Murder suspect with criminal history allegedly cut off ankle monitor after stabbing teen

OGDENSBURG, New York (WWNY) - The Ogdensburg man accused of murdering a teenager on a city street is a registered sex offender with a long criminal history.

According to court documents, 44-year-old Kenneth Durham was on parole and wearing a GPS tracking device when he allegedly killed 19-year-old Bryson Jenks of Ogdensburg with a knife.

Police allege Durham of 316 Devillier Street fatally stabbed Jenks in the chest during an argument on Thursday after midnight in the 400 block of Paterson Street.

Jenks died soon after.

According to police, Durham and Jenks were acquaintances.

Court papers state that Durham cut off the ankle device at 1:11 a.m. Thursday, shortly after the stabbing. The monitor had been issued by the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and was found later that morning.

Police said they found Durham at 3 a.m. hiding in the city marina aboard a boat that didn’t belong to him.

He was taken into custody and charged with second-degree murder and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Durham is currently being held without bail in the St. Lawrence County Jail.

Police also charged Durham in connection with several domestic disputes. The counts include second-degree unlawful imprisonment, criminal obstruction of breathing, 2 counts of second-degree harassment, second-degree aggravated harassment, and fourth-degree criminal mischief.

According to court documents, on August 3, Durham allegedly punched a woman in the stomach and kicked her, causing her to seek hospital treatment. He’s also accused of threatening to slit her throat.

Court papers allege that on July 31 Durham grabbed the same woman by the throat, pushed her up against a railing, and squeezed to the point where she could not breathe.

According to the state’s Sex Offender Registry, Durham is a Level 3 sex offender. The state considers Level 3 offenders as threats to public safety and at high risk of repeating similar sexual crimes.

Durham was convicted in 2002 for raping a 16-year-old girl and was sentenced to a year in jail.

According to the state’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision’s website, Durham was sentenced in 2007 to one to three years in prison at Mt. McGregor Correctional Facility for a sex offender violation.

In 2010, a St. Lawrence County grand jury indicted Durham in connection with the April 6 assault of an infant in the town of Morristown. He was indicted on counts of assault, reckless assault of a child, reckless endangerment, and endangering the welfare of a child.

The indictment accused him of injuring the baby’s brain by either shaking or throwing the child.

He later pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted assault. Durham was sentenced in 2011 to 15 years in prison at Washington Correctional Facility.

He was paroled in February 2023.

Durham is scheduled to be back in Ogdensburg City Court next Wednesday.

Copyright 2023 WWNY. All rights reserved.