Kyle Dickinson, the Cadillac man charged with leaving a Missaukee County woman’s dead body in his basement for days before disposing of her in the trash, was back in court Tuesday for a probable cause hearing.
Dickinson is charged with one count of concealing the death of an individual and one count of tampering with evidence.
Police say 30-year-old Dickinson told them he discovered 26-year-old Laken Clark, his off and on-again girlfriend, dead of a possible overdose in his basement. Dickinson left her there for four days before disposing of her body in the trash.
As Dickinson’s court case works its way through the court system, friends and loved ones of Laken Clark are still processing what happened.
A local woman, named Tonia Chase, said she knew Laken Clark. Chase said no one deserves what Laken got.
“You don’t treat people like that. Absolutely not. I’m not perfect. But I sure as hell would never do something like that,” said Chase.
Chase said she was gutted when she first heard the news that Laken was found dead in Wexford County.
Chase said she knew Laken through her son.
“She married my son’s best friend from school, and then he’s like, ‘Yeah ma, I got married’. And finally, they came up and I got to meet her, and she would show me pictures of the girls,” said Chase.
Chase said that Laken was a mother with three young children, two girls and a boy, all under the age of six. Most of Laken’s family, including her two daughters, lived out of state.
“She ain’t been around long. She had no family here. The only family she talked to was her grandparents and her girls on the phone. So, I was kind of like a family to her,” said Chase.
Chase said she wasn’t perfect. Laken had her flaws like everyone else, but she wasn’t just a person addicted to drugs.
“She was a great person. Great personality, she loved to laugh. The coloring in those adult color books, she really, really enjoyed that. She had thousands of pens, umpteen coloring books. I mean, she was really into that,” said Chase.
Chase said most people don’t know how amazing Laken was.
“I loved her. I miss her. She’s good people. Yeah, it’ll be okay. Justice is coming one way or another. She’ll get it,” said Chase.
Police have the results of the autopsy and toxicology reports could not determine the cause or manner of Clark’s death. The toxicology reports found multiple drugs in her system. The autopsy also indicated blunt force injuries to the body.
Dickinson is expected back in court on April 4th.
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