre was laid to rest in South Cedar Hill, leaving behind a grieving family and a community forever changed by the senseless violence that claimed his young life.
