Manies wound up dead as a result of the Aug. 9 robbery turned homicide. And Kakaris, 19, who is charged with aggravated robbery, was bound over Monday by visiting Judge Patrick Binns to a Butler County grand jury.
Kakaris sobbed loudly and yelled, “Pray for me,” to the courtroom packed with her family and friends.
“We love you,” some of her supporters shouted back.
Kakaris’ alleged boyfriend Phillip Platt, 25, and Riccardo “Ricco” Renfro, 19, are both charged with aggravated murder for the slaying of Manies, who died of asphyxiation from compression on the neck, according to an autopsy report. Platt and Renfro were bound over to the grand jury on Aug. 18.
Winters testified Monday that Kakaris contacted detectives after Manies’ body was discovered. She was taken to the Middletown police station along with Platt where she asked to speak with an attorney, he said. But a few hours later, Winters said, Kakaris was begging jail employees to contact him because she wanted to talk.
Kakaris told police she had contacted Manies the day before his death about a job, and at some point, her boyfriend, Platt, began text messaging Manies pretending to be Kakaris, Winters said. Kakaris told police that some of those text messages had a sexual connotation, Winters said.
When Manies arrived at the house on First Avenue, Platt and Renfro hid in a closet in the kitchen and jumped out as Manies walked past the door, according to Kakaris’ statement.
“There was a scuffle,” Winters said, noting Kakaris told police that she and another person ran out of the house during the fight.
Winters testified that Kakaris admitted to knowing it was a robbery attempt.
David Washington, Kakaris’ defense attorney, asked for his client’s $500,000 bond to be lowered, but Binns denied the request.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2168 or lpack@coxohio.com.
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