'A scholar and activist': Civil rights attorney Kiah Duggins named victim in DC crash
An aspiring law professor and former Miss Kansas contestant is among the dead after a commercial jet collided with a military helicopter Wednesday outside Washington D.C., family and school officials said.
Kiah Duggins was among the 64 people on board the airplane when it collided with a Blackhawk trying to land at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, relatives and close friends confirmed. All on board both aircrafts are feared dead, officials said Thursday.
She was 30.
"Kiah believed in radical love, unwavering truth, and the fight for a better world. Let's carry her torch forward," Family member Aisha Duggins wrote in a fundraiser she created slated to go toward causes and initiatives "dear to her heart, ensuring that her work and passion live on."
Former Sedgwick County Commissioner Lacey Cruse also confirmed Duggins' death in a Facebook post and called her a "brave and beautiful soul."
Prior to her death, Duggins was "set to begin a new chapter as a professor at Howard University in the fall," the university posted on social media.
She dedicated her career to fighting against "unconstitutional policing and unjust money bail practices in Tennessee, Texas and Washington, D.C.," the post reads.
USA TODAY has reached out to Duggins' family.
Kiah Duggins was also Miss Kansas contestant
According to Larry Strong, Duggins' former pageant director, Duggins was a two-time former Miss Kansas contestant.
'It is with heavy heart that the Miss Augusta and Miss Butler County organization just learned that Kiah Duggins... was a passenger in the plane that crashed last evening in Washington DC,' Strong posted on Facebook Thursday. 'Keep the rest of the family in your thoughts and prayers at this difficult time.'
Duggins was Miss Butler County 2014 and 2015, Strong wrote.
"The Miss Kansas Organization community, to include our brand ambassadors, board of directors and volunteers, call on our entire state to join in us collectively sending our love and deepest condolences to the families and loved ones impacted by the tragic loss of life aboard American Airlines Flight 5342."
"Our hearts are with you all as we lift each other up during this incredibly difficult time," the organization posted on its Facebook page.
Where was Attorney Kiah Duggins' from?
A Wichita native, Duggins attended Wichita Public Schools, the district confirmed to USA TODAY Friday, and graduated from Wichita High School East.
A graduate of the Class of 2013, Duggins was an International Baccalaureate Diploma graduate, a member of the Dance Team, Model UN Club, Spanish and National Honor Societies, and Student Government, Wichita High School East Principal Sara Richardson told USA TODAY Friday.
"She was also a Homecoming Queen candidate, a testament to the admiration and respect she earned from her peers," Richardson said. "Her determination to make a difference, especially in the lives of young people of color, was evident in everything she did. She led with kindness, purpose, and a commitment to lifting others up, inspiring those around her to strive for excellence and equity.
"While we grieve this tremendous loss, we also honor the incredible legacy Kiah leaves behind. Her impact on our school, community, and beyond will not be forgotten."
Deadliest plane crashes: A history of some of the deadliest crashes in US in wake of DC aircraft collision
Duggin's graduated from Wichita State University
Duggin's went on attending Wichita State University as a Clay Barton Scholar, according to her profile on the university's website.
"Kiah was more than a scholar and activist," Aisha Duggins wrote. "She was a beloved sister-friend, a source of inspiration, and a beacon of grace and integrity. She made you want to be smarter, kinder, and bolder. Her presence challenged everyone around her to step into their most fearless, compassionate selves."
"Dear God, please give Kiah the highest seat in heaven," her childhood friend, Dylan Severson posted in a tribute on Facebook. "Her memory is abundant with blessings and love overflowing. Her name brings profound joy and hope & her passing leaves painful tears and sorrow. You're irreplaceable in my heart, and I love you forever."
Students, Olympic skaters, and more: A tribute to lives lost in the DC plane crash
Kiah Duggins worked as civil rights attorney for non-profit
Duggins graduated from Harvard University and was a civil rights attorney with the non-profit Civil Rights Corps.
According to its website, the organization 'litigate[s] on behalf of movements challenging unconstitutional policing" and is dedicated to challenging systemic injustice in the United States' legal system.
USA TODAY has reached out to Civil Rights Corps.
What happened to American Airlines Flight 5324?
The crash took place just before 9 p.m. when AA Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, attempted to land at Reagan National Airport and crashed in midair with a Black Hawk helicopter, carrying three people.
The passenger plane with 64 people aboard then fell into icy waters of the Potomac River.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, which confirmed Thursday divers had recovered black boxes from the passenger plane.
During a news conference, NTSB member Todd Inman said the military helicopter was also equipped "with some form of recording."
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund
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And I started getting contacted by hundreds and hundreds of victims of other artists telling me I inspired them, asking, begging for my help. So without knowing any better, I started helping. Some people play golf on the weekends, I hunt con artists. So I started investigating all these cases. But with regard to my case, that's how she got into my life, my con artist, Mayer Smith, that's the name she gave me, not her real name. And again, I want to punch myself in the face even saying this out loud, but it's the truth. I was helping an Irish heiress get her inheritance. But it's so much more complicated and nuanced than that. She quickly became like a sister to me. At the time I was going through stuff with my family. I'd come out as gay. I hadn't been home for Christmas in eight years. I was kind of disowned. She used that as an emotional in into my psyche. 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And we were ending phone calls with I love you, I love you, because we were two discarded souls here in Los Angeles. Our families didn't want us, so we kind of clung together. And people ask me all the time, "How does someone like you, you're a smart guy, how did you get conned?" And I say this again and again in the book, "Con artists don't outsmart you. Con artists out feel you." They use your emotions. They tap into this emotional need you have for something. And once you're making decisions with your heart and not your head, you're as good as conned. Taylor Wilson: Well, we'll get to some of those red flags because I think they're pretty fascinating. I just want to get a sense of who you turned to for help initially. Did you find there were even resources on this topic when you were going through it? Jonathan Walton: Yes and no, but mainly, no. I started reading voraciously a lot of books about artists, and they all kind of felt like they were victim shaming. All the writers of these other books are like... It was in between the lines victim shaming. One even admits in the second chapter of a bestseller, I'm not going to name the name, but it offended me. The writer writes, "Well, I've never been conned, and I don't know any artist personally." And I'm like, well, la-di-da for you. Well, let me tell you, and I write this in the book, here's some news from the front lines. Con artists are everywhere. And the only reason you don't know a con artist is a con artist is because they haven't conned you yet, but they're probably conning other people you know. It's embarrassing to admit you fell for a con. And they use another red flag I write about, the TMI technique. You meet a con artist, they tell you a lot of personal details about themselves very quickly. They tell you their deep, dark secrets for two reasons. Number one, it makes you think, ah, this person must really trust me. And then number two, you think, well, I can trust them. And they start to extract your deep, dark secrets from you. Only thing, their secrets are fake. Yours are real. So by the time they get your money, you don't want to go to police because you don't want your deep, dark secrets ending up in a police report, or court records, or court transcripts. So that's how they get you to stay silent, and your silence enables them to con the other person, and the other person, and the other person. Taylor Wilson: Well, you touched on police earlier, Jonathan. I mean, what role do police play here? I know you wrote about several notable counter-artist instances where the victim really had to, is it fair to say go above and beyond to prove they were being victimized? Is there any critical flaw to how police go about this? How do you see police in this conversation Jonathan Walton: When you go to police... Police initially turned me away. I went and told them I got conned. They said, it's not a crime because I gave her the money. And there's the inclination to believe they must be correct. They got the uniform, they got the badge. They must know what they're talking about, but they don't. The thing of it is law enforcement is overwhelmed. They have murders, and robberies, and rapes to deal with. They have people lying in pools of blood calling on them to help. So when you come in crying, "Boohoo, I got conned," your case is relegated, nine out of 10 times they will not take a police report. And they send you on your way and say, "Go pursue this. Go hire a lawyer and sue them. Go to the civil court system." But listen, anything, in most states, over a thousand dollars taken based on lies or deceit is a felony. It is a crime punishable by years in jail. You just can't go to police willy-nilly. You got to build a case. You have to go in there with a narrative, with an affidavit, with witness statements, with tons of evidence, that you have to pull a Vanna White, and present the evidence, and tell the story. You have to be prepared. You have to be rehearsed. You can't just be boohoo, because they will turn you away. They turned me away, but I pushed back. And in the book, I show victims how to push. Taylor Wilson: Back. Well, I am not going to ask you to give away all the red flags that you outline in this book, but can you share a couple with our listeners? What major ones that you want to outline here? Jonathan Walton: I would say the top three red flags... Now, individually, each red flag doesn't mean you're dealing with a con artist necessarily, but when they start to add up, two, three, four red flags, be suspicious and consider cutting ties. Red flag number one, by far. Every con artist will enter your life, most likely offering to help you. Who doesn't love a helper? Right? A stranger, a new neighbor, a new boyfriend, new girlfriend, new co-worker. They show up. They quickly figure out what your problem is, and they offer to help you. So you're naturally going to be grateful. You're naturally going to love them. You're naturally going to let them in your life. Who doesn't love a helper? So be suspicious. Red flag number two, stories from faraway places. Every professional con artist today will snow you with stories from faraway places. Why? Because it gives them credentials. It gives them legitimacy. And stories from faraway places are hard to prove false. So human nature being what it is, if you can't prove something false, you just think it must be true. Another huge red flag, I call it in the book, drama, drama, drama. You meet someone who turns out to be a con artist, but you don't know. So they got you. They're helping you. They're too kind, too quick. They're snowing you with stories from faraway places. Keep in mind, these people are infinitely charismatic. They're fun to be with. They're lovable. They seem so kind. They're very educated, and that's what they want. But then the drama starts, right? If you've got any drama in your life, they will create more drama. And it's all lies. If you've got a boyfriend you're trying to avoid, they'll say, "Hey, I saw your boyfriend outside your house. He was parked outside your house." That's not true, but if you are the woman or the man scared of the boyfriend outside your house, you immediately like, "Oh my God, I need help." And once you have that kind of reaction to drama, you're so much more easy to manipulate. Because when you're not thinking with your head, thinking with your heart, or worse, you're thinking out of fear, con artists don't outsmart you, they out feel you. And fear is a heck of a feeling and makes you very malleable. So yeah, those are, I would say the top three red flags con artists use to trick money out of their marks. Taylor Wilson: Well, for folks who maybe have missed some of those early red flags, what advice would you give for people in the midst of their own artists nightmares? Who should they turn to? What should maybe their first steps be? Jonathan Walton: If the money has exchanged hands, that's the crime. If you are in the midst of a con... And again, I have this fantasy frequently. Knowing what I know now, if I met Mayer, my con artist, would I know she's a con artist? And the answer is, yeah, within the first 20 minutes of talking to her. Because she was just waving all the flags, the stories from faraway places, the offer to help, the too kind too quick, the drama, drama, drama. She was waving them all. I would've spotted her quickly. If you are in the midst of a con and the con artist doesn't know that you know, start recording the phone calls, start getting video and audio, start gathering your evidence. Because you need that for police. When you go to police, the minute the con artist is outed, and mine did this to me, they all flip the script. They all make authorities think initially, you are the bad person, they're the good person. You are the one victimizing them. A month before the criminal trial of my con artist, and this is how brilliant she is, hats off. I'm a producer here in LA. I admire her creativity. As sickening as it is, she is a brilliant creative woman. So I've been pursuing this case for two years, and finally I'm going to have my day in court. A month before the trial, she files a restraining order against me. And I only find out about it because I got a lawyer's advertisement in the mail. This restraining order was not served. And if it's not served, it doesn't exist yet, but it's coming. And luckily I got the ad in the mail. I'm like, "Restraining order?" And I look it up online and I'm like, oh my God, she filed a restraining order. So I bring it to the prosecutor thinking he's going to help me. The prosecutor who's charged her with stealing from me, with grand theft. And he says, "There's nothing I can do." He says, "If a judge approves this restraining order, you will not be allowed in the courtroom." And I just turned white. I'm like, this is her checkmate move. He's like, "But don't worry. We can let you testify over video." I'm like, "well, what's a jury going to think? I'm too violent for the courtroom, so I'm doing testimony over video?" Like, "My case is sunk. This doesn't help my case." He's like, "Yeah, it really doesn't. This is a problem, but there's nothing I can do. This is a civil matter." So I hire a lawyer and the lawyer tells me, "Just don't get served." And I'm like, "What do you mean?" He's like, "Do you have a back way in?" I'm like, "I'm a gay guy. Of course I have a back way in." He's like, "Just don't get served." So I don't answer the door. I come and go through the back way. And sure enough, just like he predicted, off-duty deputies in uniform pounding on my door at all hours trying to serve me this bogus restraining order. But thankfully, the time ran out. The trial started, I hadn't been served the restraining order so I got to testify in court. And she was convicted and sentenced to five years in jail before she could file that bogus restraining order before a judge could approve it. But listen, nine times out of 10 when there's a woman filing a restraining order against a man, it's a no-brainer for a judge. He just approves it. That was a brilliant move on her part, but thank God I figured out a way out of it. Taylor Wilson: Wow. Well, years later, Jonathan, this might be a difficult question, but I'm just curious how you think and feel about this case looking back, and do you forgive Mayer at all years later? Jonathan Walton: I do forgive... You see, here's the thing. And I know you're going to think I'm crazy, but I've investigated a lot of these cases and this is how I feel. These aren't people as we understand people to be. I've spent a lot of time interviewing an FBI criminal profiler, Candice DeLong, amazing woman. And she confirmed, most con artists, if not all, are psychopaths. They're not like us. They don't have any feeling. They will destroy your life, walk away, and destroy another life, and destroy... They don't care. They don't care. Mayer, my con artists used her own children in her scams. She pretended to have cancer for myriad reasons. When she was in high school, I heard from a guy she dated in high school, she would date college guys, and tell them she was pregnant, and needed money for an abortion. And they all gave her money. Artists aren't people as you understand people to be. So I haven't really forgiven her because I don't even consider her a person. I've forgiven myself. I get why this all happened. It was meant to make me better, and it was meant, I believe, to help me shine a light on them so the world can see, and hopefully save untold numbers of people from getting conned. I don't hate her. She's like a shark. You can't hate a shark for moving through the water and eating whatever it sees. That's what they were built to do. Con artists were built to scam anyone and everyone, so the quicker you can identify them, the quicker you can just get out of their way so they can go onto the next. Taylor Wilson: Jonathan, it was a fascinating read. Thanks for hopping on. Jonathan Walton: Thanks so much for reading it. I appreciate that. Taylor Wilson: Thanks to our senior producers, Shannon Rae Green and Kaely Monahan for their production assistance. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to podcasts@ Thanks for listening. I'm Taylor Wilson. I'll be back tomorrow morning with another episode of USA TODAY's The Excerpt.
