{"id":15137,"date":"2026-07-23T23:36:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T18:36:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=15137"},"modified":"2026-07-23T23:36:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T18:36:31","slug":"autopsy-reveals-grim-details-in-killing-of-grammy-nominated-gospel-singer-jubilant-sykes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=15137","title":{"rendered":"Autopsy reveals grim details in killing of Grammy-nominated gospel singer Jubilant Sykes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-element=\"story-body\" data-subscriber-content=\"\">\n<p>New details have been released in the death of a Grammy-nominated gospel singer who was allegedly killed by his son inside his Santa Monica home in December.<\/p>\n<p>According to details in the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner\u2019s autopsy report, Jubilant Sykes was brutally attacked on Dec. 8, 2025, suffering 68 stab wounds and several broken bones. <\/p>\n<p>The assault took place in Sykes\u2019 Santa Monica home. His wife, Cecelia, reported the incident as an assault after she discovered her son, Micah Sykes, attacking his father. Shortly after police arrived, Sykes was pronounced dead at the scene, and Micah was arrested on suspicion of murder.<\/p>\n<p>According to the autopsy report, Sykes endured stab wounds to his organs, including his heart, liver and lungs. He was also beaten with a 10-pound dumbbell, the report said.<\/p>\n<p>Sykes\u2019 death was a shock to the gospel singing community.<\/p>\n<p>Over his career, Jubilant Sykes performed in venues around the world and across genres \u2014 opera, gospel, spirituals, show tunes, folk and pop \u2014 working with figures including Ren\u00e9e Fleming, Terence Blanchard, Carlos Santana, Julie Andrews and Brian Wilson. His resume included the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, the Apollo Theater and the Metropolitan Opera. In 2010, he earned a Grammy nomination for his recording of Leonard Bernstein\u2019s \u201cMass.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Micah Sykes has been in custody without bail since his arrest in December. His arraignment has been delayed repeatedly and his next court appearance is scheduled for Aug. 6, records show.<\/p>\n<p><i>Times staff writers Gavin J. Quinton and Christie D\u2019Zurilla contributed to this report.<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New details have been released in the death of a Grammy-nominated gospel singer who was allegedly killed by his son inside his Santa Monica home in December. According to details in the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner\u2019s autopsy report, Jubilant Sykes was brutally attacked on Dec. 8, 2025, suffering 68 stab wounds and several broken&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/9c3b8ad\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4896x2570+0+347\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc3%2F54%2Fb971ad504fd0829952ee85ed4649%2Fgettyimages-903808480.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}