Markham police arrest suspect in 2021 murder of 17-year-old girl

A Markham police detective pulled a cold case off the shelf and kept digging for years until he found the man now accused of killing 17-year-old Alexis Rhodes in 2021.

"She didn't deserve this to happen to her," Markham Police Det. Joe Crement said.

On Oct. 31, 2021, Rhodes was inside her family's home, when someone she feared was outside.

"She wouldn't let him into the house," Crement said.

Police said the person on the other side of the door was Dominique Jones, accused of firing a single shot through the door. The bullet hit the teenaged Rhodes.

Before dying, investigators said Rhodes was able to tell them who shot her.

"It was determined through a dying declaration that her boyfriend, Dominique Jones, had shot her," Crement said.

Despite having his name, finding Jones wasn't easy. He would not end up in the back seat of a Markham squad car until this month, five years after Rhodes' death.

The case went cold, the prime suspect vanished, and then Crement joined the force. Recently, he started looking into Rhodes' case.

"This 17-year-old victim's life was worth more than a file on the shelf," he said.

After reviewing evidence photos, he tried tracking down Jones.

"He was actually incarcerated on unrelated charges in the state of Indiana," Crement said.

While on the run, Jones was arrested in Indiana for armed robbery and aggravated battery. He was sentenced to prison in 2024, but that wasn't enough to arrest him for Rhodes' murder. The case still needed hard evidence.

"We still had to bolster and build the case based upon digital evidence and other items uncovered. There was a lot of times I heard no, and I wasn't taking no for an answer with this case. So, that no made me dig deeper," Crement said.

Crement's investigation finally led to Illinois prosecutors approving charges against Jones.

Under questioning at the Markham police station, whether it was the confined space of the interrogation room, the drive back from Indiana, or the burden of the murder, Jones confessed to killing Rhodes.

"He decided he had to tell the truth, and he ended up confessing to what he actually did," Crement said.

The case is now playing out in the court system, giving Rhodes' family and Crement the first step toward justice.