DETROIT (WWJ) - A Detroit man has been charged in the slaying of a nationally renowned hair stylist from Bloomfield Hills.
Jimmy Jermaine Pickett was arraigned in 36th District Court Friday on one count of first degree premeditated murder in the beating death of 56-year-old Bashar Kallabat.
Pickett appeared in 36th District Court for an arraignment Friday, and was remanded into custody in the Wayne County Jail without bond.
Police said Pickett used a ride-share service, which Kallabat paid for, to meet his victim Tuesday night at the JZ Motel on 8 Mile Rd.; after it's believed they connected on a dating app.
It's alleged, according to prosecutors, that Pickett went into the Kallabat's motel room, beat him and robbed him before fleeing.
Kallabat, who was found by a motel employee in a pool of blood, died of his injuries; the cause of death found to be blunt force trauma to the head.
The 24-year-old suspect was later taken into custody near Brewery Park. Police said he was caught on HD security video, and identified in part by his distinctive secutity guard work uniform.
The case will be prosecuted by Jaimie Powell Horowitz of the Fair Michigan Justice Project (FMJP), a collaboration between the Prosecutor’s Office and Fair Michigan Foundation, Inc. FMJP is a program that assists Michigan law enforcement officers and prosecutors in solving serious crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons.
Kallabat owned Bashar Artiste salon in Birmingham.
Michigan Department of Corrections records show Pickett has a criminal record including convictions for unarmed robbery and assaulting/resisting/obstructing a police officer causing injury, and was on probation at the time of Kallabat's murder.
He faces life in prison without parole if convicted as charged in this case.