Canton man accused of raping, killing Windsor mom while son in other room

Georgea Kovanis | Detroit Free Press

A metro Detroit man accused of breaking into the Windsor, Ontario, apartment of a 31-year-old woman, raping and killing her — while her 9-year-old son was in another room — has been arrested in Washington state.

Jitesh Bhogal, a Canadian citizen who lived in Canton and worked in Detroit, was arrested Aug. 17 at his parents' home in Kent, south of Seattle. An extradition hearing is scheduled for Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

Bhogal's defense lawyer, Gregory Murphy, was not immediately available for comment.

Bhogal, 27, faces charges of first-degree murder, aggravated sexual assault and breaking and entering in the June 10 death of Autumn Taggart, also known as Maya Madolyn.

Here's what Taggart's 9-year-old son told investigators, according to court documents:

The boy said a man he didn't know came into his room sometime during the early morning hours of June 10 and told him to stay in bed and go to sleep. Later, the boy said, he heard a girl screaming but stayed in bed because he was scared.

When he woke up, he discovered his mother was still in bed and spent the day eating cookies and watching videos.

In the evening, the alarm on his mother's phone went off, which meant it was time for him to take a shower. Unable to wake her up, he texted his father, who came to the apartment and found Taggart dead.

According to the Windsor Star, Bhogal is an engineer who works for an automotive company in Michigan.

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According to federal court records, a woman who lived next door to Taggart's building told investigators that at about 2 a.m. on June 10, she and her boyfriend returned home with a man authorities later identified as Bhogal.

The neighbor told investigators that the man, whom they called Jay, wanted to buy cocaine and hire a prostitute.

The neighbor told investigators that she and her boyfriend planned to help Jay buy cocaine and then rob him.

After they got the cocaine, the couple instructed Jay to park behind Taggart's building, where they did some of the drugs but stole the rest, according to court records.

The neighbor woman told investigators that when she looked out her window at about 4:30 a.m., she saw Jay's SUV parked behind Taggart's building. Figuring Jay had fallen asleep in the car, she went outside to steal from it, but found the vehicle locked and empty, according to court records. She told investigators that the SUV was still there at about 5:30 a.m. but by 6:15 a.m., it was gone.

According to the Seattle Times, court documents say Homeland Security agents in Detroit, acting at the behest of Canadian authorities, followed Bhogal to a bar after he became a suspect in the crime and obtained Bhogal’s DNA from a beer glass, allegedly matching it to DNA found on Taggart’s body by forensic pathologists.

Windsor police said they're working with partner agencies to have Bhogal extradited to Ontario.

Associated Press contributed to this report.