Rondell Waters: Detroit Man Held Without Bond After Missing Woman’s Dismembered Body Found in Bags Inside His Home
A 44-year-old Detroit man is currently held without bond after police searched his property and found the dismembered remains of his girlfriend hidden in garbage bags in the basement and an upstairs closet.
Rondell Waters faces charges of open murder, disinterment and mutilation of a body, and tampering with evidence in the death of 33-year-old Latima Warren.
The case began when the mother of four was last seen alive just before Christmas 2021, so on December 28 of that year, a missing persons report was filed.
When law enforcement officials searched the house on January 17, 2022, they found Warrens remains inside the house she shared with Warren, while their 3-month-old son, was found unharmed inside the house when the search warrant was served.
Warren and Waters had been in a relationship at the time, and the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled her death a homicide, as the evidence showed that she had been shot.
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| Latima Warren |
During the investigation, detectives uncovered that officers had been to the same house more than a month earlier, on December 2, 2021, when someone called in a disturbance.
Body camera footage (as seen below) captured Waters standing on his porch, telling police he had locked out his ex-wife, who was Warren after they argued. Officers also located Warren in the backyard inside the freezing cold, where she confirmed she had been locked out and just wanted to smoke a cigarette.
Both she and Waters told police everything was fine, and Warren declined offers to be taken somewhere else for the night.
Sadly, that interaction became her last confirmed sighting, and Warren’s immediately family grew worried when her phone went silent.
When no one heard from her over the holidays, her children’s grandmother, Gwendolyn Parks, stopped by the couples home to drop off Christmas presents for the baby, on December 22, 2021.
According to police reports, Parks said Waters claimed he had not seen Warren for several days. However, Parks later told investigators that the house smelled unusually clean, like Pine-Sol, which was not the typical odor she had noticed during previous visits.
She also recalled Waters mentioning that a neighbor had found the couple’s baby sitting outside in a car seat and brought the child inside. But despite claiming Warren was missing, Waters never contacted police at the time.
Parks later reached out to Warren’s mother, who said she had not spoken to her daughter in about a week. So on December 28, Parks officially filed a missing persons report with the Detroit Police Department.
In the days that followed, officers returned to the address, but the initial search lasted only a few minutes and turned up nothing.
Investigators later learned that money had been added to Warren’s Bridge Card on December 17, 18, and 25, but none of those funds were ever spent, which raised additional concerns.
On January 17, 2022, members of the Fugitive Apprehension Service Team and a Michigan State Police K9 unit executed another search warrant at the Vaughn Street residence.
This time, a cadaver dog signaled a possible scent of human remains coming from a laundry room in the basement, and when investigators checked, they found two large black garbage bags.
One bag emitted a strong odor consistent with advanced decomposition, and when officers cut it open they found human remains, but the victim’s head and both arms were missing. A more extensive search led detectives to an upstairs closet where the remaining body parts were recovered. The remains were later identified as Warren’s.
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| Rondell Waters |
Waters was immediately into custody after the chilling discovery and he was questioned for more than four hours, according to this documetary.
During the interrogation, Waters reportedly appeared emotionally detached and spoke about Warren’s disappearance as if he was describing a neighbor he barely knew. He told them he last saw Warren around December 19 or 20 and had told her she could not return to the house.
When asked about a strong odor inside the home and a running fan there, Waters said the fan kept out the smell of a cat or rat that had tried to get in. He also acknowledged that he had been sleeping in the basement—just feet from where Warren’s remains were later located.
After detectives showed him crime scene photos of the garbage bags and said his DNA would likely be on them, Waters insisted he had never touched the bags and suggested someone was trying to set him up.
Waters has been arraigned in Detroit’s 36th District Court, and online jail records show he was being held without bond at a Wayne County detention facility, as seen on Oxygen.
A probable cause hearing was scheduled for February 3, 2022, and a preliminary hearing for February 10. It was not immediately clear whether Waters had obtained legal representation.
“Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Ms. Warren,” Detroit Police Chief James White said in a statement. “This is beyond tragic, and I am thankful for the men and women of the Detroit Police Department who have worked tirelessly on this case.”
Warren’s family created an online fundraiser to cover funeral expenses and a headstone, and that campaign raised more than $8,000. “My soul is at peace because I know I did all I could do to bring Tima back to her beautiful babies alive,” Warren’s grandmother wrote. Sadly, Warren left behind two boys and two girls.
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