Boy, 17, was safely sleeping in luxurious Miami apartment... until killer stranger sneaked into skyscraper
A teenage boy was sleeping soundly in a luxurious Miami high-rise home when a stranger sneaked into the building and knifed him to death in his bed.
Dominic Ferrell, 17, was sleeping in the lavish Icon Brickell building in Miami in the early hours of Sunday with his door unlocked when suspect Kyrill Kehl, 26, managed to get inside.
Kehl did not have a key fob for the secure building or its elevator.
He piggybacked in behind a group of residents around 2am and rode the elevator up with them before getting out on a random floor.
Next Kehl tried to open a number of units to test their locks.
Ferrell's apartment on the 34th floor was unlocked at the time, and Kehl entered without using force before savagely stabbing him numerous times.
In reported surveillance footage that has not been released to the public, investigators said Kehl was then seen sprinting from the apartment, and several knives were found at the scene.
According to police, Ferrell was found dead in his bed by a witness who lived with him. It is unclear if the witness was a family member, and they have not been named.
The Miami Herald reported that the apartment where Ferrell was killed was a 'short term rental.'
In a shock twist to the violent episode, cops said Kehl ran to a nearby construction site before apparently falling off an upper level and dying.
Investigators said Kehl had a history of mental illness, but have not established a motive for the killing and believe he had no prior contact with Ferrell before the attack.
It is unclear if he purposefully jumped to his death at the construction site or accidentally fell.
Police said they found his body at the construction site the next morning after following a trail of blood from the scene of Farrell's slaying.
Kehl had worked at military defense giant Northrop Grumman from March 2022 to September 2024 in the company's Marine Systems, according to a LinkedIn profile reported to be Kehl's.
According to a GoFundMe page first cited by the Miami Herald, Kehl went on to fundraise to travel to India in November 2024 when he left the defense contractor.
He wrote of using his funds to donate clothing to those in need, and raised over $3,000 to bring impoverished communities in Varanasi.
Investigators said Kehl had travelled from Arizona to Miami before the murder, and said it is unclear how he got there or if he had any ties to the area. A toxicology report is pending to establish if Kehl was on drugs or alcohol at the time of the murder.
Tributes have poured in for Ferrell as his loved ones say they are devastated by the random killing.
His mother, who has not been named, told NBC6 that she 'had nothing to say' as she came to terms with the reality of the senseless slaying.
Ferrell was a student at Miami Beach Senior High and had opened a dog walking business in the vacation hotspot in January 2023.
Following the shocking killing, residents in the Icon Brickell building and the surrounding area say they have recently been raising the alarm over safety issued in the luxury apartment complex, which comprises of three high rise skyscrapers.
'People are concerned with safety,' Christian Tang, owner of the Brickell & Downtown Miami Community Group, told NBC6.
'They feel uneasy with what's going on around the community in recent incidents in the last two, three, four months.'
These incidents reportedly included an attempted rape at an apartment blocks away from Farrell's building last month.
'There are a lot of issues with the security around here, especially since it's supposed to be a luxury area,' added Icon Brickell resident Marianne Sucre to the Miami Herald.
'This kind of stuff has been happening a lot . . . You always hear that someone is approached or yelled at or [hear of] a lot of violent situations.'
In a statement following the discovery of Kehl's body, Miami Police Chief Manny Morales assured residents there is no threat to public safety and clarified that the suspect and victim did not know each other.
'We know for a fact that they did not know each other. They were strangers and this guy was just going from apartment to apartment, opening and knocking on doors, so again it is very important to lock your doors and do not open them to strangers,' Morales said.
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