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Three Charged In Relation To Murder Of Milwaukee Postal Worker On Mail Route
Kevin McCaa and Charles Ducksworth have been charged with murder or aiding and abetting the murder of postal employee Aundre Cross, while Shanelle McCoy has been charged with providing false statements to law enforcement investigating the murder.
Three people were charged Wednesday in relation to the murder of an on-duty U.S. Postal Service mail carrier in Milwaukee earlier this month.
Kevin McCaa, 36, and Charles Duckworth Jr., 26, both of Milwaukee, "murdered or aided and abetted the murder" of postal worker Aundre Cross, 44, on Dec. 9 and "discharged a firearm in a crime of violence" in the process, according to the United States Attorney's Office of Eastern Wisconsin. If convicted, both face life in prison.
The office's complaint also accuses another Milwaukee resident, 34-year-old Shanelle McCoy, with lying to police investigating the murder, which could land her up to five years, and failing to come forward about the crime, which comes with a sentence of up to three years if convicted.
All three were arrested Wednesday.
Cellphone records place McCaa and Duckworth in the area of the shooting, a residence at 65th St. and Lancaster Ave., at the time of the killing.
Surveillance footage procured from a nearby resident allegedly shows the two suspects following Cross for about 40 minutes in a silver Audi SUV while he delivered mail along his route.
According to the complaint, "[McCaa] then crossed the street and approached the victim from behind, at which point a gunshot can be heard on the footage."
McCaa can then reportedly be seen running back toward the SUV.
Investigators found the silver SUV on Dec. 12 near McCoy's residence in the area of Grantosa and Hampton Avenues. She is the owner of the vehicle used to follow Cross, investigators said. She allegedly told police that she was using the vehicle to make DoorDash deliveries at the time of Cross' murder, but surveillance footage shows her driving Duckworth's car that day, according to the complaint.
Cross was targeted because McCaa and Duckworth were allegedly involved in mailing drugs from California to Milwaukee, detectives believe. On Dec. 2, according to the complaint, Cross scanned a package as "Delivery Attempted- No Access to Delivery Location." Cross allegedly performed this scan at North 77th St. and West Carmen Ave. in Milwaukee, about a mile and a half away from the delivery address.
"Based on my training and experience, Subject Parcel #1 is being scanned as 'Delivery Attempted- No Access to Delivery Location' combined with evidence it was not returned to its original USPS delivery unit, could indicate that a USPS employee retained the parcel or provided it to someone else outside normal operations," an investigator wrote.
However, the complaint stated, it is unclear whether Cross knew his killers.
A gun that matched a shell casing recovered at the scene of the shooting was pulled from a creek near 49th and Parkway Drive, according to the complaint. Surveillance footage obtained by police shows a person walking from the location of the Audi toward a pedestrian bridge over the creek after the murder.
A federal search warrant was conducted on Tuesday at five addresses related to the investigation. McCaa and McCoy were arrested at McCoy's Grantosa address, while Duckworth was arrested at a location near North 13th St. in Milwaukee.
Several rounds of ammunition, guns, marijuana and the clothes that one of suspects was wearing at the time of the alleged murder were allegedly found at one of the addresses, according to the complaint.
“These arrests should make very clear to criminals everywhere that the Postal Inspection Service will not rest when it comes to solving attacks like this,” said Chicago Division Acting Inspector in Charge Kai Pickens in a news release. “If you harm one of our employees, we will find you and put you behind bars. My thanks to everyone who contributed to identifying, locating, and apprehending these suspects. Though no words can ever undo this terrible crime, we can at least say that these arrests are another step toward securing justice for Aundre Cross.”
Cross' local letter carrier's union commended the USAO for the arrests.
The arrests provided a "sense of relief, relief for Aundre's family and relief for the letter carrier family that he was a member of for many, many years," Dave Skowronek, vice president of the National Association of Letter Carrier's Branch No. 2, told WISN. "People are happy. Until it's over, it's not over, but we're generally happy over the results of what's going on today."
Cross was a husband, a father of three and had worked with the postal service for 18 years.
His brother, Cornelius Mitchell, told news outlets at the time of his death that he was a "good person and he doesn't deserve this."
"He prays for everyone, always smiles and he's a good person," he said.
