Mother of man convicted in murder of 23-year-old Zaria McKeever pleads guilty

The mother of the man who orchestrated the 2022 killing of 23-year-old Zaria McKeever in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, pleaded guilty on Wednesday.

Valesha Parker was charged in 2024 with four felony counts of aiding an offender. Her son, Erick Haynes, was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of McKeever, the mother of his child.

Parker pleaded guilty to one count of aiding an offender after the fact. If her plea deal is accepted at a May 1 sentencing, a 50-month sentence will be stayed for five years, and she'll serve 364 days in jail.

In 2022, Haynes brought a gun to McKeever's apartment and ordered two teenage brothers to kill her new boyfriend, as well as McKeever herself if she got in the way. The boyfriend jumped out the window as the teens kicked down the apartment door.

One of the teenagers, Foday Kamara, who was 15 years old at the time, shot McKeever nine times and accidentally shot his brother in the foot. Two other adults were convicted and sentenced on charges relating to helping after the homicide.

Parker's charges say that she had been living at the Extended Stay Hotel in Brooklyn Center, where police found the murder weapon. Kamara told investigators that Parker had been present when the two other adults let him into the hotel room.

The two other adults left, and Kamara said he told Parker that he had shot McKeever. He also said Parker had overheard a conversation with Haynes about hiding the murder weapon.

Kamara was originally offered a plea deal by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, who wanted him and his brother to undergo rehabilitation instead of serving time in prison. McKeever's family was outraged and successfully lobbied Gov. Tim Walz to intervene and reroute the case to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison without Moriarty's approval — a move that hadn't occurred in the state for nearly three decades. Moriarty called Walz's decision "undemocratic."