[ { "id": "carol-denise-spinks", "caseNumber": "001", "name": "Carol Denise Spinks", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1971, "age": 13, "gender": "female", "city": "Washington", "county": null, "state": "DC", "caseSeries": "Freeway Phantom", "summary": "Carol Denise Spinks, 13, was abducted in Southeast Washington, D.C. on April 25, 1971, while walking home from a neighborhood store. Her body was found six days later along I-295 near Suitland Parkway. Her case is treated as the first of six killings linked to the unidentified offender the press dubbed the \u201cFreeway Phantom.\u201d", "known": [ "Victim identity, age, and the April 25, 1971 abduction date, per the Metropolitan Police Department.", "Case is treated as the first in the linked Freeway Phantom series." ], "unknown": [ "No confirmed suspect has been named and convicted.", "Full forensic and investigative case-file details are not comprehensively public." ], "unanswered": [ "What has been publicly confirmed about the timeline between when she was last seen and when she was found?", "What forensic material, if any, has been preserved or re-tested in later decades?", "What connects this case procedurally to the other five in the series?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Metropolitan Police Department (MPDC) \u2014 official case page", "url": "https://mpdc.dc.gov/publication/%E2%80%9Cfreeway-phantom%E2%80%9D-homicide-victims", "verified": true }, { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 background reference", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeway_Phantom", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "darlenia-denise-johnson", "caseNumber": "002", "name": "Darlenia Denise Johnson", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1971, "age": 16, "gender": "female", "city": "Washington", "county": null, "state": "DC", "caseSeries": "Freeway Phantom", "summary": "Darlenia Denise Johnson, 16, of the Congress Heights neighborhood, was abducted on July 8, 1971 while on her way to her summer job at the Oxon Hill Recreation Center. A witness reported seeing her in an old black car shortly afterward. Her body was found eleven days later, only about 15 feet from where Carol Spinks had been found.", "known": [ "Victim identity, age, and the July 8, 1971 abduction date, per the Metropolitan Police Department.", "A witness reported seeing her in a car shortly after her abduction." ], "unknown": [ "No confirmed suspect has been named and convicted.", "Autopsy findings on cause of death were affected by a delayed police response to reports of the body, per public reporting." ], "unanswered": [ "What is publicly documented about where she was last seen?", "What, if anything, distinguishes this case's evidence from the others in the series?", "Has this case file been reviewed using modern forensic methods?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Metropolitan Police Department (MPDC) \u2014 official case page", "url": "https://mpdc.dc.gov/publication/%E2%80%9Cfreeway-phantom%E2%80%9D-homicide-victims", "verified": true }, { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 background reference", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeway_Phantom", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "brenda-faye-crockett", "caseNumber": "003", "name": "Brenda Faye Crockett", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1971, "age": 10, "gender": "female", "city": "Washington", "county": null, "state": "DC", "caseSeries": "Freeway Phantom", "summary": "Brenda Faye Crockett, 10, disappeared on July 27, 1971 after her mother sent her to a neighborhood store. Family members reported receiving two phone calls from Brenda after she went missing, in which she described being taken by a man; her body was found the next morning. She was the youngest of the six victims linked to the Freeway Phantom case.", "known": [ "Victim identity, age, and the July 27, 1971 disappearance date, per public reporting and MPD records.", "Family members reported receiving phone calls from Brenda after her disappearance." ], "unknown": [ "No confirmed suspect has been named and convicted.", "The identity of the caller and full circumstances of her death remain undisclosed in public records." ], "unanswered": [ "What is publicly known about the days immediately before she went missing?", "What official statements exist specifically about the reported phone calls?", "What remains unresolved about the discovery of her body?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Metropolitan Police Department (MPDC) \u2014 official case page", "url": "https://mpdc.dc.gov/publication/%E2%80%9Cfreeway-phantom%E2%80%9D-homicide-victims", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "nenomoshia-yates", "caseNumber": "004", "name": "Nenomoshia Yates", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1971, "age": 12, "gender": "female", "city": "Washington", "county": null, "state": "DC", "caseSeries": "Freeway Phantom", "summary": "Nenomoshia Yates, 12, disappeared on October 1, 1971 while returning from a neighborhood grocery store. She was the fourth victim linked to the Freeway Phantom case.", "known": [ "Victim identity, age, and the October 1, 1971 disappearance date, per the Metropolitan Police Department." ], "unknown": [ "No confirmed suspect has been named and convicted.", "Full circumstances remain undisclosed in public records." ], "unanswered": [ "What is publicly documented about her last known movements?", "What links investigators drew between this case and the others at the time?", "What case materials, if any, remain publicly accessible today?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Metropolitan Police Department (MPDC) \u2014 official case page", "url": "https://mpdc.dc.gov/publication/%E2%80%9Cfreeway-phantom%E2%80%9D-homicide-victims", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "brenda-denise-woodard", "caseNumber": "005", "name": "Brenda Denise Woodard", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1971, "age": 18, "gender": "female", "city": "Washington", "county": null, "state": "DC", "caseSeries": "Freeway Phantom", "summary": "Brenda Denise Woodard, 18, was abducted on the night of November 15, 1971 after leaving night school and stopping for dinner with a friend; she was the fifth victim linked to the Freeway Phantom case in Washington, D.C. A note found in her coat pocket, reportedly written in her own handwriting under apparent dictation, taunted police with the phrase \u201cCatch me if you can.\u201d", "known": [ "Victim identity, age, and the November 15, 1971 date, per public reporting.", "A note found with her body has been referenced in public reporting and by police." ], "unknown": [ "The note's full content and any forensic (e.g. handwriting) analysis are not fully detailed in public records.", "No confirmed suspect has been named and convicted." ], "unanswered": [ "What has law enforcement publicly said about the note associated with this case?", "Has handwriting or forensic analysis of the note been made public?", "How does this case connect procedurally to the others in the series?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Metropolitan Police Department (MPDC) \u2014 official case page", "url": "https://mpdc.dc.gov/publication/%E2%80%9Cfreeway-phantom%E2%80%9D-homicide-victims", "verified": true }, { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 background reference", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeway_Phantom", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "diane-denise-williams", "caseNumber": "006", "name": "Diane Denise Williams", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1972, "age": 17, "gender": "female", "city": "Washington", "county": null, "state": "DC", "caseSeries": "Freeway Phantom", "summary": "Diane Denise Williams, 17, a Ballou High School senior, was taken on September 5, 1972 \u2014 the sixth and final victim linked to the Freeway Phantom case in Washington, D.C.", "known": [ "Victim identity, age, and the September 5, 1972 date, per public reporting.", "Considered the final case in the series." ], "unknown": [ "No confirmed suspect has been named and convicted.", "Full circumstances remain undisclosed in public records." ], "unanswered": [ "Why is this case considered the last in the series, and what evidence supports that?", "What official review, if any, has this case received in recent decades?", "What remains unclear about the timeline of her disappearance?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Metropolitan Police Department (MPDC) \u2014 official case page", "url": "https://mpdc.dc.gov/publication/%E2%80%9Cfreeway-phantom%E2%80%9D-homicide-victims", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "harry-and-harriette-moore", "caseNumber": "007", "name": "Harry T. Moore & Harriette Moore", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1951, "age": null, "gender": null, "city": "Mims", "county": "Brevard", "state": "FL", "caseSeries": null, "victimPhotos": [ { "url": "https://www.floridamemory.com/fpc/prints/pr05145.jpg", "caption": "Harry T. Moore (photo of Harriette not separately on file)", "credit": "State Archives of Florida / Florida Memory \u2014 Public Domain" } ], "summary": "Harry T. Moore, a founder of the Brevard County NAACP and executive secretary of the Florida NAACP, and his wife Harriette Moore, a teacher and fellow organizer, were killed when a bomb exploded under their bedroom floor on their 25th wedding anniversary, Christmas night 1951. Harry died that night; Harriette died of her injuries nine days later. A 2006 Florida Attorney General investigation concluded the bombing was carried out by four Ku Klux Klan members \u2014 Earl J. Brooklyn, Tillman H. Belvin, Joseph N. Cox, and Edward L. Spivey \u2014 all of whom had died before the finding was announced. The FBI reviewed the case again in 2008 under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act; the U.S. Department of Justice formally closed the file in 2011, since the statute of limitations had expired and all four men were dead.", "known": [ "Both victims' identities and the date and location of the bombing.", "The 2006 state investigation's named findings, per the Florida Attorney General's executive summary.", "The DOJ's 2011 case closure, per its public Notice to Close File." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever formally charged or convicted for the bombing.", "Some case details remain disputed among historians and investigators." ], "unanswered": [ "What official documentation exists from the state's later investigative findings?", "What forensic evidence from the bombing, if any, has survived and been reviewed?", "What gaps remain between the state's findings and a formal prosecution?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Civil Rights Division case page", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case/harry-t-moore-harriette-v-moore", "verified": true }, { "name": "PBS FRONTLINE, \u201cUn(re)solved\u201d \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/harriette-v-moore/", "verified": true }, { "name": "State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory \u2014 photograph record PR05145", "url": "https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/4513", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "roman-ducksworth-jr", "caseNumber": "008", "name": "Roman Ducksworth Jr.", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1962, "age": 27, "gender": "male", "city": "Taylorsville", "county": "Smith", "state": "MS", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Corporal Roman Ducksworth Jr., a 27-year-old U.S. Army military police officer, was traveling home on emergency leave to see his wife, who was hospitalized with pregnancy complications, when he was removed from a bus by Taylorsville, Mississippi police officer William Kelly on April 9, 1962. Kelly shot Ducksworth twice, fatally wounding him. Kelly was never charged; he claimed self-defense. The U.S. Department of Justice reviewed the case under the Emmett Till Act and formally closed the file in 2010 without prosecution, since Kelly had since died.", "known": [ "Victim identity, age, and the April 9, 1962 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file.", "Officer William Kelly's identity and role are part of the official record; he was never charged." ], "unknown": [ "Conflicting witness accounts exist about how the confrontation began.", "The DOJ noted it could not locate the original 1962 investigative file when it reviewed the case in the 2000s." ], "unanswered": [ "What do the surviving witness statements from the bus say, and do they agree with the official account?", "What became of the original 1962 state and local investigative records?", "What, if anything, changed between the case's periodic reviews and its 2010 closure?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Civil Rights Division case page", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case/roman-ducksworth-jr", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "hattie-debardelaben", "caseNumber": "009", "name": "Hattie DeBardelaben", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1945, "age": 46, "gender": "female", "city": "Autaugaville", "county": "Autauga", "state": "AL", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Hattie DeBardelaben, a 46-year-old farmer and mother of eight, was killed on March 23, 1945 in Autaugaville, Alabama, after Autauga County Deputy Clyde White and three federal officers \u2014 John Barrenbrugge and J.C. Moseley of the Alcohol Tax Unit, and L.O. Smith of the Alabama Alcohol Beverage Control Board \u2014 conducted a warrantless search of her home for illegal whiskey. Witnesses, including her children, said officers beat her; she died in the back of the officers' car on the way to the county jail in Prattville. A doctor attributed her death to a heart attack, though an undertaker reportedly noted signs consistent with a broken neck. A state grand jury later declined to indict, and the case was closed within months. Records released in 2024 under the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act confirmed the officers' identities and the case's handling.", "known": [ "Victim identity, age, and the March 23, 1945 date and location, per federal records released in 2024.", "The identities of Deputy Clyde White and the three federal officers present, per the same released records." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever indicted for her death.", "The full extent of what investigators privately concluded at the time, versus what was made public, remains debated by historians." ], "unanswered": [ "What do the newly released 2024 federal records say about how the case was closed?", "What became of the officers involved in the years after the case was closed?", "What further documentation might exist in state or local Alabama archives?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board \u2014 official case summary", "url": "https://www.coldcaserecords.gov/content/cases/1945-03-23-hattie-debardelaben/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (Northeastern Law) \u2014 case archive", "url": "https://www.crrjarchive.org/incidents/316", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "edwin-pratt", "caseNumber": "010", "name": "Edwin Pratt", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1969, "age": 38, "gender": "male", "city": "Shoreline", "county": "King", "state": "WA", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Edwin T. Pratt, 38, executive director of the Seattle Urban League and a leading figure in the city's civil rights movement, was shot and killed in the doorway of his Shoreline home on the night of January 26, 1969. Two men were seen fleeing to a getaway car. No one was ever charged. A 2022 U.S. Department of Justice notice closing the file names four individuals \u2014 Thomas Kirk, Texas Barton Gray, Michael Jordan, and Guenter Mannhalt, all since deceased \u2014 as subjects of the investigation, without a conclusive finding.", "known": [ "Victim identity, role, and the January 26, 1969 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file.", "The four subjects named in the DOJ's 2022 closure notice, all reported deceased." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever charged, and the DOJ's file does not identify a definitive perpetrator or motive.", "The extent to which the killing was financed or ordered by a third party remains publicly unresolved." ], "unanswered": [ "What evidence connects each of the four named subjects to the killing, according to the DOJ file?", "What official case documentation from 1969, 1994, and 2019\u20132022 reviews is publicly accessible?", "What investigative leads, if any, remain officially open?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Civil Rights Division case page", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case/edwin-pratt", "verified": true }, { "name": "HistoryLink.org \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.historylink.org/File/4142", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "alberta-jones", "caseNumber": "011", "name": "Alberta Jones", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1965, "age": 34, "gender": "female", "city": "Louisville", "county": "Jefferson", "state": "KY", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Alberta Odell Jones, 34, Louisville and Jefferson County's first Black woman prosecutor and the attorney who negotiated a young Cassius Clay's (Muhammad Ali's) first professional boxing contract, was found in the Ohio River near Fontaine Ferry Park on August 5, 1965. Her rental car was found nearby with blood inside, and an autopsy found she had been beaten with a brick before drowning. Witnesses reported seeing men force a woman into a car earlier that night, and separately reported a car stopped on the Sherman Minton Bridge around 4:35 a.m. The case was added to the DOJ's federal cold-case list in 2018; the DOJ formally closed the file in August 2023, citing the loss of evidence and the deaths of witnesses and original investigators, without identifying a suspect.", "known": [ "Victim identity, professional background, and the August 5, 1965 date, per the DOJ's public case file.", "Her death was ruled a homicide caused by drowning after being beaten; the DOJ closed its cold-case review in August 2023." ], "unknown": [ "No one has been convicted in connection with her death.", "A 2008 fingerprint match reported by press was, per the local prosecutor at the time, found insufficient to reopen the case." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific findings led the DOJ to close its file in 2023?", "What became of the fingerprint evidence reported in 2008 press coverage?", "What primary case documentation from 1965 remains accessible today?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Civil Rights Division case page", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case/alberta-jones", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Washington Post \u2014 case retrospective", "url": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/10/09/who-killed-alberta-jones-louisvilles-first-black-woman-prosecutor/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "alonzo-brooks", "caseNumber": "012", "name": "Alonzo Brooks", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2004, "age": 23, "gender": "male", "city": "La Cygne", "county": "Linn", "state": "KS", "caseSeries": null, "victimPhotos": [ { "url": "https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/seeking-info/alonzo-brooks/@@images/image/large", "caption": "Alonzo Brooks", "credit": "FBI" } ], "summary": "Alonzo Brooks, 23, who was Black and Mexican, disappeared after a party at a rural farmhouse near La Cygne, Kansas on April 3, 2004, where he was one of only three Black attendees among roughly 100 people. His body was found in nearby Middle Creek on May 1, 2004; the original coroner could not determine a cause of death. The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office reopened the case in 2019 as a suspected hate crime, exhumed his body in 2020, and a 2021 federal forensic examination ruled the death a homicide. A $100,000 reward remains unclaimed.", "known": [ "Victim identity, age, and the April 3\u2013May 1, 2004 timeline, per FBI and DOJ statements.", "The 2021 federal forensic ruling of homicide, per the FBI's public press release." ], "unknown": [ "No one has been charged or convicted in connection with his death.", "The FBI has not publicly named a suspect despite investigating the case as a potential hate crime." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific findings has the reopened FBI investigation made public since 2021?", "What did the 2021 forensic examination identify as inconsistent with decomposition?", "What official documentation from the party and its attendees has been made public?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Federal Bureau of Investigation \u2014 seeking information listing", "url": "https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/seeking-info/alonzo-brooks", "verified": true }, { "name": "Federal Bureau of Investigation \u2014 press release", "url": "https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/kansascity/news/press-releases/new-autopsy-determines-death-of-alonzo-brooks-was-a-homicide", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "diamond-and-tionda-bradley", "caseNumber": "013", "name": "Diamond and Tionda Bradley", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "missing_persons", "year": 2001, "age": null, "gender": "female", "city": "Chicago", "county": "Cook", "state": "IL", "caseSeries": null, "victimPhotos": [ { "url": "https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/tionda-z.-bradley/@@images/image/large", "caption": "Tionda Z. Bradley", "credit": "FBI" }, { "url": "https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/diamond-yvette-bradley/@@images/image/large", "caption": "Diamond Yvette Bradley", "credit": "FBI" } ], "summary": "Sisters Tionda Bradley, 10, and Diamond Bradley, 3, went missing from their family's apartment in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago's South Side on July 6, 2001, while their mother was at work. A note believed to be written by Tionda said the girls had gone to a nearby school and store; family members have said the note's wording seemed too advanced for Tionda's age. Chicago Police and the FBI conducted one of the largest search efforts in city history. Neither sister has been found; the FBI is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information on their current whereabouts.", "known": [ "Both victims' identities, ages at disappearance, and the July 6, 2001 date, per the FBI's public case listing.", "A note believed to be written by Tionda was recovered from the apartment." ], "unknown": [ "Neither sister has been located.", "The note's authorship and full meaning remain publicly unresolved; several people who later claimed to be one of the sisters have been disproven." ], "unanswered": [ "What has renewed investigative attention in recent years established, if anything?", "What has been publicly disclosed about the note found in the apartment?", "What official tip-line or case-status updates are currently available?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Federal Bureau of Investigation \u2014 Tionda Bradley case listing", "url": "https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/tionda-z.-bradley", "verified": true }, { "name": "Federal Bureau of Investigation \u2014 Diamond Bradley case listing", "url": "https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/diamond-yvette-bradley", "verified": true }, { "name": "NamUs \u2014 Missing Person Case #MP2394 (Tionda Z. Bradley)", "url": "https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP2394", "verified": true }, { "name": "NamUs \u2014 Missing Person Case #MP2419 (Diamond Yvette Bradley)", "url": "https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP2419", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "wharlest-jackson-sr", "caseNumber": "014", "name": "Wharlest Jackson Sr.", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1967, "age": 36, "gender": "male", "city": "Natchez", "county": "Adams", "state": "MS", "caseSeries": "Silver Dollar Group", "summary": "Wharlest Jackson Sr., 36, a Korean War veteran, father of five, and treasurer of the Natchez NAACP, was killed on February 27, 1967 when a bomb planted under his truck exploded, reportedly triggered by his turn signal, as he drove home from his first shift in a new position at the Armstrong Tire and Rubber plant \u2014 a role that had previously been held only by white employees. Two years earlier, NAACP president George Metcalfe had survived a similar car bombing at the same plant. The FBI's main suspect was Raleigh \"Red\" Glover, leader of a Klan offshoot known as the Silver Dollar Group; Glover was never charged and died in 1984. The DOJ's Civil Rights Division has since closed its investigation without prosecution.", "known": [ "Victim identity, role, and the February 27, 1967 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file.", "The FBI's identification of Raleigh \"Red\" Glover as its main suspect, per public reporting on the released FBI files; Glover was never charged." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever charged or convicted in the bombing.", "The exact type of explosive material used was never identified." ], "unanswered": [ "What do the released FBI files say about why Glover was never charged despite being the lead suspect?", "What connection, if any, does this case have to the 1965 bombing of George Metcalfe?", "What became of the broader Silver Dollar Group investigation?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Civil Rights Division case page", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case/wharlest-jackson", "verified": true }, { "name": "PBS FRONTLINE, \u201cAmerican Reckoning\u201d \u2014 documentary", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/american-reckoning/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "frank-morris", "caseNumber": "015", "name": "Frank Morris", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1964, "age": 51, "gender": "male", "city": "Ferriday", "county": "Concordia", "state": "LA", "caseSeries": "Silver Dollar Group", "summary": "Frank Morris, 51, the Black owner of a shoe repair shop in Ferriday that served both Black and white customers, was killed after two unidentified white men set fire to his shop in the early hours of December 10, 1964 while he slept in a back room. One of the men held Morris at gunpoint and forced him back inside as the fire spread. Morris escaped but suffered burns over 100% of his body and died four days later. He told the FBI his attackers were \"two white friends,\" accompanied by a third man he did not see, but he was never able to identify them by name. The DOJ's file states that FBI informants in 1967 identified the attack as the work of the Silver Dollar Group, a secretive Klan cell formed in the Natchez\u2013Ferriday area around 1964, and named four of its members \u2014 E.D. Morace, Tommie Lee Jones, Thor Lee Torgersen, and James Lee Scarborough \u2014 as responsible; all four denied involvement when interviewed, and the FBI found no independent evidence to corroborate the informants' accounts. No one was ever charged, and the DOJ closed the case without reaching a conclusion.", "known": [ "Victim identity, age, and the December 10\u201314, 1964 timeline, per the DOJ's public case file.", "The DOJ's file names four Silver Dollar Group members identified by FBI informants; all four denied involvement, and the FBI could not independently corroborate the informants' accounts." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever charged in the arson.", "The DOJ's file states it found no independent basis to confirm the informants' identification of the four named men." ], "unanswered": [ "What became of the two men a friend of Morris's said he believed had been \"taken care of\" by fellow Klansmen shortly after the killing?", "What additional informant reporting, if any, remains undisclosed in the FBI's files?", "What role, if any, did local law enforcement play, as alleged by some witnesses?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/frank-morris-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "PBS FRONTLINE Un(re)solved \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/frank-morris/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "george-lee", "caseNumber": "016", "name": "Rev. George Lee", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1955, "age": 51, "gender": "male", "city": "Belzoni", "county": "Humphreys", "state": "MS", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Rev. George W. Lee, 51, a Baptist minister, grocer, and co-founder of the Belzoni NAACP branch, was shot and killed while driving in Belzoni on the night of May 7, 1955. Lee was the first Black resident to register to vote in Humphreys County since Reconstruction, and had helped register roughly 90 other Black voters despite repeated threats. His car crashed after gunmen in a passing car fired into it; he died shortly after reaching a hospital. The local sheriff publicly claimed the lead pellets found in Lee's jaw were dental fillings; FBI testing later confirmed they were buckshot. No one was ever prosecuted. FBI files released in 2000 named two White Citizens' Council members, Peck Ray and Joe David Watson Sr., as suspects; both had died in the 1970s.", "known": [ "Victim identity, role, and the May 7, 1955 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file.", "FBI files released in 2000 named two suspects, both reported deceased, per public reporting on those files." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever charged or convicted.", "The local district attorney's specific reasons for declining to prosecute were not fully documented publicly." ], "unanswered": [ "What do the released 2000 FBI files say about the evidence against the two named suspects?", "Why did the local prosecutor decline to pursue the case despite an FBI investigation?", "What connection, if any, exists between this case and the broader White Citizens' Council activity in Humphreys County at the time?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Civil Rights Division case page", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case/george-lee", "verified": true }, { "name": "Southern Poverty Law Center \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.splcenter.org/rev-george-lee", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "johnnie-mae-chappell", "caseNumber": "017", "name": "Johnnie Mae Chappell", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1964, "age": 35, "gender": "female", "city": "Jacksonville", "county": "Duval", "state": "FL", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Johnnie Mae Chappell, 35, a domestic worker and mother of ten, was shot and killed on the night of March 23, 1964 while retracing her steps along New Kings Road in Jacksonville's Pickettville neighborhood, searching with two neighbors for a wallet she had dropped, during a night of racial unrest in the city. A car carrying four white men drove past; one of them, J.W. Rich, fired a .22-caliber pistol, fatally wounding her. The case went unsolved for five months until one of the men, Wayne Chessman, approached detectives and confessed, naming Rich as the shooter along with Elmer Kato and James Alex Davis. All four were indicted for first-degree murder, but only Rich stood trial; an all-white jury convicted him of the lesser charge of manslaughter, and he served about three years. The murder weapon went missing before trial. The three other men were never tried; Florida later granted them immunity. The DOJ's Civil Rights Division formally closed its file on August 18, 2014, citing insufficient federal evidence and the state's grant of immunity to the surviving subjects.", "known": [ "Victim identity, age, and the March 23, 1964 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file and its 2014 Notice to Close File.", "J.W. Rich's manslaughter conviction, and the identities of the three other men indicted but never tried, per the same records and public reporting." ], "unknown": [ "What became of the murder weapon, which went missing before trial.", "The full circumstances under which Florida granted immunity to the three uncharged men." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific evidence did the 2014 DOJ review weigh before closing the federal file?", "What happened to the detectives, Lee Cody and Donald Coleman Sr., who said they were pushed off the case and later lost their jobs?", "What additional documentation exists in the state's earlier reviews under Governor Jeb Bush?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/johnnie-m-chappell-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "PBS FRONTLINE Un(re)solved \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/johnnie-mae-chappell/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "louis-allen", "caseNumber": "018", "name": "Louis Allen", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1964, "age": 44, "gender": "male", "city": "Liberty", "county": "Amite", "state": "MS", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Louis Allen, 44, a WWII veteran, logger, and landowner, was shot to death with a shotgun at his own gate in Liberty on January 31, 1964, the night before he was set to leave Mississippi for good. Allen had witnessed the 1961 murder of NAACP voter-registration activist Herbert Lee by state legislator E.H. Hurst, and after initially being coerced into corroborating a self-defense account, later told the FBI that Hurst had shot Lee in cold blood. Word spread that Allen had cooperated with federal investigators, and he was harassed and repeatedly jailed on false charges over the following two years by Amite County Sheriff Daniel Jones, who once broke Allen's jaw with a flashlight. The DOJ's Civil Rights Division formally closed its file on the case in 2015, naming Jones \u2014 by then deceased \u2014 as its subject.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the January 31, 1964 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file.", "The DOJ's 2015 Notice to Close File names Sheriff Daniel Jones, reported deceased, as its subject." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever charged in Allen's killing.", "The exact circumstances of the ambush, including how many people were involved, were never conclusively established." ], "unanswered": [ "What evidence did the DOJ's file compile against Sheriff Jones specifically before closing the case?", "What became of the federal grand jury testimony Allen gave regarding his harassment?", "What became of the other witnesses, beyond Allen, who corroborated Hurst's self-defense account at Herbert Lee's 1961 inquest \u2014 documented separately in this archive \u2014 before Allen recanted his own testimony to the FBI?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Civil Rights Division case page", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case/louis-allen", "verified": true }, { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/daniel-jones-louis-allen-deceased-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "oneal-moore", "caseNumber": "019", "name": "Oneal Moore", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1965, "age": 34, "gender": "male", "city": "Varnado", "county": "Washington", "state": "LA", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Oneal Moore, 34, an Army veteran and one of the first two Black deputy sheriffs in Washington Parish, was shot and killed while on patrol near Varnado on the night of June 2, 1965 \u2014 one year and a day after he and partner David \"Creed\" Rogers, also Black, were sworn in. A pickup truck with a Confederate flag decal pulled alongside their patrol car and its occupants opened fire; Moore was killed instantly and Rogers was blinded in one eye but survived and radioed a description of the truck. About an hour later, a matching truck was stopped in Tylertown, Mississippi and its driver, known Klansman Ernest Rayford \"Ray\" McElveen, was arrested and charged with murder, but released after nine days on bond raised by fellow Klan members; the charge was ultimately dropped for lack of evidence. McElveen died in 2003. The case remains unsolved.", "known": [ "Victim identity, role, and the June 2, 1965 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file.", "Ernest Rayford McElveen's arrest and release, per the same file and public reporting; McElveen died in 2003." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever convicted in Moore's killing.", "The identities of any other occupants of the truck beyond McElveen were not publicly confirmed." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was the murder charge against McElveen ultimately dropped?", "What did the FBI's repeated reviews (1990, 2001, 2009) each establish or fail to establish?", "What became of the firearms and rope found in McElveen's truck at the time of his arrest?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Civil Rights Division case page", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case/oneal-moore", "verified": true }, { "name": "PBS FRONTLINE Un(re)solved \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/oneal-moore", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "clifton-walker", "caseNumber": "020", "name": "Clifton Walker", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1964, "age": 37, "gender": "male", "city": "Woodville", "county": "Wilkinson", "state": "MS", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Clifton Walker, 37, a World War II veteran and father of five, was shot to death in his car on Poor House Road outside Woodville late on the night of February 28, 1964, while driving home from his late shift at the International Paper Company plant in Natchez. His car was ambushed and riddled with close-range shotgun blasts; he was found dead in the vehicle the next afternoon. The killing is believed to be among the first carried out by the newly formed White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, which was responsible for several other Mississippi civil-rights-era murders. Mississippi Highway Patrol investigators recommended two suspects for arrest in 1964, but the local district attorney declined to prosecute, citing insufficient evidence. The DOJ's Civil Rights Division formally closed its file in 2013, naming three men \u2014 Prentiss Mathis, Carl Cavin, and Red Metcalf, all reported deceased \u2014 as subjects.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the February 28\u201329, 1964 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file.", "The DOJ's 2013 Notice to Close File names three subjects, all reported deceased." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever charged in Walker's killing.", "The relationship, if any, between the two suspects Mississippi Highway Patrol recommended in 1964 and the three subjects later named in the DOJ's 2013 closure has not been publicly reconciled." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the local district attorney decline to prosecute despite the Highway Patrol's 1964 recommendation?", "What evidence connected each of the three subjects named in the 2013 DOJ file to the killing?", "What became of the .38 revolver found in Walker's car, and what did it indicate about the circumstances of the attack?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Civil Rights Division case page", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case/clifford-clifton-walker", "verified": true }, { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/clifford-clifton-walker", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "willie-edwards-jr", "caseNumber": "021", "name": "Willie Edwards Jr.", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1957, "age": 24, "gender": "male", "city": "Montgomery", "county": "Montgomery", "state": "AL", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Willie Edwards Jr., 24, a Winn-Dixie truck driver and father of two, disappeared on the evening of January 22, 1957 after being called back to work to cover another driver's shift in Montgomery. Klansmen, who mistook him for a different Black man they believed was involved with a white woman, pulled him from his truck at gunpoint and forced him, under threat of being shot, to jump from the Tyler-Goodwyn Bridge into the Alabama River. Fishermen found his body three months later; the medical examiner could not determine a cause of death due to decomposition. The case sat dormant until 1976, when a witness named three men \u2014 Henry Alexander, Jimmy York, and Raymond Britt \u2014 as having forced Edwards to jump; two received immunity for their testimony, but repeated attempts at indictment failed. In 1997, at the family's request, Edwards's body was exhumed and his cause of death was reclassified as homicide by drowning; a 1999 grand jury agreed he was killed by Klan members but still declined to indict, citing insufficient evidence tied to problems in the 1970s investigation. The DOJ closed its file in 2013; all three named men were by then deceased.", "known": [ "Victim identity, employer, and the January 22, 1957 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file.", "The 1976 witness account naming Henry Alexander, Jimmy York, and Raymond Britt, and the 1997 reclassification of the cause of death as homicide, per the same file and public reporting." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever indicted or convicted.", "The identity of the man the Klansmen were actually looking for, whom Edwards was mistaken for, was never publicly confirmed." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific evidence problems from the 1970s investigation caused the 1999 grand jury to decline to indict?", "What did Henry Alexander's 1993 confession add to the record?", "Why did Alabama officials decline to authorize a third prosecution attempt against the one still-living suspect before the DOJ's 2013 closure?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Civil Rights Division case page", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case/willie-edwards-jr", "verified": true }, { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/willie-edwards-jr-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "isadore-banks", "caseNumber": "022", "name": "Isadore Banks", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1954, "age": 58, "gender": "male", "city": "Marion", "county": "Crittenden", "state": "AR", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Isadore Banks, 58, a World War I veteran and one of the wealthiest Black landowners in the Arkansas Delta, left home on June 4, 1954 to pay his farmhands and never returned. Four days later, his truck was found abandoned nearby with his shotgun and coat still inside; his body was discovered chained to a tree in a wooded area, burned beyond recognition, with a wound the coroner attributed to a knife or gunshot. There was no sign of robbery or struggle at the scene, and the coroner believed Banks \u2014 who weighed nearly 300 pounds \u2014 had been killed elsewhere and his body moved, likely by more than one person. A Black-owned cooperative offered a $1,000 reward; no one came forward. Unlike most cases on this archive, no suspect was ever named by investigators at any point \u2014 local law enforcement conducted little investigation, and the FBI at the time initially declined to open a file, stating it saw no clear federal jurisdiction.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the June 4\u20138, 1954 timeline, per the DOJ's public case file.", "No suspect has ever been named in connection with the killing, per the same file and public reporting." ], "unknown": [ "The motive for the killing was never established; several theories circulated locally but none were substantiated.", "What became of Banks's more than 1,000 acres of land after his death was not fully documented." ], "unanswered": [ "What, if anything, do surviving FBI records \u2014 some reportedly destroyed by 1992 \u2014 still contain?", "Why did local authorities conduct so little investigation despite the case's extensive contemporary press coverage?", "What did the DOJ's Cold Case Initiative review conclude when it reexamined the file?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Civil Rights Division case page", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case/isadore-banks", "verified": true }, { "name": "Encyclopedia of Arkansas \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/isadore-banks-6425/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "mack-charles-parker", "caseNumber": "023", "name": "Mack Charles Parker", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1959, "age": 23, "gender": "male", "city": "Poplarville", "county": "Pearl River", "state": "MS", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Mack Charles Parker, 23, an Army veteran and truck driver, was lynched three days before he was scheduled to stand trial on charges of raping a white woman \u2014 charges he denied in a letter written from jail, and which rested on an identification the accuser herself said she could not be certain of. Late on April 24, 1959, eight to ten hooded men broke into the Pearl River County jail in Poplarville, reportedly aided by a jailer who provided the keys, and dragged Parker from his cell. He was beaten, driven away, and shot; his body was recovered from the Pearl River on May 4, 1959. An FBI investigation identified more than twenty men involved, several of whom confessed and named other participants, and the FBI turned a full dossier over to Mississippi officials. An all-white county grand jury declined to indict, as did a subsequent federal grand jury, by a single vote. No one was ever charged. Historian Howard Smead has called it \"the last classic lynching in America.\"", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the April 24\u201325, 1959 date and circumstances, per contemporaneous FBI reporting and public records.", "The FBI's investigation identified more than twenty participants through witness statements and confessions, though no state or federal grand jury returned an indictment." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever charged, tried, or convicted.", "Parker's guilt in the underlying rape accusation was never established in court; his accuser could not confirm his identity with certainty." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific evidence did the FBI's dossier, handed to Mississippi officials in 1959, contain?", "Why did the federal grand jury in Biloxi fall one vote short of indicting?", "What has the DOJ's ongoing review under the Emmett Till Act, reopened in 2009, established since?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "PBS FRONTLINE Un(re)solved \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/mack-charles-parker/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Mississippi Today \u2014 case retrospective", "url": "https://mississippitoday.org/2025/04/25/1959-mack-charles-parker-lynched-poplarville/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "joseph-edwards", "caseNumber": "024", "name": "Joseph Edwards", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "missing_persons", "year": 1964, "age": null, "gender": "male", "city": "Vidalia", "county": "Concordia", "state": "LA", "caseSeries": "Silver Dollar Group", "summary": "Joseph \"Joe-Ed\" Edwards, a porter at the Shamrock Motel in Vidalia in his early 20s, disappeared in the early morning hours of July 12, 1964. His car was found abandoned near a local bowling alley days later with a necktie tied into a noose on the steering wheel and blood inside. The FBI later concluded Edwards had likely been targeted after he was seen kissing a white coworker; the woman's boyfriend reported the incident to the Vidalia police chief, who is believed to have alerted a Klan offshoot called the Silver Dollar Group. A witness told the FBI he saw a car matching the group's leader's description stop Edwards's Buick near the bowling alley on the night he vanished. His body has never been found \u2014 the only Civil Rights-era case in Louisiana the FBI investigated in which this remains true. The DOJ's Civil Rights Division closed its file in 2013, naming seven subjects, including several Concordia Parish sheriff's deputies and the Silver Dollar Group's leader, all reported deceased.", "known": [ "Victim's identity, employer, and the July 12, 1964 disappearance date, per the DOJ's public case file.", "The DOJ's 2013 Notice to Close File names seven subjects, all reported deceased, including law enforcement officers." ], "unknown": [ "Edwards's body has never been recovered, and his exact cause of death is unknown.", "No one was ever charged in connection with his disappearance." ], "unanswered": [ "What did the FBI's search of Deer Park Lake and other locations for Edwards's remains ultimately establish?", "What role did each of the seven named subjects play, according to the DOJ's file?", "What became of the white Oldsmobile the FBI investigation connected to a witness account of the night Edwards disappeared?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Civil Rights Division case page", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case/joseph-joed-edwards", "verified": true }, { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/joseph-joed-edwards-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "samuel-oquinn", "caseNumber": "025", "name": "Samuel O'Quinn", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1959, "age": 58, "gender": "male", "city": "Centreville", "county": "Wilkinson", "state": "MS", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Samuel O'Quinn, 58, a businessman who ran a funeral home, a cafe, and farmland in Centreville, was shot twice in the back with a shotgun on the night of August 14, 1959 as he opened the gates to his property; he died on the way to the hospital. No witnesses were identified, and neither state police nor the FBI's investigation at the time named a suspect. Local media reported at the time that O'Quinn was active with the NAACP and speculated his death was politically motivated; a white glove found at the scene was later thought by family to be a White Citizens' Council calling card. A 2012 DOJ memo reviewing the case reached a different conclusion, stating that the limited surviving investigative material \"indicates that O'Quinn may have been murdered by a person or persons interested in obtaining his land\" rather than for political activity \u2014 a reminder that even the motive behind a killing can remain genuinely disputed decades later. The DOJ closed its file in 2012 without identifying a suspect.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the August 14, 1959 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file.", "No suspect was ever identified by state or federal investigators, per the same file." ], "unknown": [ "The motive remains genuinely disputed: contemporary reporting pointed to O'Quinn's NAACP activity, while the DOJ's 2012 review pointed to a land dispute instead.", "A secondhand deathbed confession the family later learned of, alleging the killer was paid $500 and a car, was never independently verified." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific evidence led the DOJ's 2012 review to favor a land-dispute motive over the politically-motivated account?", "What became of the white glove found at the scene?", "What, if anything, came of the two interviewees who shared secondhand information about a possible suspect during the FBI's 2008 review?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/samuel-o-quinn-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "PBS FRONTLINE Un(re)solved \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/samuel-oquinn", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "claude-neal", "caseNumber": "026", "name": "Claude Neal", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1934, "age": 23, "gender": "male", "city": "Greenwood", "county": "Jackson", "state": "FL", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Claude Neal, 23, a farmhand, was lynched near Marianna on the night of October 25\u201326, 1934, days after being arrested and accused of the murder of a young white woman. Fearing mob violence, Sheriff Flake Chambliss moved Neal between several jails, eventually hiding him roughly 200 miles away in Brewton, Alabama. In the early morning hours of October 26, a mob broke into the Brewton jail and abducted him, driving him back to Jackson County on back roads to avoid law enforcement. Neal was killed hours later; his body was then displayed publicly, hanged from a tree at the Jackson County courthouse in Marianna. When the sheriff cut the body down the next morning and refused demands to rehang it, a mob numbering in the thousands rioted through Marianna for days, attacking Black residents and property; the governor deployed the National Guard to restore order. The lynching had been publicized in advance and drew national attention, becoming a catalyst for the NAACP's campaign for federal anti-lynching legislation. No one was ever charged; the DOJ reopened the case for review in 2011 under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, by which point all identified participants were deceased.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the October 1934 timeline, per the DOJ's public case file.", "The lynching was extensively documented by contemporary press and NAACP investigators, and is widely credited with advancing the national anti-lynching legislative campaign of the 1930s." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever charged, tried, or convicted.", "The full circumstances of Neal's initial confession, obtained without legal counsel present, were never independently tested in court." ], "unanswered": [ "What did the FBI's 2011 review, opened under the Emmett Till Act, establish or conclude?", "What became of the NAACP's contemporaneous investigative file compiled by Walter White?", "What formal accounting, if any, has Jackson County given of the riot's estimated 200 injuries and property destruction?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Civil Rights Division case page", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case/claude-neal", "verified": true }, { "name": "Explore Southern History \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/claudeneal.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "brandon-mcclelland", "caseNumber": "027", "name": "Brandon McClelland", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2008, "age": 24, "gender": "male", "city": "Paris", "county": "Lamar", "state": "TX", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Brandon McClelland, 24, was struck and dragged roughly 70 feet beneath a pickup truck on a rural road outside Paris in the early hours of September 16, 2008; his body was found the next morning. He had been on a late-night beer run across the Oklahoma state line with two white acquaintances, Shannon Finley and Charles Ryan Crostley, and an argument reportedly broke out on the drive back over whether Finley was too drunk to keep driving; McClelland got out of the vehicle to walk. A grand jury indicted both Finley and Crostley on murder charges, and Finley was separately indicted for evidence tampering, accused of washing blood from the truck's undercarriage. The case unraveled over the following year amid a lack of eyewitnesses and forensic evidence \u2014 no DNA tying McClelland to the truck was ever found \u2014 and a separate driver came forward with a sworn statement acknowledging he might have accidentally struck McClelland himself. Prosecutors moved to dismiss the murder charges in 2009, and both men were released. McClelland's family and local civil rights advocates have maintained the killing was a racially motivated hate crime, drawing comparisons to the 1998 dragging death of James Byrd Jr. in nearby Jasper, Texas; no one has ever been convicted.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the September 16, 2008 date and circumstances, per contemporaneous news reporting and court records.", "Shannon Finley and Charles Ryan Crostley were indicted by a grand jury on murder charges, which were later formally dismissed before trial; per the same records, no one has been convicted." ], "unknown": [ "Whether McClelland's death was an intentional act or the accidental result of impaired driving was never resolved in court.", "The credibility and outcome of the competing sworn statement from a gravel truck driver who said he may have struck McClelland was never fully adjudicated." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific forensic findings led prosecutors to conclude the case could not proceed to trial?", "Did the Department of Justice ever formally open or close a federal civil rights review of the case, as local activists requested?", "What, if anything, has come of the case since the 2009 dismissal?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 \u201cDeath of Brandon McClelland\u201d, background reference", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Brandon_McClelland", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News \u2014 case report on the dismissal of charges", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/charges-dropped-in-texas-dragging-death", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "john-allen", "caseNumber": "028", "name": "John Allen", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1864, "age": null, "gender": "male", "city": "Des Moines", "county": "Polk", "state": "IA", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "John Allen, an employee of the Demoine House hotel described by contemporary newspapers as \u201cpeaceable,\u201d was shot in the head and killed instantly on a Des Moines sidewalk in front of Ensign's Livery Stable on July 8, 1864. Private John McRoberts, a 26-year-old Union soldier on furlough from the 10th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, had been drunk and looking for a fight; witnesses in broad daylight saw him hail Allen, who stopped, then moved on \u2014 at which point McRoberts drew his pistol and shot him without provocation. McRoberts was arrested and indicted by a grand jury for murder, but according to an 1898 county history, he \u201cwas never placed on trial\u201d and was instead quietly released and sent back to his regiment, which shipped out for Georgia less than a month later. McRoberts survived the Civil War, married, and lived the rest of his life free, dying in Idaho in 1908.", "known": [ "Victim identity, occupation, and the July 8, 1864 date and circumstances, per contemporary newspaper accounts and an 1898 county history.", "The identity of the shooter, John McRoberts, who was arrested and indicted but never tried, per the same sources." ], "unknown": [ "Little else is known about John Allen's life, including his birth year or burial place.", "The exact circumstances of McRoberts's release from custody were not fully documented in surviving records." ], "unanswered": [ "What became of the grand jury indictment against McRoberts after his release?", "Why were military authorities able to take custody of a man indicted for murder by a civilian grand jury?", "What further records, if any, survive in Polk County court archives from 1864?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Iowa Unsolved Murders: Historic Cases \u2014 case summary by Nancy Bowers", "url": "https://iowaunsolvedmurders.com/the-murders/the-peaceable-negro-murder-of-john-allen-1864/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "nicholas-a-brown", "caseNumber": "029", "name": "Nicholas A. Brown", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2021, "age": 33, "gender": "male", "city": "Davenport", "county": "Scott", "state": "IA", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Nicholas A. Brown, 33, was shot on January 30, 2021 after Davenport police responded to a report of a domestic disturbance in the 600 block of Fillmore Street. Officers found Brown with life-threatening gunshot wounds; he was taken to a hospital, where he later died of his injuries. The Iowa Attorney General's office, which tracks intimate-partner homicides statewide, listed Brown among the men killed in such circumstances and noted that no arrests had been made in the case. He was survived by eight children.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the January 30, 2021 date and circumstances, per contemporaneous news reporting.", "The Iowa Attorney General's office's official tracking confirms no arrests had been made in the case as of its report." ], "unknown": [ "No suspect has been publicly identified.", "The specific nature of the domestic disturbance that preceded the shooting was not detailed in available public reporting." ], "unanswered": [ "What has the Davenport Police Department's investigation established since 2021?", "Has any suspect been identified or charged in the years since the shooting?", "What connection, if any, did the domestic disturbance have to Brown's own household versus a neighboring one?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Iowa Attorney General's Office \u2014 Iowa Men Killed by Their Intimate Partners report", "url": "https://www.iowaattorneygeneral.gov/media/cms/DV_Homicide_List_93018_014CDC2E8DA89.pdf", "verified": true }, { "name": "Quad-City Times \u2014 case report", "url": "https://qctimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/man-shot-during-davenport-domestic-disturbance-has-died-of-injuries/article_0c7f628b-0436-5a59-82f0-82ac71687bfe.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "isaiah-nixon", "caseNumber": "030", "name": "Isaiah Nixon", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1948, "age": 28, "gender": "male", "city": "Alston", "county": "Montgomery", "state": "GA", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Isaiah Nixon, 28, a farmer, turpentine worker, and WWII veteran, was shot three times in his own front yard in Alston on the evening of September 8, 1948, in front of his wife and six children, hours after voting in the Georgia Democratic primary; he died two days later in a hospital in neighboring Laurens County. Two white brothers, Jim A. Johnson and Johnnie Johnson, drove to the Nixon home and ordered him to come with them; when he refused, Jim Johnson shot him. A local grand jury charged Jim Johnson with murder and Johnnie Johnson as an accessory, and the case drew national NAACP attention, but an all-white jury acquitted Jim Johnson, and prosecutors then dropped the case against his brother. The Nixon family fled to Florida after the killing, and their father's grave in a remote cemetery went unmarked and lost to underbrush for 67 years, until Emory University researchers located it in 2015 with the help of Nixon's daughter, Dorothy Nixon Williams, who was six years old when she witnessed her father's death.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the September 8, 1948 date and circumstances, per the Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project at Emory University and the federal Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board.", "Jim A. Johnson was tried for murder and acquitted by an all-white jury; the accessory charge against Johnnie Johnson was subsequently dropped." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever held criminally responsible for the killing.", "The full contents of the FBI's contemporaneous investigation into the case were not made public." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific evidence and testimony led the all-white jury to acquit Jim Johnson?", "What became of the FBI's 1948 investigative file on the case?", "What connection, if any, does this case have to Maceo Snipes's killing two years earlier in nearby Taylor County, documented separately in this archive \u2014 both men killed for voting-related activity, both cases ending in acquittal, both driving their families out of the region?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project, Emory University \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://coldcases.emory.edu/isaiah-nixon/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board \u2014 official case file", "url": "https://www.coldcaserecords.gov/content/cases/1948-09-08-isaiah-nixon-and-dover-carter/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "orangeburg-massacre", "caseNumber": "031", "name": "Samuel Hammond, Henry Smith & Delano Middleton", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1968, "age": null, "gender": "male", "city": "Orangeburg", "county": "Orangeburg", "state": "SC", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Samuel Hammond Jr., 18, Henry Smith, 18, and Delano Middleton, 17, were shot and killed by South Carolina Highway Patrol officers on the campus of South Carolina State College on the night of February 8, 1968, during the third night of student protests against the segregation of a local bowling alley. Officers fired shotguns loaded with buckshot into a crowd of roughly 200 unarmed students; 27 more were wounded, many shot in the back or through the soles of their feet as they fled. Middleton was a local high school student who had come to the campus to walk his mother, a cafeteria worker, home from work. Nine officers were identified and tried on federal charges of using excessive force; all nine were acquitted. The only person convicted in connection with the events of that week was Cleveland Sellers, a civil rights organizer and one of the wounded, who was convicted of inciting a riot and served time in prison; he received a pardon decades later. The FBI declined to reopen the case when asked in 2007. It is considered the first fatal shooting of student protesters on a U.S. college campus, predating the 1970 Kent State shootings.", "known": [ "The victims' identities, ages, and the February 8, 1968 date and circumstances, per multiple contemporaneous and historical accounts.", "Nine South Carolina Highway Patrol officers were identified and tried on federal excessive-force charges; all nine were acquitted." ], "unknown": [ "No officer was ever convicted in the deaths.", "Which specific officers fired the fatal shots was not conclusively established at trial." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the FBI decline to reopen the case when formally asked to in 2007?", "What became of the multiple state legislative proposals to formally investigate or compensate the victims' families, none of which passed?", "What additional documentation, if any, exists in South Carolina state archives regarding the incident?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "BlackPast.org \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://blackpast.org/african-american-history/orangeburg-massacre-1968/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Lowcountry Digital History Initiative, College of Charleston \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/orangeburg-massacre/oburg-intro", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "henry-marrow", "caseNumber": "032", "name": "Henry \"Dickie\" Marrow Jr.", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1970, "age": 23, "gender": "male", "city": "Oxford", "county": "Granville", "state": "NC", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Henry \"Dickie\" Marrow Jr., 23, an Army veteran, walked to Robert Teel's store in Oxford on the evening of May 11, 1970 to buy a Coca-Cola. When Marrow spoke to a young white woman near the store, Teel and two other family members interpreted it as offensive, chased Marrow into the parking lot, beat him, and shot him; he died the next day. At trial that July, an all-white jury heard eyewitnesses identify Larry Teel as the shooter, but a defense witness, Roger Oakley, unexpectedly testified that he had fired the fatal shot himself, by accident. All three men \u2014 Robert Teel, Larry Teel, and Oakley \u2014 were acquitted on all counts; the prosecutor called the verdict \"absolutely the worst miscarriage of justice I have ever seen.\" The killing and acquittal set off riots and arson in Oxford and led to an 18-month boycott of white-owned businesses, organized by Marrow's cousin Benjamin Chavis, that eventually forced the desegregation of the town's public facilities. The case is the subject of Timothy B. Tyson's book \"Blood Done Sign My Name\" and its 2010 film adaptation.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the May 11\u201312, 1970 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file and extensive contemporaneous and historical reporting.", "Robert Teel, Larry Teel, and Roger Oakley were tried on murder and related charges in July 1970 and acquitted on all counts by an all-white jury." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever convicted in the killing.", "Which of the men actually fired the fatal shot was disputed at trial and never resolved; eyewitnesses and a defendant's own testimony gave conflicting accounts." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the defense wait until the final day of trial to introduce Oakley's account of firing the fatal shot?", "What specific findings, if any, came from a DOJ review of the case under the Emmett Till Act?", "What became of the wrongful-death civil suit Marrow's widow filed against the Teels later in 1970?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 case file", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case/henry-d-dickie-marrow-jr-deceased", "verified": true }, { "name": "North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2016/05/11/1970-oxford-murder-sparked-violent-protests", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "donna-ann-reason", "caseNumber": "033", "name": "Donna Ann Reason", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1970, "age": 9, "gender": "female", "city": "Chester", "county": "Delaware", "state": "PA", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Donna Ann Reason, 9, was killed just after midnight on May 19, 1970 when someone threw a Molotov cocktail through the living room window of her family's newly purchased home in Chester, setting it ablaze; two of her siblings escaped through an upstairs window, but Donna did not survive the fire. Her parents, Gloria and Robert Reason, were a mixed-race couple living in an integrated neighborhood, though her father told a local newspaper he did not believe the family's race played a role, noting other interracial couples lived nearby. Police told reporters at the time that a nearby home belonging to a district justice of the peace, which officers had been assigned to guard, may have been the attack's actual intended target. A coroner's jury ordered homicide charges against whoever was responsible, but no one was ever charged. The FBI reviewed the case under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act following a referral; the DOJ's Civil Rights Division closed its file in February 2025, stating it found no evidence the crime was racially motivated and that the statute of limitations had run on any federal hate crime charges in any case. A state homicide investigation reportedly remains open.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the May 19, 1970 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file and PBS FRONTLINE's \u201cUn(re)solved\u201d case summary.", "The DOJ's 2025 closing file states it found no evidence the attack was racially motivated, and that Pennsylvania has an open state homicide investigation into the case." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever charged in the firebombing.", "Whether the attack was actually intended for the Reason home or a neighboring home, as police speculated at the time, was never resolved." ], "unanswered": [ "What became of the reward fund Donna's father tried to raise for information in the case?", "What, if anything, has Pennsylvania's ongoing state homicide investigation established in the decades since?", "What specific evidence did the DOJ's 2025 review examine before concluding a racial motive could not be established?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1408741/dl", "verified": true }, { "name": "PBS FRONTLINE Un(re)solved \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/donna-ann-reason/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "elbert-williams", "caseNumber": "034", "name": "Elbert Williams", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1940, "age": 31, "gender": "male", "city": "Brownsville", "county": "Haywood", "state": "TN", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Elbert Williams, 31, a laundry worker and charter member of the NAACP's newly formed Brownsville branch, was abducted from his home on the night of June 20, 1940 by Haywood County Sheriff Samuel \"Tip\" Hunter, along with fellow NAACP member Thomas Davis, and taken to the local jail for questioning about the chapter's activities \u2014 weeks after Williams and other members had attempted, unsuccessfully, to register to vote. Davis was released into a waiting mob but escaped unharmed; Williams was never seen alive again. His mutilated body was pulled from the Hatchie River three days later and buried in an unmarked grave. A six-member, all-white coroner's jury refused to return any indictments, and no cause of death was ever officially determined. In the following months, as many as 40 Black families fled Brownsville under threat of violence, Black residents were barred from meeting even for church services, and two more Black men were beaten to death by the same night marshal involved in Williams's abduction; the local NAACP branch dissolved and did not reorganize until 1961. NAACP Special Counsel Thurgood Marshall personally investigated and was sharply critical of the federal government's investigation and its failure to prosecute. Williams is considered the first known NAACP member killed for his civil rights activism, and his killing is regarded as the last documented lynching in Tennessee history. Haywood County reopened a state investigation into the case in 2018.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the June 20\u201323, 1940 timeline, per the DOJ's public case file and the Equal Justice Initiative.", "The DOJ's case file states Sheriff Samuel \"Tip\" Hunter personally abducted Williams from his home; no cause of death was ever officially determined, and no indictments were ever returned." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever charged or convicted in Williams's death.", "The circumstances of his final three days, between his abduction and the recovery of his body, were never established." ], "unanswered": [ "What did Thurgood Marshall's contemporaneous investigation uncover that the official inquiry did not?", "What has Haywood County's state investigation, reopened in 2018, established since?", "Why did the FBI decline the family's 2017 request to reopen a federal review, and what specifically did that decision rely on?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 case file", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case/elbert-williams", "verified": true }, { "name": "BlackPast.org \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/williams-elbert-1908-1940/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "eddie-cook", "caseNumber": "035", "name": "Eddie Cook", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1965, "age": 53, "gender": "male", "city": "Detroit", "county": "Wayne", "state": "MI", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Eddie Cook, 53, a city sanitation worker, father of three, and grandfather, was shot in the chest before dawn on November 7, 1965, while walking near his home in midtown Detroit after stopping in the area for coffee. A car carrying four or five white youths pulled alongside and someone inside fired a shotgun blast at him before speeding away; Cook died at the hospital within the hour. Police at the time theorized the shooting may have been retaliation for an unrelated incident earlier that day, or an accidental hit during a fight between rival gangs. Detroit's mayor publicly condemned the killing and Cook's union offered a reward, and homicide detectives logged more than 1,000 investigative hours interviewing dozens of young people who claimed to have information \u2014 but by their own account, none of it led anywhere. No one was ever identified as a suspect, and the DOJ closed its file in 2020 without identifying who fired the shot or who else was in the car.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the November 7, 1965 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file and PBS FRONTLINE's \u201cUn(re)solved\u201d case summary.", "The Detroit Police Department's contemporaneous investigation did not identify a suspect, per the same records." ], "unknown": [ "No suspect was ever identified in the shooting.", "Whether the shooting was a case of mistaken identity, gang retaliation, or a racially motivated attack was never conclusively determined." ], "unanswered": [ "What became of the more than 1,000 hours of leads Detroit homicide detectives logged without result?", "Who were the young men interviewed by police who claimed knowledge of the shooting, and why did none of the leads hold up?", "What did the DOJ's 2020 review find, if anything, beyond the original 1965 investigation?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/eddie-cook-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "PBS FRONTLINE Un(re)solved \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/eddie-cook/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "lee-edward-culbreath", "caseNumber": "036", "name": "Lee Edward Culbreath", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1965, "age": 14, "gender": "male", "city": "Portland", "county": "Ashley", "state": "AR", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Lee Edward Culbreath, 14, was shot and killed outside a caf\u00e9 in Portland on December 5, 1965, while waiting for a friend who had gone to look at a Christmas tree at a nearby store. Ed Vail, a white man who had been drinking heavily with his brother James, fired three shots at Culbreath through the open window of their pickup truck as they drove by; Culbreath was struck once in the chest and managed to run inside the caf\u00e9 before collapsing, dying of internal bleeding. Both brothers were arrested about 20 minutes later at a state trooper's roadblock; troopers testified both men admitted to being Klan members, though both later denied it. Ed Vail was tried, and a jury of eleven white men and one Black man found him guilty of second-degree murder; he was sentenced to 21 years. Arkansas declined to prosecute James Vail the following year, and no charges were ever brought against him. Neither newspaper reports nor the DOJ's later review identified any specific reason for the attack.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the December 5, 1965 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file, the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, and contemporaneous trial coverage.", "Ed Vail was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 21 years; Arkansas declined to prosecute his brother James, who was never charged." ], "unknown": [ "No specific motive for the shooting was ever established.", "James Vail's exact role, beyond driving the truck, was never resolved in court." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did Arkansas decline to prosecute James Vail in 1966 despite his arrest and initial murder charge?", "What became of the .22 revolver FBI analysis confirmed as the murder weapon?", "What did Ed Vail's own account, that he was too intoxicated to recall being in Portland that day, leave unexplained about the shooting itself?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/lee-edward-culbreath-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "Encyclopedia of Arkansas \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/lee-edward-culbreath-13888/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "james-powell", "caseNumber": "037", "name": "James Powell", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1964, "age": 15, "gender": "male", "city": "New York", "county": "New York", "state": "NY", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "James Powell, 15, was shot and killed on East 76th Street in Manhattan on the morning of July 16, 1964, by off-duty NYPD Lieutenant Thomas Gilligan. A building superintendent had sprayed a hose at a group of Black students, including Powell, gathered near a summer school; when Powell followed the superintendent into the building, Gilligan, who was nearby in plainclothes, intervened. Gilligan said Powell lunged at him with a knife and fired three shots, killing him in front of his classmates and roughly a dozen other witnesses; several witnesses said Powell was unarmed, and no knife matching Gilligan's account was recovered at the scene. A grand jury declined to indict Gilligan, who was cleared by the department. The shooting, and the community's outrage over it, set off six consecutive nights of rioting across Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant \u2014 one of the first major uprisings of the era.", "known": [ "Victim identity, age, and the July 16, 1964 date and circumstances, per extensive contemporaneous and historical reporting.", "NYPD Lieutenant Thomas Gilligan was identified as the shooter; a grand jury declined to indict him, and he was never charged." ], "unknown": [ "No knife matching Gilligan's account of the encounter was ever recovered.", "Whether Powell posed any actual threat to Gilligan was disputed by eyewitnesses at the time and was never resolved through prosecution." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific evidence did the grand jury weigh before declining to indict Gilligan?", "What became of the building superintendent, Patrick Lynch, whose actions preceded the encounter?", "What official department review, if any, followed the riots regarding the department's own protocols?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Equal Justice Initiative \u2014 background reference", "url": "https://eji.org/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Rutgers University \u2014 \u201cInside the Harlem Uprising of 1964\u201d", "url": "https://www.rutgers.edu/news/inside-harlem-uprising-1964", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "rogers-hamilton", "caseNumber": "038", "name": "Rogers Hamilton", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1957, "age": 18, "gender": "male", "city": "Hayneville", "county": "Lowndes", "state": "AL", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Rogers Hamilton, 18, was abducted from his home near Hayneville at about 1:30 a.m. on October 22, 1957. According to his mother, Beatrice Hamilton, one or two white men drove up in a pickup truck and called Hamilton's name several times; he went outside, spoke with one of the men, then got into the truck with him. His mother followed on foot and watched as the truck stopped a short distance away, where she said a white man standing outside it drew a pistol and shot her son in the face. Some accounts report Hamilton had recently been seen waving at a white girl in town, which relatives believe may have prompted the killing. The Lowndes County sheriff's office investigated but never identified a suspect, and a later reporter found the sheriff had privately dismissed Beatrice Hamilton's eyewitness account as implausible. No one was ever arrested. The DOJ closed its file in 2016, citing the lack of any identified subject and the destruction of the original Lowndes County sheriff's office records.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the October 22, 1957 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file and his mother's eyewitness account.", "No suspect was ever identified, and the original county investigative records were later destroyed, per the same file." ], "unknown": [ "No motive for the killing was ever officially confirmed.", "The identity of the man or men who abducted Hamilton was never established." ], "unanswered": [ "What did the FBI's own 1957 report, which reportedly contained additional detail on a possible motive, ultimately conclude?", "Why did the Lowndes County sheriff dismiss Beatrice Hamilton's direct eyewitness account rather than pursue it as a lead?", "What became of the original Lowndes County Sheriff's Office investigative records before their destruction?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/rogers-hamilton-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "Alabama Reporter \u2014 \u201cRogers Hamilton: No justice for murdered Black teen\u201d", "url": "https://www.alreporter.com/2025/04/02/rogers-hamilton-no-justice-for-murdered-black-teen/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "matthew-williams", "caseNumber": "039", "name": "Matthew Williams", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1931, "age": 23, "gender": "male", "city": "Salisbury", "county": "Wicomico", "state": "MD", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Matthew Williams, 23, a laborer at a local box factory, was lynched by a mob of more than 2,000 people in Salisbury on the evening of December 4, 1931. Earlier that day, Williams's longtime employer, Daniel J. Elliott, was shot dead in his office; Williams was found badly wounded nearby, and the official account at the time held that he had shot Elliott over a wage dispute and then tried to take his own life, though some contemporaries considered it more plausible that Elliott's own son had fired the shots. That evening, while Williams was recovering under police guard at a segregated hospital ward, a mob stormed the building, dragged him from his bed, and threw him from a window into the crowd below. He was hanged from a tree at the courthouse square, his body cut down and dragged through Salisbury's Black neighborhoods behind a car, and then burned; spectators took pieces of his body and the rope as souvenirs. In the same wave of violence, an unidentified Black man was separately killed nearby by members of the same mob. No one was ever identified or prosecuted for either killing. The Justice Department funded a renewed investigation into the case beginning in 2019 under the Emmett Till Act.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the December 4, 1931 date and circumstances, per the Maryland State Archives and extensive contemporary press coverage.", "No one was ever identified or prosecuted for the lynching, per the same records." ], "unknown": [ "The circumstances of Elliott's shooting \u2014 whether Williams or Elliott's son fired the fatal shots \u2014 were never resolved.", "The identity of the second Black man killed by the mob that same night has never been publicly established." ], "unanswered": [ "What has the DOJ's Emmett Till Act-funded investigation, opened in 2019, established since?", "Who was the unidentified second victim killed the same night, and what became of any records of his death?", "What role, if any, did local law enforcement play in allowing the mob access to the hospital ward?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Maryland State Archives \u2014 biography and case summary", "url": "https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/013700/013749/html/13749bio.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "International Center for Transitional Justice \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.ictj.org/latest-news/ghosts-racial-violence-maryland", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "carl-hampton", "caseNumber": "040", "name": "Carl Hampton", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1970, "age": 21, "gender": "male", "city": "Houston", "county": "Harris", "state": "TX", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Carl Hampton, 21, founder and chairman of the People's Party II \u2014 a Houston organization modeled on the Black Panther Party \u2014 was shot and killed on the night of July 26, 1970, the tenth day of a standoff between his group and Houston police that had begun after officers were seen harassing a member selling the group's newspaper. Houston police officers, positioned with rifles on the roof of a nearby church, fired on Hampton and others outside the group's headquarters on Dowling Street; Hampton was hit in the stomach and chest and died at the hospital hours later. Police said the shooting was in self-defense, responding to gunfire from the headquarters; community members and later researchers disputed that account, and the circumstances remain contested. A Harris County grand jury declined to indict any of the officers involved.", "known": [ "Victim identity, role, and the July 26, 1970 date and circumstances, per multiple contemporaneous and historical accounts.", "A Harris County grand jury reviewed the shooting in late 1970 and declined to indict any of the officers involved." ], "unknown": [ "Who fired first has never been independently established; police and community accounts directly conflict.", "Which specific officers fired the fatal shots was not made public." ], "unanswered": [ "What evidence did the grand jury weigh in declining to indict, and has that record ever been made public?", "What became of the claim, raised by community sources at the time, that a reporter present on the church roof assisted in identifying Hampton before the shooting?", "What internal HPD records, if any, survive from the ten-day standoff that preceded the shooting?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Houston Chronicle \u2014 \u201cRemembering Houston's Black Panthers\u201d", "url": "https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/gray-matters/article/The-Black-Panthers-The-original-Black-Lives-6833943.php", "verified": true }, { "name": "Liberation News \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://liberationnews.org/black-liberation-leader-commemorated-52-years-after-assassination-by-houston-police/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "lester-mitchell", "caseNumber": "041", "name": "Lester Mitchell", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1966, "age": null, "gender": "male", "city": "Dayton", "county": "Montgomery", "state": "OH", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Lester Mitchell, a West Dayton business owner, was shot in the face with a shotgun just after 3 a.m. on September 1, 1966, while sweeping the sidewalk outside his bar on West Fifth Street. Witnesses said a red car pulled up and a white man fired from inside it before driving off; accounts differed on whether one man or several were involved. Mitchell was taken to the hospital, where he later died of his wounds. The killing, in a city where discriminatory housing policy had crowded some 60,000 Black residents into a segregated west side with underfunded schools and city services, triggered one of the worst riots in Dayton's history; Ohio's governor deployed roughly 1,000 National Guardsmen, who remained in the city for five days. Months later, Dayton's police chief told reporters an informant had identified the shooter as a man who had since died in an unrelated shootout, but a retired detective who later reexamined the case found little evidence police had done much to confirm that account. No one was ever charged.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the September 1, 1966 date and circumstances, per extensive contemporaneous and historical reporting.", "No one was ever arrested or charged in the killing, per the same reporting." ], "unknown": [ "The identity of the shooter, and whether one or more people were in the car, was never confirmed.", "Whether the police chief's later claim that an informant identified a (by then deceased) suspect was ever meaningfully investigated remains disputed." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific evidence, if any, supported the informant's claim that the shooter had died in an unrelated shootout?", "What became of the retired detective's later re-investigation of the case?", "What police records survive from the original 1966 investigation?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Dayton Daily News \u2014 \u201cLasting Scars: the 1966 Dayton riot\u201d", "url": "https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/lasting-scars-the-1966-dayton-riot-and-west-dayton-today/fROse29JYZcC9roAMSpqfK/", "verified": true }, { "name": "BlackPast.org \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://blackpast.org/african-american-history/the-1966-dayton-ohio-uprising/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "timothy-thomas", "caseNumber": "042", "name": "Timothy Thomas", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2001, "age": 19, "gender": "male", "city": "Cincinnati", "county": "Hamilton", "state": "OH", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Timothy Thomas, 19, was shot and killed by Cincinnati Police Officer Stephen Roach in a dark alley in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood in the early hours of April 7, 2001, while fleeing on foot from officers attempting to arrest him on a series of misdemeanor traffic warrants. Thomas was unarmed; Roach said he believed Thomas was reaching for a weapon. Thomas was the fifteenth Black man to die in a confrontation with Cincinnati police since 1995, and his death set off three nights of rioting, the city's worst racial unrest since 1968, with hundreds arrested. A grand jury indicted Roach on misdemeanor charges of negligent homicide and obstructing official business; at a bench trial that September, a judge acquitted him on both counts, ruling the shooting was a reasonable split-second reaction to a dangerous situation. Roach remained a police officer for years afterward.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the April 7, 2001 date and circumstances, per extensive contemporaneous news coverage and court records.", "Officer Stephen Roach was identified, indicted on misdemeanor charges, and acquitted of both at a September 2001 bench trial." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Thomas made a threatening movement, as Roach claimed, was disputed and never independently confirmed.", "The grand jury's specific reasoning for returning only misdemeanor charges, rather than more serious ones, was not made public." ], "unanswered": [ "What did the Collaborative Agreement reforms that followed the riots ultimately change about Cincinnati policing in practice?", "What became of the broader pattern-or-practice concerns the incident raised about the department?", "What, if anything, has the city or department done since to revisit the case?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Washington Post \u2014 \u201cOfficer Is Acquitted in Killing That Led to Riots in Cincinnati\u201d", "url": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/09/27/officer-is-acquitted-in-killing-that-led-to-riots-in-cincinnati/a678d262-f020-4766-998d-d1f27eed6e3b/", "verified": true }, { "name": "IAED Journal \u2014 case retrospective", "url": "https://www.iaedjournal.org/officer-involved-project", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "whitfield-and-whitney", "caseNumber": "043", "name": "Ed Whitfield & Earl Whitney", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1919, "age": null, "gender": "male", "city": "Chapmanville", "county": "Logan", "state": "WV", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Ed Whitfield and Earl Whitney, two Black coal miners employed by the Island Creek Colliery Company, were seized by a white mob on December 15, 1919 while being transported by deputies from Chapmanville to Huntington. The two had been accused of killing E.D. Meek, a white construction foreman. The mob took them from custody, backed them against a rail car, and shot them, then threw their bodies into the Guyandotte River. Logan County Sheriff Don Chafin \u2014 who would later organize the armed force that fought striking miners at the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921 \u2014 declined to investigate the killings. It was the only lynching recorded in West Virginia's southern coalfields during the nationwide wave of racial violence in the summer and fall of 1919 known as Red Summer. No one was ever charged.", "known": [ "The victims' identities, occupation, and the December 15, 1919 date and circumstances, per the West Virginia Encyclopedia and multiple historical accounts.", "Sheriff Don Chafin declined to investigate the killings, per the same sources; no one was ever charged." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Whitfield and Whitney had any actual connection to Meek's killing was never established in any court.", "The identities of the individual mob members were never publicly documented." ], "unanswered": [ "What became of the original murder investigation into E.D. Meek's death?", "What, if anything, do surviving Logan County records from December 1919 show about the case?", "Why did West Virginia authorities take no action against Sheriff Chafin for declining to investigate?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "West Virginia Encyclopedia (e-WV) \u2014 \u201cAfrican American Heritage\u201d", "url": "https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/entries/18", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Clio \u2014 \u201cWhitfield and Whitney Lynching Site\u201d", "url": "https://theclio.com/entry/47848", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "will-brown", "caseNumber": "044", "name": "Will Brown", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1919, "age": 40, "gender": "male", "city": "Omaha", "county": "Douglas", "state": "NE", "caseSeries": null, "victimPhotos": [ { "url": "https://www.zinnedproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1919-lynching-victim-William-Brown-201x300.jpg", "caption": "Will Brown", "credit": "Omaha World-Herald, 1919 \u2014 public domain by age; via Nebraska State Historical Society / NebraskaStudies.org" } ], "summary": "Will Brown, 40, a meatpacking plant worker later regarded by historians as innocent, was lynched by a mob in Omaha on the night of September 28, 1919, four days after a white woman accused him of assault. Brown was being held in the Douglas County Courthouse jail when a mob of thousands surrounded the building, set it on fire, and battled police for hours; when Omaha's mayor tried to intervene he was nearly lynched himself before being rescued. The mob eventually seized Brown, beat him, hanged him from a lamp pole outside the courthouse, shot his body more than one hundred times, then burned it and dragged the remains behind a car through the streets. A newspaper photograph of the burned body became one of the most widely reproduced images of the Red Summer of 1919, a nationwide wave of racial violence. Federal troops were called in to restore order. No one was ever charged in Brown's killing.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the September 28, 1919 date and circumstances, per History Nebraska (the state historical society) and PBS's American Experience.", "No one was ever charged or prosecuted for the lynching, per the same sources." ], "unknown": [ "The underlying assault accusation against Brown was never tested in any court, and historians have since characterized him as innocent.", "The identity of at least one other Black Omaha resident reportedly killed by the same mob that night has never been established." ], "unanswered": [ "What became of the original assault investigation and accusation against Brown?", "Who was the second victim some accounts describe the mob killing that same night, and what happened to any record of that death?", "What specific accountability, if any, was ever pursued against identifiable mob participants?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "History Nebraska \u2014 \u201cA Horrible Lynching\u201d", "url": "https://www.nebraskastudies.org/en/1900-1924/racial-tensions/a-horrible-lynching/", "verified": true }, { "name": "PBS American Experience \u2014 \u201cRed Summer: When Racist Mobs Ruled\u201d", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/t-town-red-summer-racist-mobs/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "duluth-lynchings", "caseNumber": "045", "name": "Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson & Isaac McGhie", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1920, "age": null, "gender": "male", "city": "Duluth", "county": "St. Louis", "state": "MN", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie, three Black men in their early twenties working as laborers for a traveling circus, were lynched by a mob in Duluth on the night of June 15, 1920. The night before, two white teenagers claimed that Black circus workers had robbed them at gunpoint and raped the young woman; a doctor's examination later found no evidence a rape had occurred. Police arrested six Black circus workers regardless. That evening, a mob estimated at 5,000 to 10,000 people gathered outside the jail, seized three of the men, beat them, and hanged them from a light pole in downtown Duluth. The Minnesota National Guard arrived the next morning to protect the three men who survived. No one was ever charged with the lynchings themselves; three white men were later convicted of rioting, a lesser charge. A fourth accused man, Max Mason, was the only person convicted in connection with the underlying accusation and served time in prison; he was granted the state's first posthumous pardon in 2020, a century after the killings.", "known": [ "The victims' identities, ages, and the June 15, 1920 date and circumstances, per the Minnesota Historical Society.", "A doctor's examination found no medical evidence supporting the rape accusation, and no one was ever charged with the lynchings themselves, per the same source." ], "unknown": [ "The specific individuals who carried out the lynchings were never identified or charged.", "What actually occurred between the accusers and the circus workers the night before was never established beyond dispute." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific evidence, if any, supported the rioting convictions of the three white men who were charged?", "What became of the three surviving arrested men after the National Guard secured the jail?", "What additional documentation survives in Duluth police and court records from 1920?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Minnesota Historical Society \u2014 \u201cThe Lynchings\u201d", "url": "https://www.mnhs.org/duluthlynchings/lynchings", "verified": true }, { "name": "Smithsonian Magazine \u2014 case retrospective", "url": "https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/one-hundred-years-ago-mob-white-rioters-lynched-three-men-minnesota-180975062/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "wade-hampton", "caseNumber": "046", "name": "Wade Hampton", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1917, "age": 50, "gender": "male", "city": "Rock Springs", "county": "Sweetwater", "state": "WY", "caseSeries": null, "victimPhotos": [ { "url": "https://www.wyohistory.org/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/hampton2.jpg", "caption": "Wade Hampton", "credit": "Montana State Prison intake photo, 1916\u20131917, via the Montana Memory Project (as reproduced by WyoHistory.org) \u2014 public domain by age" } ], "summary": "Wade Hampton, 50, was taken from his cell at the Rock Springs city jail at gunpoint by three armed men shortly after midnight on December 12, 1917, and shot to death within the hour after an attempt to hang him from a railroad bridge failed. Hampton had been arrested the day before on charges of attempting to assault three women, held on $5,000 bond, and had appeared before a justice of the peace for a preliminary hearing \u2014 he was never tried. The three men broke into the jail office, took the absent jailer's keys, and led Hampton away in handcuffs; when the rope broke during the failed hanging, Hampton tried to flee along a creek bed before his captors caught up to him and shot him. A coroner's inquest, which heard from only two witnesses, neither of whom had been present during the abduction, ruled his death was caused by \u201cparty or parties unknown.\u201d Wyoming's acting governor personally urged the county attorney to offer a reward, and a $500 reward was published, but no one was ever identified or charged. Hampton was buried at the county's expense.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the December 11\u201312, 1917 date and circumstances, per WyoHistory.org's account, drawn from the original coroner's inquest transcript and contemporary newspapers.", "The coroner's inquest concluded Hampton's death came at the hands of \u201cparty or parties unknown\u201d; no one was ever charged despite a published reward." ], "unknown": [ "The identities of the three men who abducted and killed Hampton were never established.", "The underlying assault accusations against Hampton were never tested at trial, since he was killed before one could occur." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the coroner's inquest call only two witnesses, neither of whom was present during the actual abduction?", "What became of the $500 reward Wyoming's acting governor pushed the county to offer?", "What connection, if any, exists between this case and the similar unsolved 1918 lynching of Edward Woodson in the same county?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "WyoHistory.org \u2014 \u201cA Lynching in Rock Springs\u201d", "url": "https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/lynching-rock-springs", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "tulsa-race-massacre", "caseNumber": "047", "name": "Tulsa Race Massacre", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1921, "age": null, "gender": null, "city": "Tulsa", "county": "Tulsa", "state": "OK", "caseSeries": null, "victimPhotos": [ { "url": "https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/pnp/anrc/14700/14738v.jpg", "caption": "Ruins after the Tulsa Race Massacre, June 1921", "credit": "American National Red Cross Photograph Collection, Library of Congress \u2014 no known restrictions on publication" } ], "summary": "On May 31 and June 1, 1921, a white mob of up to 10,000 people attacked Greenwood, Tulsa's prosperous Black district known as \u201cBlack Wall Street,\u201d in what the DOJ's own 2025 review called a \u201ccoordinated, military-style attack\u201d rather than spontaneous mob violence. As many as 300 residents were killed and more than 1,200 homes, businesses, schools, and churches were burned; survivors were rounded up and held in internment camps, and insurance companies later denied claims under \u201criot clause\u201d exclusions. City officials claimed at the time that only 36 people had died; historians have since estimated the toll at 75 to 300, and unmarked mass graves identified in Tulsa in recent years are still being excavated and their occupants identified. The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division formally reviewed the massacre under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act and released a 120-plus page report in January 2025 \u2014 the federal government's first official accounting of the event \u2014 finding that the Tulsa Police Department, the Tulsa County sheriff, the Oklahoma National Guard, and then-Mayor T.D. Evans each played a role, either through direct participation or by failing to act. The report also found that federal investigative reports written within days of the massacre in 1921 were apparently never evaluated by any prosecutor. No one was ever charged, and the DOJ concluded that no avenue for prosecution remains today.", "known": [ "The massacre's May 31\u2013June 1, 1921 date and scope, per the DOJ's 2025 Civil Rights Division review.", "The DOJ's report found the Tulsa Police Department, county sheriff, National Guard, and mayor each played a role, and that no federal prosecutor is known to have evaluated investigative reports written in 1921; no one was ever charged." ], "unknown": [ "The exact death toll has never been established; estimates range from 75 to as many as 300, and unmarked mass graves are still being excavated and identified.", "Why federal reports written within days of the massacre were apparently never evaluated by any prosecutor at the time was never explained in any surviving record." ], "unanswered": [ "What further identifications will ongoing mass grave excavations in Tulsa establish?", "What became of the individual insurance claims Black Tulsans filed and were denied?", "What, if anything, might further public records requests reveal about the 1921 federal investigative reports the DOJ says were never acted on?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division \u2014 \u201cReview and Evaluation: Tulsa Race Massacre\u201d", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1383756/dl", "verified": true }, { "name": "Associated Press \u2014 case report on the DOJ's findings", "url": "https://www.yahoo.com/news/federal-probe-1921-tulsa-race-223155119.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "john-henry-james", "caseNumber": "048", "name": "John Henry James", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1898, "age": null, "gender": "male", "city": "Charlottesville", "county": "Albemarle", "state": "VA", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "John Henry James was lynched at Wood's Crossing outside Charlottesville on July 12, 1898, the day after Julia Hotopp, a white woman, reported being assaulted near her family's estate. James was arrested the same day and, given fears for his safety, was being transported by train toward a jail in Staunton when a mob of about 150 people stopped the train and seized him. He was hanged from a locust tree and his body was shot repeatedly. A coroner's jury found only that James \u201ccame to his death by the hands of persons unknown.\u201d A grand jury then took the unusual step of posthumously indicting the dead man for the assault, a charge he was never able to answer in life. That indictment stood on the books for 125 years until Albemarle County's prosecutor asked a circuit court to dismiss it; a judge did so on July 12, 2023, the anniversary of James's death. In 2019, Charlottesville-area residents collected soil from the lynching site as part of the Equal Justice Initiative's national memorial project.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the July 11\u201312, 1898 date and circumstances, per Encyclopedia Virginia.", "The coroner's jury found James's killers were \u201cpersons unknown\u201d; the posthumous indictment against James himself was formally dismissed in 2023, per the same source and contemporaneous reporting." ], "unknown": [ "No one involved in the lynching was ever identified or charged.", "The underlying assault allegation against James was never tested in any court during his lifetime." ], "unanswered": [ "What, if any, surviving Albemarle County records document the mob's composition or planning?", "What prompted the original grand jury's decision to posthumously indict a man it knew was already dead?", "What further local reckoning, if any, has followed the 2023 dismissal of the indictment?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Encyclopedia Virginia \u2014 \u201cThe Lynching of John Henry James (1898)\u201d", "url": "https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/lynching-of-john-henry-james-1898-the/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "james-t-scott", "caseNumber": "049", "name": "James T. Scott", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1923, "age": null, "gender": "male", "city": "Columbia", "county": "Boone", "state": "MO", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "James T. Scott, a World War I veteran, firefighter, and janitor at the University of Missouri, was lynched from Stewart Bridge in Columbia in the early hours of April 29, 1923, in front of more than a thousand onlookers. He had been arrested a week earlier after Regina Almstedt, the 14-year-old daughter of a university professor, identified him as the man who assaulted her on the same bridge, though two white coworkers were prepared to testify that Scott had been working alongside them at the time of the attack. A mob used a blowtorch to break into his jail cell while police and county officials looked on without intervening by force, then hanged him. The night he died, Scott named his cellmate, Ollie Watson, as the actual attacker; bloodhounds had independently tracked a scent from the crime scene to where Watson normally parked, and Watson was separately found to have raped another girl the week before the Almstedt assault. A grand jury indicted five men suspected of leading the mob, but only one, George Barkwell, was tried; despite eyewitness testimony from two student journalists that they saw him push Scott from the bridge, a jury acquitted Barkwell after eleven minutes of deliberation, and charges against the other four men were dropped the same day.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the April 28\u201329, 1923 date and circumstances, per the State Historical Society of Missouri.", "George Barkwell was tried for murder and acquitted; charges against four other indicted men were dropped the same day, per the same source." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever convicted in Scott's killing.", "Whether Scott or his cellmate Ollie Watson actually assaulted Regina Almstedt was never resolved in any court, though contemporaneous evidence pointed toward Watson." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did Columbia police and county officials decline to use force against the mob despite being present throughout the night?", "What became of Ollie Watson after Scott's death?", "What specific evidence led the grand jury to indict five men, when only one was ultimately tried?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "State Historical Society of Missouri \u2014 \u201cThe Lynching of James T. Scott\u201d", "url": "https://missouriencyclopedia.org/events/scott-james-t", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "george-tompkins", "caseNumber": "050", "name": "George Tompkins", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1922, "age": 19, "gender": "male", "city": "Indianapolis", "county": "Marion", "state": "IN", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "George Tompkins, 19, left his aunt and uncle's Indianapolis home on the morning of March 16, 1922, and never returned; his body was found that afternoon hanging from a sapling in what is now Riverside Park, his hands tied behind his back. Marion County Coroner Dr. Paul Robinson examined the body and told reporters at the time that \u201cthere could be no question that the man had been murdered and his body then tied to the tree,\u201d and that Tompkins was \u201cdead or almost dead when he was hanged.\u201d Despite this, and despite initial police reports treating the death as a lynching, detectives reversed course two days later; the word \u201chomicide\u201d on the death certificate was crossed out in pencil and \u201csuicide\u201d written in its place, and no further investigation followed. Tompkins had never been accused of any crime, and no motive for his killing was ever established. He was buried in an unmarked grave. In March 2022, a century after his death, the Indiana Remembrance Coalition petitioned Marion County to review the case; Deputy Chief Coroner Alfie McGinty formally corrected Tompkins's manner of death to homicide, and a historical marker was later placed at the site where his body was found.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the March 16, 1922 date and circumstances, per the Indiana Remembrance Coalition and the original coroner's contemporaneous statement to the press.", "Marion County formally corrected Tompkins's death certificate from suicide to homicide in March 2022, per multiple news organizations that covered the correction." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever arrested or charged in Tompkins's death.", "No motive for the killing was ever established, and Tompkins was never accused of any crime." ], "unanswered": [ "Who altered Tompkins's death certificate from homicide to suicide two days after his death, and why?", "What became of the original 1922 police investigation records, if they survive?", "What further review, if any, might a modern homicide investigation of the case yield?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "CNN \u2014 case report on the 2022 death certificate correction", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/16/us/lynching-victim-george-tompkins-death-indiana-homicide/index.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 \u201cLynching of George Tompkins\u201d, background reference", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_of_George_Tompkins", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "george-white", "caseNumber": "051", "name": "George White", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1903, "age": 24, "gender": "male", "city": "Wilmington", "county": "New Castle", "state": "DE", "caseSeries": null, "victimPhotos": [ { "url": "https://wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/George-White.png", "caption": "George White", "credit": "Originally published by The Morning News (Wilmington, DE) in 1903 \u2014 public domain by age; this reproduction via the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism / Word In Black" } ], "summary": "George White, 24, a Black farm laborer, was arrested June 16, 1903 and accused of killing Helen Bishop, a white woman, near Wilmington. He denied any involvement and was held at the New Castle County Workhouse to await a September trial. Two lynch mobs attempted to abduct him from the workhouse within a week of his arrest, and on June 21 a local white pastor, Robert Elwood, urged a crowd to carry out swift vengeance rather than wait for the courts. The following night, a mob of thousands stormed the workhouse and seized White; he was taken to Price's Corner, tied to a stake, and burned to death on June 23 in front of a crowd variously estimated at several hundred to several thousand people, some of whom took pieces of his remains afterward. No one was ever convicted. It is generally regarded as the only documented lynching in Delaware's history. A state historical marker was dedicated at the site in 2019 after a local high school student's research prompted the Delaware Public Archives to install it; the marker was stolen that August and replaced two months later.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the June 16\u201323, 1903 date and circumstances, per the Delaware Public Archives' official historical marker.", "No one was ever convicted in the lynching, per the same source; a state historical marker commemorating the case was dedicated in 2019." ], "unknown": [ "The identities of individual mob participants were never prosecuted despite widespread contemporary knowledge of who was involved.", "The full circumstances of Helen Bishop's death, and White's actual connection to it, were never tested in any court." ], "unanswered": [ "What became of Pastor Robert Elwood after being called before the New Castle Presbytery for his role in inciting the mob?", "Why did Delaware's courts decline to move White's trial date earlier despite the escalating risk to his life?", "What further documentation, if any, survives regarding the two earlier attempts to lynch White before June 23?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Delaware Public Archives \u2014 official historical marker text", "url": "https://archives.delaware.gov/delaware-historical-markers/the-lynching-of-george-white/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Equal Justice Initiative \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/jun/23", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "preston-porter-jr", "caseNumber": "052", "name": "Preston Porter Jr.", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1900, "age": 15, "gender": "male", "city": "Limon", "county": "Lincoln", "state": "CO", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Preston Porter Jr., 15, was burned to death by a mob near Limon on November 16, 1900. Porter, his father, and his brother had come to Colorado from Kansas earlier that year for railroad work; after an 11-year-old white girl, Louise Frost, was found murdered near Limon on November 8, the three were stopped and arrested on suspicion while passing through Denver, despite no evidence connecting them to the crime. Held for four days under coercive interrogation, Porter confessed after being told his father and brother would likely be lynched if he did not. As he was being transported by train toward the county jail, an armed mob stopped the train at Limon \u2014 which was not a scheduled stop \u2014 and removed him over the protests of the deputy escorting him. Several hundred spectators, some arriving by train from Denver and Colorado Springs, gathered to watch as the mob chained Porter to a railroad stake and burned him alive. A coroner's inquest concluded he died \u201cat the hands of parties unknown,\u201d despite extensive newspaper coverage that identified mob participants by name. No one was ever charged.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the November 8\u201316, 1900 date and circumstances, per History Colorado and the Colorado Encyclopedia.", "A coroner's inquest concluded Porter's death came at the hands of \u201cparties unknown\u201d despite press coverage naming mob participants; no one was ever charged, per the same sources." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Porter's coerced confession bore any relationship to the actual circumstances of Louise Frost's death was never tested in any court.", "The identities of the mob members who stopped the train and carried out the killing, though reported by name in contemporary newspapers, were never formally prosecuted." ], "unanswered": [ "What became of the newspaper accounts that reportedly named mob participants, and why did the coroner's inquest not act on them?", "What happened to Porter's father and brother after they left Colorado following the lynching?", "What role, if any, did the deputy escorting Porter face for failing to prevent the train from being stopped?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "History Colorado \u2014 \u201cA Lynching in Limon\u201d", "url": "https://www.historycolorado.org/lost-highways/2022/01/18/lynching-limon", "verified": true }, { "name": "Colorado Encyclopedia \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/preston-porter-jr", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "samuel-johnson", "caseNumber": "053", "name": "Samuel Johnson (\u201cMingo Jack\u201d)", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1886, "age": 66, "gender": "male", "city": "Eatontown", "county": "Monmouth", "state": "NJ", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Samuel Johnson, 66, a former slave known locally as \u201cMingo Jack\u201d for his years as a jockey, was lynched in Eatontown on the night of March 5, 1886, hours after being arrested on a rape accusation. Constable Hermann Liebenthal arrested Johnson at his home that afternoon, then told people around town he wouldn't be surprised if Johnson were lynched before morning, and went home to sleep. That night, a mob of as many as 75 men broke into the jail, beat Johnson severely, and lynched him; a medical examiner concluded he had likely died from the beating before the hanging itself. At the coroner's inquest, ninety witnesses testified, and the prosecutor, James Steen, pursued the case despite being threatened with death \u2014 eliciting testimony suggesting Johnson probably was not the rapist at all, since witnesses placed him elsewhere and the accuser's description of the attacker's clothing didn't match his. Six men were eventually arrested in connection with the lynching; all were released on bail and never prosecuted. Two later confessions to the underlying rape, given years apart by different men, left the identity of the actual attacker unresolved. Johnson's killing is described as the first lynching in New Jersey since the Revolutionary War. A historical marker was dedicated at the site in 2022.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the March 5, 1886 date and circumstances, per research by local historian Gary Saretzky, published by the New Jersey Social Justice Remembrance Committee.", "Six men were arrested in connection with the lynching but released on bail and never prosecuted, per the same source; inquest testimony suggested Johnson was likely not the actual rapist." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever convicted in Johnson's killing.", "The identity of the man who actually assaulted Angelina Herbert was never conclusively established, despite two later, conflicting confessions from other men." ], "unanswered": [ "What became of the two men, Joseph Anderson and William Kelly, who fled to New York before they could be arrested?", "Why did authorities release all six arrested men on bail without ever bringing the case to trial?", "What did the coroner's rebuke of the local newspaper editor for condoning mob violence lead to, if anything?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "New Jersey Social Justice Remembrance Committee \u2014 \u201cThe Murder of Mingo Jack\u201d by Gary Saretzky", "url": "https://www.njremembrance.org/about/the-murder-of-mingo-jack", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "jeffery-zolliecoffer", "caseNumber": "054", "name": "Jeffery \u201cJo Jo\u201d Zolliecoffer", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1989, "age": 23, "gender": "male", "city": "Waterloo", "county": "Black Hawk", "state": "IA", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Jeffery \u201cJo Jo\u201d Howard Zolliecoffer, 23, was last seen alive late on the evening of September 7, 1989, at Goodies II, a bar formerly on Sumner Street in Waterloo; witnesses gave conflicting accounts of whether he left on his own or was forced out by several men. He was reported missing on September 9. On September 15, a child playing along the Cedar River discovered his body, wrapped in a quilted blanket, bound with copper wiring, and weighted down with two cement blocks; police believe it took several days for the body to rise to the surface. An autopsy found Zolliecoffer had been shot three times, including a fatal shotgun blast to the back of the head. Investigators have pursued numerous leads over the years without making an arrest; Zolliecoffer's family has been divided over the motive, with some believing it was drug-related and others insisting he was firmly against drug use. A $1,500 reward remains active through Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers.", "known": [ "Victim identity, age, and the September 7\u201315, 1989 timeline, per Iowa Cold Cases and the Iowa Attorney General's cold case files.", "No arrests have ever been made in the case, per the same sources.", "A news photograph published as part of the 2015 \u201cGone Cold: Exploring Iowa's Unsolved Murders\u201d statewide newspaper project identifies Zolliecoffer." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Zolliecoffer left the bar willingly or was forced out was never resolved; witness accounts conflicted.", "The motive for the killing remains disputed even within Zolliecoffer's own family." ], "unanswered": [ "What became of the conflicting witness accounts of Zolliecoffer's final hours at Goodies II?", "What specific leads have Waterloo police pursued over the decades, and why has none led to an arrest?", "What forensic evidence, if any, survives from the recovered blanket, wiring, and cement blocks for modern re-testing?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Iowa Cold Cases \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/jeffery-zolliecoffer/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Iowa Attorney General's Office \u2014 Unresolved cold case bulletin", "url": "https://www.iowaattorneygeneral.gov/browse/files/8da497e85c2d4d698341ab118d9ab709/embed", "verified": true }, { "name": "North Platte Telegraph, reprinting \u201cGone Cold\u201d \u2014 \u201cWaterloo murder from 1989 remains unsolved\u201d", "url": "https://nptelegraph.com/news/iowa/article_3addadcd-2852-5014-9994-d697d2bb5f43.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "darrion-carrington", "caseNumber": "055", "name": "Darrion \u201cPritz\u201d Carrington", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2008, "age": 18, "gender": "male", "city": "Boston", "county": "Suffolk", "state": "MA", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Darrion \u201cPritz\u201d Carrington, 18, was shot multiple times at close range inside the lobby of the Canton House, a fast-food Chinese restaurant on Dorchester Avenue, around 11:40 p.m. on January 7, 2008, while he waited for a late-night order and talked to a friend on his cellphone. He was rushed to Boston Medical Center and died of his wounds the next day. Carrington, raised at St. John's Missionary Baptist Church and a regular at the Roxbury Boys and Girls Club, had dreamed of playing basketball professionally. The Boston Police Department still lists his death among the city's unsolved 2008 homicides; no arrest has ever been made. His mother, Natasha Carrington, has since become an advocate for other families of unsolved homicide victims through the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute. A 2025 analysis by WBUR found that families of Black and Hispanic unsolved homicide victims in Massachusetts are more likely than others to be denied basic case updates by prosecutors citing open-investigation exemptions, even years after a case has gone cold.", "known": [ "Victim identity, age, and the January 7\u20138, 2008 date and circumstances, per the Boston Police Department's official unsolved homicides list and contemporaneous news coverage.", "No arrest has ever been made in the case, per the same sources." ], "unknown": [ "No suspect has ever been publicly identified.", "The motive for the shooting was never established in any public account." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific leads, if any, has the Boston Police Department pursued in the 17 years since the shooting?", "Why have Carrington's family reported difficulty obtaining case updates despite repeated requests?", "What became of the other two unsolved shootings along Dorchester Avenue in the days immediately following Carrington's death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Boston Police Department \u2014 official 2008 Unsolved Homicides list", "url": "https://police.boston.gov/2008-unsolved-homicides/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Boston 25 News \u2014 \u201cNew England's Unsolved: Who shot and killed Darrion Carrington?\u201d", "url": "https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/new-englands-unsolved-who-shot-killed-darrion-carrington/5KZVGMAUVVAPFA5HOJKPFLPRME/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "carol-jenkins", "caseNumber": "056", "name": "Carol Jenkins", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1968, "age": 21, "gender": "female", "city": "Martinsville", "county": "Morgan", "state": "IN", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Carol Jenkins, 21, an aspiring fashion model, was stabbed once through the heart with a screwdriver on East Morgan Street in Martinsville on the night of September 16, 1968, while selling encyclopedias door to door. Jenkins had reported being followed and harassed by two white men in a car and sought help at a stranger's home; police searched but could not find the vehicle, and Jenkins, not wanting to further inconvenience the family who had taken her in, continued on her route. The men returned roughly half an hour later; one held her while the other stabbed her. The killing, in a town with a longstanding reputation as a \u201csundown town,\u201d went unsolved for more than three decades. In 2002, an anonymous letter to police named Kenneth Clay Richmond as the killer; his daughter, seven years old at the time of the murder, confirmed she had witnessed her father stab Jenkins from the back seat of the family car while a second, still-unidentified man held her down, and that her father had paid her seven dollars never to speak of it. Richmond was arrested and charged with murder in 2002, but was found incompetent to stand trial due to cognitive decline; he died of cancer later that year, maintaining his innocence to the end. The second man was never identified.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the September 16, 1968 date and circumstances, per PBS FRONTLINE's \u201cUn(re)solved\u201d case summary.", "Kenneth Clay Richmond was identified in 2002 through his daughter's eyewitness testimony, arrested, and charged with murder, but was found incompetent to stand trial and died later that year before any trial occurred." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever convicted in Jenkins's killing.", "The identity of the second man involved in the attack was never established." ], "unanswered": [ "Who was the second, unidentified man who held Jenkins down during the attack?", "What became of the private investigation Jenkins's stepfather commissioned decades before the 2002 break in the case?", "What specific cognitive decline led the court to find Richmond incompetent to stand trial in 2002?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "PBS FRONTLINE Un(re)solved \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/carol-jenkins", "verified": true }, { "name": "African American Registry \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://aaregistry.org/story/the-murder-of-carol-m-jenkins-occurs/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "john-wesley-wilder", "caseNumber": "057", "name": "John Wesley Wilder", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1965, "age": 32, "gender": "male", "city": "Ruston", "county": "Lincoln", "state": "LA", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "John Wesley Wilder, 32, was shot five times and killed by Ruston Police Officer Edward Nugent outside a cafe on Jones Street around 2 a.m. on July 17, 1965. Nugent said he stopped to question Wilder and another Black man, Billy Williams, after hearing shouting from the group; when Wilder allegedly refused to give his name and a struggle followed, Nugent drew his pistol and fired. The Ruston Police Department said Wilder had attacked Nugent while resisting arrest, and a coroner's inquest \u2014 which the coroner said was based on interviews with unidentified officers and three Black witnesses \u2014 ruled the shooting justifiable self-defense; no charges were ever filed. Wilder's brother Emzie disputed the official account, saying witnesses described only about 15 bystanders present, far fewer than police suggested, and warned he would seek help from the NAACP and CORE if Ruston authorities failed to act. A 1965 civil suit by Wilder's family did not succeed. The FBI reopened the case in 2008 under the Emmett Till Act; after three years, during which the Bureau was unable to locate some potential witnesses and others could not recall the incident, the case was closed again in 2011 without further action.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the July 17, 1965 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file and PBS FRONTLINE's \u201cUn(re)solved\u201d case summary.", "Officer Edward Nugent was never charged; a coroner's inquest ruled the shooting justifiable self-defense, and the DOJ's 2011 review closed the case without further action." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Wilder actually attacked Nugent, as police claimed, was disputed by his family and community witnesses at the time.", "The exact number of bystanders present, and what they told investigators, was never made fully public." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific witnesses did the FBI's 2008\u20132011 review attempt to locate, and why were some unreachable?", "What became of the 1965 civil suit Wilder's family brought, and why did it not succeed?", "What records, if any, survive from the original coroner's inquest beyond the brief newspaper account?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/file/892376/dl", "verified": true }, { "name": "Type Investigations \u2014 \u201cA Death Ruled \u2018Justifiable\u2019: The Killing of John Wesley Wilder\u201d", "url": "https://www.typeinvestigations.org/investigation/2023/07/24/a-death-ruled-justifiable-the-killing-of-john-wesley-wilder/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "clinton-melton", "caseNumber": "058", "name": "Clinton Melton", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1955, "age": 33, "gender": "male", "city": "Glendora", "county": "Tallahatchie", "state": "MS", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Clinton Melton, 33, a gas station attendant and father of four, was shot and killed at the station where he worked in Glendora on December 3, 1955 \u2014 four months after Emmett Till was murdered twenty miles away, and in the same county. Melton had argued with a white customer, Elmer Otis Kimbell, over how much gas Kimbell had been pumped; a witness said Kimbell announced he was going home to get a shotgun and would return to kill Melton. The station owner told Melton to leave before Kimbell came back, but Kimbell returned first and shot Melton, who was unarmed and sitting in his own car, in the hand and head. Kimbell, who was using the car of his close friend J.W. Milam \u2014 one of the two men who had killed Till and been acquitted weeks earlier in the same courthouse \u2014 was tried for murder before another all-white Tallahatchie County jury and acquitted, despite the testimony of witnesses who saw the shooting and a doctor whose exam of Kimbell's own wound cast doubt on his self-defense claim. Less than three weeks after the shooting and just before the trial, Melton's widow Beulah drowned when her car went into Black Bayou with two of their children in the back seat; a family member said everyone in the community believed her car had been forced off the road. The DOJ's Civil Rights Division reviewed the case decades later and closed it, since Kimbell, by then deceased, had already stood trial and been acquitted at the state level.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the December 3, 1955 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file and PBS FRONTLINE's \u201cUn(re)solved\u201d case summary.", "Elmer Otis Kimbell was tried for murder and acquitted by an all-white jury; the DOJ's later review closed the case without further action since Kimbell was deceased and had already faced state trial." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever convicted in Melton's killing.", "The circumstances of Beulah Melton's fatal car crash, widely believed in the community to have been no accident, were never formally investigated as connected to her husband's case." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific evidence led the community to believe Beulah Melton's car had been deliberately forced off the road?", "What did the doctor's examination of Kimbell's shoulder wound actually establish about the sequence of the shooting?", "What connection, if any, did Kimbell's presence in J.W. Milam's car that day have to the broader circle involved in Till's murder?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/d9/144_40_2146_melton.pdf", "verified": true }, { "name": "PBS FRONTLINE Un(re)solved \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/clinton-melton/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "alonzo-tucker", "caseNumber": "059", "name": "Alonzo Tucker", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1902, "age": 28, "gender": "male", "city": "Coos Bay", "county": "Coos", "state": "OR", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Alonzo Tucker, 28, a married boxer who ran a small gym called the School of Physical Culture and also worked as a boot black and mail carrier, was lynched in Marshfield (now Coos Bay) on September 18, 1902, the day after a white woman accused him of assaulting her near the 7th Street bridge. Tucker was arrested without resistance that evening, but as word spread, an armed mob of as many as 200 men formed. While being moved to keep him from the mob, Tucker escaped and spent the night hiding under the town's docks. He was found the next day and shot; the mob then put a noose around his neck and began dragging him toward the site of the alleged assault, but he died of his wounds along the way. His body was hanged from a light pole on the bridge in broad daylight before roughly 300 spectators, none of them masked. Local newspapers described the mob approvingly and no one was ever indicted; Coos Bay's small Black community largely fled the area afterward out of fear. In 1974, a local newspaper reporter located and interviewed three elderly men who had witnessed the lynching as boys; all three said they believed Tucker's relationship with his accuser had actually been consensual. It remains the only documented lynching of a Black person in Oregon's history. A historical marker was dedicated at the site in 2021 following a multi-year memorialization effort.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the September 17\u201318, 1902 date and circumstances, per the Equal Justice Initiative's historical marker and the Oregon Remembrance Project.", "No one was ever indicted for the lynching; three eyewitnesses interviewed in 1974 said they believed the underlying relationship had been consensual, per the same sources." ], "unknown": [ "The identities of individual mob members were never formally investigated or prosecuted, despite the lynching occurring in broad daylight before hundreds of unmasked witnesses.", "What became of Tucker's accuser and her family, who left the area for California shortly after the lynching, was never documented." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific testimony did the three 1974 eyewitnesses give about the night of the lynching?", "What connection, if any, exists between this case and the 1924 killing of Timothy Pettis, another Black Marshfield resident found murdered in the same bay, which prompted the NAACP to publicly declare the town \u201cinfested with the Ku Klux Klan\u201d?", "What additional documentation survives in period newspaper archives beyond the accounts already collected?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Equal Justice Initiative \u2014 historical marker, \u201cLynching in Coos County\u201d", "url": "https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=176959", "verified": true }, { "name": "Oregon Remembrance Project \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://oregonremembrance.org/alonzo-tucker/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "timothy-pettis", "caseNumber": "060", "name": "Timothy Pettis", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1924, "age": null, "gender": "male", "city": "Coos Bay", "county": "Coos", "state": "OR", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Timothy Pettis, a Black resident of Marshfield (now Coos Bay) and a veteran of the all-Black 24th Infantry Regiment, was murdered and castrated in July 1924; his body was left in the waters of Coos Bay, the same body of water where Alonzo Tucker had been lynched twenty-two years earlier. Black community members in Marshfield and Portland, along with members of the NAACP, believed the Ku Klux Klan was responsible and offered rewards for information; the Portland NAACP publicly declared that \u201cMarshfield is infested with the Ku Klux Klan.\u201d Oregon is believed to have had the highest per-capita Klan membership of any state in the country during the 1920s, with the organization's influence reaching into city, county, and state government and law enforcement. No one was ever charged in Pettis's killing.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the July 1924 date and circumstances, per Oregon Historical Quarterly and OPB's \u201cOregon Experience\u201d documentary.", "Black community members and the NAACP publicly attributed the killing to the Klan and offered rewards for information; no one was ever charged, per the same sources." ], "unknown": [ "No suspect was ever identified or charged in Pettis's death.", "The full circumstances of how Pettis's body came to be found in the bay were not detailed in available public accounts." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific evidence led Black community members and the NAACP to attribute the killing to the Klan?", "What became of the reward offered for information in the case?", "What connection, if any, exists between this case and the broader pattern of Klan-linked violence documented elsewhere in Coos County during the 1920s?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Oregon Historical Quarterly \u2014 \u201cGendering White Supremacy\u201d by Kimberly Jensen", "url": "https://www.ohs.org/oregon-historical-quarterly/upload/Jensen-KKK_OHQ-125_1_spring-2024_web.pdf", "verified": true }, { "name": "OPB / Oregon Experience \u2014 \u201cOregon's Klan in the 1920s: The Rise of Hate\u201d", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/video/the-rise-of-hate-oregons-klan-in-the-1920s-uotkln/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "william-harvey", "caseNumber": "061", "name": "William \u201cSam Joe\u201d Harvey", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1883, "age": 35, "gender": "male", "city": "Salt Lake City", "county": "Salt Lake", "state": "UT", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "William \u201cSam Joe\u201d Harvey, about 35, an Army veteran who had recently arrived in Salt Lake City seeking work and set up a bootblack stand downtown, was lynched by a mob of up to 2,000 people on August 25, 1883, hours after his arrest. Harvey had argued with the owner of a restaurant over a job offer; when police arrived to investigate, Harvey reportedly fired a gun, killing Police Chief Andrew H. Burt and wounding another official. Officers took Harvey into custody and beat him severely at police headquarters \u2014 striking him, kicking him, and beating him with billy clubs, brass knuckles, and shackles \u2014 before a growing mob outside began chanting for him to be handed over. The Salt Lake Tribune itself reported at the time that police \u201cgave up their victim to the crowd, which proceeded to hang him.\u201d The mob beat Harvey further, hanged him from a shed's roof-beam near the jail, and when he tried to hold onto the rope to avoid strangling, a mob member kicked his hands loose. After he died, the mob cut down his body and dragged it through the streets until the mayor personally intervened and broke up the crowd. A coroner's jury convened that same afternoon and, despite the public, unmasked lynching, ruled that Harvey died \u201cby means of hanging with a rope by an infuriated mob whose names were to the jury unknown.\u201d No one was ever charged, including the officers who turned him over.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the August 25, 1883 date and circumstances, per the University of Utah's Marriott Library exhibit on racial lynching in Utah, drawing on contemporaneous newspaper accounts and a 1985 academic study of the case.", "A coroner's jury the same day ruled Harvey's killers \u201cunknown\u201d despite the lynching occurring in public before an unmasked mob; no one, including the complicit police officers, was ever charged." ], "unknown": [ "Harvey's exact birth name and background before arriving in Salt Lake City were never reliably documented; a man identifying himself as Harvey's half-brother told a local paper his birth name was Joseph Samuels, a native of Louisiana.", "The identities of individual mob participants, though numbering close to 2,000 and unmasked, were never formally investigated." ], "unanswered": [ "What became of the police officers who beat Harvey and then handed him to the mob \u2014 were any ever disciplined internally?", "What additional detail might the cited 1985 academic study by Larry Gerlach add beyond what the newspaper record shows?", "What connection, if any, exists between this case and the 1866 killing of Thomas Coleman, an earlier unsolved killing of a Black man in the same city?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library \u2014 \u201cRacial Lynching in Utah\u201d exhibit", "url": "https://exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/utah-lynching/page/william-sam-joe-harvey", "verified": true }, { "name": "Utah State Historical Society \u2014 \u201cAfrican Americans and Salt Lake's West Side\u201d", "url": "https://heritageandarts.utah.gov/african-americans-and-salt-lakes-west-side/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "thomas-coleman", "caseNumber": "062", "name": "Thomas Coleman", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1866, "age": 34, "gender": "male", "city": "Salt Lake City", "county": "Salt Lake", "state": "UT", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Thomas Coleman, about 34, a formerly enslaved man who worked as an attendant at The Salt Lake House hotel, was murdered on the night of December 10, 1866, on a hill overlooking the city that is now the site of the Utah State Capitol; his body, bludgeoned with a large rock and cut across the throat, was found the next morning near the U.S. Arsenal. A local newspaper reported Coleman had been \u201cfound in company of a white woman\u201d and speculated he was killed in revenge by a rival for her affection, framing the murder as retribution for crossing racial lines. A sign left on his body was cited by the Daily Union Vedette, a newspaper run by soldiers at nearby Fort Douglas, as evidence the killing had been planned in advance; the Vedette openly criticized the official investigation as inadequate. A coroner's jury nonetheless concluded that \u201csaid murder to the jury are unknown,\u201d and no one was ever held accountable. Despite being a member of the church that had once enslaved him, Coleman was buried in a pauper's field rather than a standard cemetery plot. In 2022, the University of Utah, the Sema Hadithi African American Heritage and Culture Foundation, and the Equal Justice Initiative held a joint soil-collection ceremony at Coleman's murder site and at the site where William \u201cSam Joe\u201d Harvey was lynched seventeen years later in the same city, memorializing both men together.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the December 10\u201311, 1866 date and circumstances, per the University of Utah's Marriott Library exhibits \u201cRacial Lynching in Utah\u201d and \u201cCentury of Black Mormons.\u201d", "A coroner's jury concluded Coleman's killers were \u201cunknown\u201d despite a contemporary newspaper's own skepticism of the investigation; no one was ever held accountable, per the same sources." ], "unknown": [ "The identity of the person or people responsible for Coleman's murder was never established.", "Whether the killing was actually motivated by a relationship with a white woman, as one contemporary newspaper speculated, or by some other cause, was never confirmed." ], "unanswered": [ "What did the sign left on Coleman's body actually say, and what became of it as physical evidence?", "Why did the coroner's jury reach a conclusion of \u201cunknown\u201d despite the Daily Union Vedette's public criticism of the investigation's thoroughness?", "What connection, if any, exists between this case and the 1883 lynching of William \u201cSam Joe\u201d Harvey in the same city?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library \u2014 \u201cRacial Lynching in Utah\u201d exhibit", "url": "https://exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/utah-lynching/page/thomas-coleman", "verified": true }, { "name": "University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library \u2014 \u201cCentury of Black Mormons\u201d exhibit", "url": "https://exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of-black-mormons/page/coleman-thomas", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "leonard-mccowin", "caseNumber": "063", "name": "Leonard McCowin", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1947, "age": 21, "gender": "male", "city": "Center", "county": "Shelby", "state": "TX", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Leonard McCowin, 21, a World War II Army veteran who worked on a farm and at a cafe in Center, was struck with the butt of a rifle by City Marshal Bryan McCallum on November 4, 1947, and died of the injury; his death certificate recorded the cause as homicide. A contemporaneous Black newspaper reported that McCallum had likely mistaken McCowin for his brother, who had recently been beaten by a mob following an altercation with a white man. The Shelby County sheriff required only a $2,500 bond from McCallum, and a grand jury investigated but declined to indict him; an attorney representing McCowin's family reported to the NAACP that jurors felt indicting McCallum \u201cwould give the Negroes too much leeway in that community.\u201d The FBI declined to investigate. In April 1948, McCowin's father Ezekiel, represented by attorney W.N. Harkness with NAACP support, filed a wrongful death civil suit against McCallum, his bondsman, and the city; a district court judge dismissed the case that November, reportedly due to a misspelling of McCallum's name in the court filing. McCowin's descendants have since sought a historical marker at the site; his sister, who was 12 when his body was brought home, was still alive as of a 2025 news account.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the November 4, 1947 date and circumstances, per the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board's official case file and contemporaneous NAACP investigative correspondence.", "City Marshal Bryan McCallum was investigated by a grand jury, which declined to indict him; a subsequent civil suit against him was dismissed in 1948, per the same records and 2025 reporting by Capital B News." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever criminally charged or held liable in McCowin's death.", "Whether McCallum genuinely mistook McCowin for his brother, as contemporaneous press reported, or acted for some other reason, was never resolved." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific reasoning led the grand jury to decline an indictment, beyond the attorney's secondhand account?", "Was the misspelling that led to the 1948 civil suit's dismissal an error, or a deliberate maneuver, and by whom?", "What became of the campaign by McCowin's descendants to have a historical marker placed at the site of his death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board \u2014 official case file", "url": "https://www.coldcaserecords.gov/content/cases/1947-11-04-leonard-mccowin/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Capital B News \u2014 \u201cTexas Man's Fight to Move a Lynching Marker Sparks New Battle for Truth\u201d", "url": "https://capitalbnews.org/texas-lynching-marker-black-history/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "felix-hall", "caseNumber": "064", "name": "Felix Hall", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1941, "age": 19, "gender": "male", "city": "Fort Benning", "county": "Chattahoochee", "state": "GA", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Pvt. Felix Hall, 19, a Black soldier from rural Alabama serving in the segregated 24th Infantry Regiment, disappeared at Fort Benning on the afternoon of February 12, 1941, after finishing a shift at the base sawmill and telling two friends he was heading to the Post Exchange \u2014 the only place on the segregated base where a Black soldier could get a hot meal. He never arrived. Six weeks later, an engineer unit found his body hanging from a tree in a ravine near the Chattahoochee River, his hands tied behind his back and his feet bound with baling wire. A military doctor ruled the death a homicide, but for four months the War Department and base authorities publicly suggested to the press that Hall may have died by suicide, contradicting their own examiner's finding, until the NAACP demanded a real investigation. The FBI and War Department identified suspects, including two military men, but never charged anyone, and appear to have ignored a report that Hall's white civilian supervisor at the sawmill had threatened to kill him the day before he disappeared. It remains the only known lynching to have occurred on a U.S. military base. The case went cold until 2014, when Northeastern University students began investigating it, leading to a 2016 Washington Post expos\u00e9 built on a previously undisclosed 130-page FBI file. In 2021, the Army dedicated a memorial plaque at Fort Benning; the plaque itself states that Hall's death was among the events that helped convince President Truman to order the full integration of the U.S. armed forces in 1948.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the February 12\u2013March 28, 1941 timeline, per the Washington Post's 2016 investigation and the U.S. Army's 2021 memorial plaque text.", "A military doctor ruled Hall's death a homicide; the FBI and War Department identified suspects but never charged anyone, per the same sources." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever charged or convicted in Hall's killing.", "Why the FBI and War Department did not pursue the reported threat from Hall's civilian supervisor, or fully investigate the two military suspects identified, was never explained in the released case file." ], "unanswered": [ "What additional detail does the full 130-page FBI file, first disclosed by the Washington Post in 2016, contain that has not yet been publicly analyzed?", "What became of the two military suspects the FBI identified but never charged?", "What connection did Army and War Department officials at the time see, if any, between Hall's case and the broader pattern of violence against Black servicemen during the era?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Washington Post \u2014 \u201cThe story of the only known lynching on a U.S. military base in American history\u201d", "url": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2016/09/02/the-story-of-the-only-known-lynching-on-a-u-s-military-base/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Army Times \u2014 \u201cFort Benning memorializes Black soldier lynched in 1941\u201d", "url": "https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2021/08/03/fort-benning-memorializes-black-soldier-lynched-80-years-ago-as-post-awaits-renaming-effort/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "dan-carter-sanders", "caseNumber": "065", "name": "Dan Carter Sanders", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1946, "age": 26, "gender": "male", "city": "Cleveland Township", "county": "Johnston", "state": "NC", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Dan Carter Sanders, 26, a married World War II veteran, was shot and killed on November 18, 1946, after a group of white men in Cleveland Township accused him and another man of stealing foxhounds from a local farm. The DOJ's file identifies the shooter as Robert \u201cBobby\u201d H. Johnson Jr., who was 16 years old at the time, and names his father, Robert H. Johnson Sr., along with three other men present, Russell Hatcher, Lester Phillips, and R.H. Stephenson, as subjects. No federal hate-crime law existed in 1946, and the statute of limitations on any potential criminal case had long since expired by the time the DOJ reviewed the case decades later; the Department also declined to refer the matter to North Carolina for state prosecution, citing the lack of any living subjects or likely surviving witnesses. All five men named in the file were deceased by the time it was closed on March 5, 2019.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the November 18, 1946 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file and PBS FRONTLINE's \u201cUn(re)solved\u201d case summary.", "The DOJ's file names five subjects, including the 16-year-old shooter, all reported deceased by the time of the 2019 closure; no one was ever charged." ], "unknown": [ "No criminal charges were ever filed against anyone in Sanders's death.", "Whether the underlying accusation of stealing foxhounds had any factual basis was never established." ], "unanswered": [ "What became of the local investigation, if any, conducted in 1946 at the time of the killing?", "Why the DOJ's file lists five named subjects present but does not specify each individual's role in the shooting itself.", "What, if any, records survive documenting how the incident was reported or discussed locally at the time?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "PBS FRONTLINE Un(re)solved \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/dan-carter-sanders/", "verified": true }, { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/dan-carter-sanders-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "charles-brown", "caseNumber": "066", "name": "Charles Brown", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1957, "age": 20, "gender": "male", "city": "Benton", "county": "Yazoo", "state": "MS", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Charles Brown, 20, a Black U.S. Air Force airman home on a month-long leave, was fatally shot in the heart at close range on June 18, 1957, while sitting at the dinner table of a neighboring family in Benton. He had accepted a dinner invitation from a white woman he had long known; her brother, 50-year-old farmer Raiford Walton, left the house, returned with a shotgun, and shot Brown, later telling investigators he believed Brown had gotten \u201ctoo friendly\u201d with his sister while he was out of town. Walton, who had a prior manslaughter conviction for killing his own son-in-law, called the police himself after the shooting and admitted to it; murder charges were filed, but a local grand jury declined to indict him. When the FBI reopened the case decades later under the Emmett Till Act, one witness alleged Walton had actually planned the killing in advance, luring Brown to the house after catching him \u201cin some action\u201d beforehand \u2014 though this could not be independently corroborated. Walton died in 1965, and the case was formally closed in 2010.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the June 18, 1957 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file and PBS FRONTLINE's \u201cUn(re)solved\u201d case summary.", "Raiford Walton admitted to the shooting and was charged with murder, but a local grand jury declined to indict him, per the same sources." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever convicted in Brown's death despite the shooter's own admission.", "Whether Walton planned the killing in advance, as one witness later alleged to the FBI, was never independently corroborated." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific evidence or testimony led the 1957 grand jury to decline an indictment despite Walton's admission?", "What became of the witness who told the FBI decades later that Walton had planned the killing, and what more did they know?", "Why did no local or state authority maintain surviving records of the case by the time of the FBI's 2008 review?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "PBS FRONTLINE Un(re)solved \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/charles-brown/", "verified": true }, { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/charles-brown", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "willie-countryman", "caseNumber": "067", "name": "Willie Countryman", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1958, "age": 32, "gender": "male", "city": "Dawson", "county": "Terrell", "state": "GA", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Willie \u201cWootie\u201d Countryman, 32, a Black Army veteran and truck driver, was shot and killed in his own backyard in Dawson just after 1:30 a.m. on May 25, 1958. Dawson Police officers Weyman Cherry and Robert Hancock said they had entered Countryman's yard to investigate a noise, and claimed Countryman attacked Cherry with a knife; Cherry shot him in the stomach, and he died at the hospital. Countryman's girlfriend, who had been talking with him moments before, and other family and friends disputed the officers' account at every point. A coroner's inquest the next day acquitted Cherry, ruling he had acted in self-defense. It was Cherry's second fatal or near-fatal use of force against a Black resident within a matter of weeks \u2014 he had fatally beaten another Black man, James Brazier, about a month earlier, and would go on to serve as Dawson's police chief for a decade afterward. Terrified Black residents organized under the name \u201cLaw, Justice, Order\u201d and sent an urgent plea for outside help, writing, \u201cWe can't hold these people much longer.\u201d The FBI investigated but found no living subjects by the time of a later federal review, and the case was formally closed in 2009.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the May 25, 1958 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file, the Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project at Emory University, and PBS FRONTLINE's \u201cUn(re)solved\u201d case summary.", "A coroner's inquest acquitted Officer Weyman Cherry the day after the shooting, ruling it self-defense; the same officer had fatally beaten another Black man about a month earlier, per the same sources." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever criminally held accountable for Countryman's death.", "Countryman's girlfriend and other community members directly disputed the officers' account of the confrontation, and that conflict was never resolved through any trial." ], "unanswered": [ "What became of the James Brazier case, the fatal beating by the same officer roughly a month earlier?", "Why was Cherry permitted to remain on the force, and later become police chief, despite two fatal or near-fatal incidents with Black residents in such close succession?", "What response, if any, did the FBI give to the Law, Justice, Order group's urgent 1958 appeal for help?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project, Emory University \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://coldcases.emory.edu/willie-countryman/", "verified": true }, { "name": "PBS FRONTLINE Un(re)solved \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/willie-countryman", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "donald-raspberry", "caseNumber": "068", "name": "Donald Raspberry", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1965, "age": 19, "gender": "male", "city": "Okolona", "county": "Chickasaw", "state": "MS", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Donald Raspberry, 19, was shot and killed inside the home of his employer, Garland H. \u201cDick\u201d Anderson, in Okolona on February 27, 1965. Anderson said he had come to suspect someone was breaking into his house and stayed home that day to catch the thief; he claimed that when Raspberry removed a window screen and entered, he shot him in self-defense. Anderson was the only known witness to the shooting. He was charged by the state, and at a preliminary hearing in Chickasaw County Justice Court a week later, he maintained his self-defense account. No further prosecution followed. The DOJ's Civil Rights Division reviewed the case decades later and closed it in 2010 after determining Anderson had since died.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the February 27, 1965 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file and PBS FRONTLINE's \u201cUn(re)solved\u201d case summary.", "Garland Anderson was charged by the state and gave a self-defense account at a preliminary hearing; no further prosecution occurred, per the same sources." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Anderson's account of Raspberry breaking into the house was accurate was never tested at trial.", "Why the case did not proceed beyond the preliminary hearing stage was not fully documented in the available record." ], "unanswered": [ "What became of the case after the March 1965 preliminary hearing, and why did it not advance further?", "What did the removed back porch window screen, cited as evidence of a break-in, actually indicate about the sequence of events?", "What additional local investigative records, if any, survive from 1965?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "PBS FRONTLINE Un(re)solved \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/donald-raspberry/", "verified": true }, { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/donald-raspberry-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "william-henry-lee", "caseNumber": "069", "name": "William Henry Lee", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1965, "age": null, "gender": "male", "city": "Goshen Springs", "county": "Rankin", "state": "MS", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "William Henry Lee was last seen leaving his job at the Storkline Factory in Jackson at 11:30 p.m. on February 24, 1965, during a night of rain and snow, on his way home to Goshen Springs roughly an hour away. He never arrived; his body was found beside a road the following afternoon, fully clothed with only a small amount of blood on his lip and no other visible injury. A flashlight matching one Lee normally kept in his car was found nearby. The Rankin County Sheriff's Department moved his car before it could be examined for evidence, and his body was embalmed after only a 15-minute coroner's inquest, before any autopsy could be performed. A civil rights organization later complained that a second autopsy, conducted after embalming, listed the cause of death as strangulation, likely from inhaling gasoline \u2014 a finding that conflicted with the original examiner's report of no visible injury. The complaint also noted that Lee had attended civil rights meetings. Neither the original local investigation nor a later FBI inquiry found evidence of a civil rights violation, and the case was closed without identifying a suspect.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the February 24\u201325, 1965 timeline, per the DOJ's public case file.", "A civil rights organization's contemporaneous complaint alleged investigative failures, including the car being moved before evidence collection and embalming occurring before a full autopsy, per the same file." ], "unknown": [ "The cause of death itself is disputed between two conflicting post-mortem examinations.", "No suspect was ever identified in the case." ], "unanswered": [ "Why do the two post-mortem examinations \u2014 one finding no visible injury, the other citing strangulation from gasoline inhalation \u2014 conflict so directly?", "What specifically happened to Lee between leaving his job at 11:30 p.m. and his body being found the next afternoon?", "What became of the Scott County Movement's April 1965 complaint requesting a federal investigation?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/william-henry-lee-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "ed-smith", "caseNumber": "070", "name": "Ed Smith", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1958, "age": null, "gender": "male", "city": "State Line", "county": "Wayne", "state": "MS", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Ed Smith was fatally shot in the chest in the front yard of his own home in State Line on April 27, 1958, by his neighbor, Lawrence David Clark. Smith's wife, Daisy Bell Smith, witnessed the shooting. The NAACP's Medgar Evers personally urged prosecution. Clark was arrested, and at a preliminary hearing was released on a $5,000 bond pending a grand jury hearing. Two weeks later, a local grand jury declined to indict him. According to contemporaneous news reports, Clark later bragged openly about the shooting. He died in 1992, decades before the DOJ formally closed the file in 2009.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the April 27, 1958 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file and PBS FRONTLINE's \u201cUn(re)solved\u201d case summary.", "Lawrence David Clark was arrested and released on bond, but a grand jury declined to indict him two weeks later; contemporaneous reports say he later bragged about the killing, per the same sources." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever convicted in Smith's death.", "The specific underlying dispute between Smith and Clark, as neighbors, was never fully documented in the surviving record." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific evidence or testimony led the 1958 grand jury to decline an indictment despite an eyewitness?", "What became of Medgar Evers's personal involvement in pushing for prosecution?", "What did the contemporaneous reports of Clark \u201cbragging\u201d about the shooting actually describe, and who reported them?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "PBS FRONTLINE Un(re)solved \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/ed-smith/", "verified": true }, { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/ed-smith-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "lamar-smith", "caseNumber": "071", "name": "Lamar Smith", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1955, "age": 63, "gender": "male", "city": "Brookhaven", "county": "Lincoln", "state": "MS", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Lamar \u201cDitney\u201d Smith, 63, a World War I veteran, farmer, and voter registration organizer with the Regional Council of Negro Leadership, was shot to death on the lawn of the Lincoln County courthouse in Brookhaven at around 10 a.m. on August 13, 1955, while helping other Black residents complete absentee ballots ahead of a runoff election. He was killed in broad daylight before dozens of witnesses, including the local sheriff, who watched a blood-covered white man walk away from the scene without arresting him; it took eight days before three white men \u2014 Noah Smith, Mack Smith, and Charles Falvey \u2014 were arrested. A state grand jury heard from as many as 75 witnesses in September 1955 but adjourned without returning any indictment, after witnesses who had stood within 30 feet of the killing told the panel they had seen nothing. Decades later, an FBI interview suggested Smith may have been deliberately lured to the courthouse. Smith's killing was cited in the NAACP's own 1955 pamphlet documenting racial violence in Mississippi, alongside the killings of Rev. George Lee and Emmett Till. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History approved a historical marker for Smith in 2026.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the August 13, 1955 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file, PBS FRONTLINE's \u201cUn(re)solved\u201d case summary, and the Equal Justice Initiative.", "Three men were arrested but never indicted after a September 1955 grand jury heard dozens of witnesses and adjourned without action, per the same sources." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever convicted in Smith's killing.", "Whether Smith was deliberately lured to the courthouse, as one witness later suggested to the FBI decades afterward, was never independently confirmed." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did dozens of witnesses who stood close to the killing tell the grand jury they saw nothing?", "What became of the local notary public who said he was warned to stop assisting Black voters \u201clest he wind up like Ditney Smith\u201d?", "What additional detail does Keith Beauchamp's documentary film on the case add beyond the official record?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "PBS FRONTLINE Un(re)solved \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/lamar-smith", "verified": true }, { "name": "Equal Justice Initiative \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/aug/13", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "joseph-dumas", "caseNumber": "072", "name": "Joseph Dumas", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1962, "age": 19, "gender": "male", "city": "Perry", "county": "Taylor", "state": "FL", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Joseph Dumas, 19, was fatally shot by Taylor County Constable Henry Sauls during a traffic stop on May 5, 1962. Dumas's own family members, who witnessed the shooting, told investigators that Sauls shot him in the back while Dumas stood still with his hands raised. Sauls gave a different account, saying he was removing a switchblade from Dumas's pocket when Dumas lunged at him and the gun discharged accidentally. A local grand jury declined to indict Sauls later that year, but he was separately tried in federal court under the federal civil rights statute and acquitted in September 1962. Sauls died in 1974. The DOJ's Civil Rights Division reopened the case under its Cold Case Initiative in 2008 and closed it again in 2010.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the May 5, 1962 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file.", "Constable Henry Sauls was tried in federal court under 18 U.S.C. \u00a7 242 and acquitted in September 1962, after a local grand jury had already declined to indict him, per the same file." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever convicted in Dumas's death despite two separate legal proceedings.", "The directly conflicting accounts \u2014 Dumas's family describing an execution-style shooting of a compliant, unarmed man, versus Sauls's claim of an accidental discharge during a struggle \u2014 were never resolved." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific evidence was presented at the 1962 federal trial that led to Sauls's acquittal?", "What became of the switchblade Sauls said he was removing from Dumas's pocket at the time of the shooting?", "What additional detail, if any, survives in Taylor County's own local investigative records from 1962?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/file/949606/dl", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "vincent-dahmon", "caseNumber": "073", "name": "Vincent Dahmon", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1966, "age": 65, "gender": "male", "city": "Natchez", "county": "Adams", "state": "MS", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Vincent Dahmon, 65, of Natchez, was shot and killed by Ku Klux Klan members during the period of the 1966 \u201cMarch Against Fear,\u201d the roughly 220-mile walk from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi that James Meredith began to encourage Black voter registration and that continued after he was shot and wounded on its second day. Dahmon's killing first came to the FBI's attention not through a contemporaneous police investigation, but through a 1966 article by Lincoln Lynch, then a national director of the Congress of Racial Equality, describing it to fellow CORE members. No specific suspects were ever identified. When the DOJ's Civil Rights Division reopened the case decades later, the FBI contacted Mississippi state agencies, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the NAACP, the Mississippi Crime Laboratory, and local newspapers, and issued a public press release seeking information; nothing further surfaced, and the case was closed in 2010.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the general 1966 timeframe of the killing, per the DOJ's public case file, drawing on a contemporaneous CORE publication.", "No suspects were ever identified, despite an extensive later FBI outreach campaign including a public press release, per the same file." ], "unknown": [ "No specific date, location details, or suspects for the killing were ever documented beyond the general connection to the March Against Fear.", "Why local law enforcement at the time did not generate any investigative record that survived to the DOJ's later review was never explained." ], "unanswered": [ "What additional detail, if any, does the original 1966 CORE article by Lincoln Lynch contain beyond what the DOJ's file cites?", "Why did contemporaneous Natchez or Adams County authorities apparently keep no investigative record of the killing?", "What connection, if any, exists between this case and the broader wave of Klan violence in the Natchez area documented elsewhere in this archive, including the Silver Dollar Group's activities in the same period?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/file/953461/dl", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "jimmie-lee-jackson", "caseNumber": "074", "name": "Jimmie Lee Jackson", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1965, "age": 26, "gender": "male", "city": "Marion", "county": "Perry", "state": "AL", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Jimmie Lee Jackson, 26, was fatally shot in the abdomen by Alabama State Trooper James Bonard Fowler on the night of February 18, 1965, in Marion, after state troopers broke up a nighttime civil rights march and chased demonstrators into nearby businesses. Jackson had gone into a caf\u00e9 trying to protect his mother and elderly grandfather from being beaten by troopers when he was shot at close range; he died eight days later of an abdominal infection from the wound. Fowler was not charged for more than four decades, until a grand jury indicted him for murder in 2007. In 2010, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter and served roughly six months in jail \u2014 the only conviction the Emmett Till Act's cold case review process has produced since the law was signed in 2008. Jackson's death directly inspired the Selma to Montgomery march that began three weeks later, which state troopers violently broke up on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in an event that became known as Bloody Sunday.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the February 18\u201326, 1965 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file and extensive contemporaneous and historical reporting.", "James Bonard Fowler was indicted for murder in 2007 and pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2010, serving roughly six months \u2014 the only conviction the Emmett Till Act's review process has produced to date." ], "unknown": [ "Why Fowler was never charged for more than four decades after the shooting was never fully explained in the public record.", "The full circumstances inside the caf\u00e9 in the moments before the shooting were disputed between Fowler's account and witness statements." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did it take until 2007 for a grand jury to indict Fowler, and what specific new evidence or pressure led to that outcome?", "What connection does Jackson's death have to the broader chain of events, including Bloody Sunday, that followed three weeks later?", "What became of the other troopers present at the caf\u00e9 that night, and were any of them ever investigated?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/jimmie-lee-jackson-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "thomas-brewer", "caseNumber": "075", "name": "Dr. Thomas Brewer", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1956, "age": null, "gender": "male", "city": "Columbus", "county": "Muscogee", "state": "GA", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Dr. Thomas Brewer, a prominent Black physician and founder of the Columbus NAACP chapter, was fatally shot on the evening of February 18, 1956, inside the F&B Department Store owned by Luico Flowers. Tension between the two men had been building for years; Brewer had asked Flowers to report a white police officer's arrest of a Black man in front of Flowers's store as excessive force, which Flowers refused to do, and Brewer had separately threatened to organize a boycott of the store after Flowers declined to support a candidate Brewer favored in a city commission race. Flowers said he shot Brewer when Brewer reached into his pocket as though drawing a gun. The shooting was investigated locally by the Columbus Police Department and presented to a Muscogee County grand jury. No one was ever convicted.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the February 18, 1956 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file.", "Luico Flowers acknowledged shooting Brewer and claimed self-defense; the matter was presented to a local grand jury, per the same file." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Brewer actually reached for a weapon, as Flowers claimed, was never resolved.", "The specific outcome of the Muscogee County grand jury's review of the case was not detailed in the available public record." ], "unanswered": [ "What testimony did the grand jury actually hear, and why did it not result in an indictment?", "What became of the underlying police brutality complaint Brewer had asked Flowers to help report?", "What connection, if any, existed between this case and the broader campaign against NAACP organizing in Georgia during the period?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/thomas-brewer-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "ernest-jells", "caseNumber": "076", "name": "Ernest Jells", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1963, "age": 21, "gender": "male", "city": "Clarksdale", "county": "Coahoma", "state": "MS", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Ernest Jells, 21, was shot and killed by Clarksdale Police Department Lieutenant Henry Petty and Patrolman B.F. Moore Jr. on September 20, 1963. According to contemporaneous local newspaper coverage, Jells had been accused of trying to steal bananas from a grocery store; the store owner's son confronted him and a scuffle followed, during which officers said Jells reached back as though to grab a weapon. No one was ever charged in connection with his death. The DOJ's Civil Rights Division closed the case in 2010, after confirming both officers were deceased.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the September 20, 1963 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file, drawing on contemporaneous Clarksdale Press Register coverage.", "No one was ever charged in Jells's death; both officers involved were confirmed deceased by the time of the DOJ's 2010 closure, per the same file." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Jells actually reached for a weapon, as the officers claimed, was never independently confirmed.", "The full circumstances of the confrontation inside the store before Jells was shot were not fully documented beyond the officers' own account." ], "unanswered": [ "What did the store owner's son's account of the initial confrontation actually establish?", "Why no formal charges were ever pursued against either officer at the time?", "What additional local investigative or coroner's records, if any, survive from 1963?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/ernest-jells-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "benjamin-brown", "caseNumber": "077", "name": "Benjamin Brown", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1967, "age": null, "gender": "male", "city": "Jackson", "county": "Hinds", "state": "MS", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Benjamin Brown was fatally shot during unrest connected to a civil rights protest in Jackson on May 11, 1967. Initial eyewitnesses identified Jackson Police Department Major Anthony \u201cBuddy\u201d Kane Sr. as the shooter, while other witnesses said the shooters were not in police uniform but wearing white shirts, pointing toward Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol detectives who were also on the scene that night. A later ballistics analysis found that the buckshot pellets recovered from Brown's fatal head wound and body matched ammunition used by the Highway Safety Patrol, not the type carried by Jackson police, leading investigators to conclude decades later that Brown's shooter was most likely a Highway Safety Patrol officer rather than a city officer, effectively clearing the originally accused JPD officers. No one was ever charged, and all identified subjects were confirmed deceased by the time the DOJ closed the case.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the May 11, 1967 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file.", "A later ballistics analysis of the recovered buckshot pointed toward a Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol officer rather than the Jackson Police Department officer originally accused by eyewitnesses, per the same file; no one was ever charged." ], "unknown": [ "The specific individual who fired the fatal shot was never conclusively identified, despite the ballistics analysis narrowing the likely agency involved.", "Why witnesses' original identification of a Jackson police officer as the shooter conflicted so directly with the later ballistics findings was never fully resolved." ], "unanswered": [ "Who were the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol officers present at the scene the ballistics analysis pointed toward, and were any of them ever directly questioned?", "What became of the original 1967 Jackson Police Department investigation before it was reopened decades later?", "What broader protest or unrest was occurring in Jackson that night, and what connection did it have to the citywide tensions of the period?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/benjamin-brown-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "larry-payne", "caseNumber": "078", "name": "Larry Payne", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1968, "age": 16, "gender": "male", "city": "Memphis", "county": "Shelby", "state": "TN", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Larry Payne, 16, was fatally shot with a shotgun by a Memphis police officer on the afternoon of March 28, 1968, during widespread unrest connected to the city's sanitation workers' strike \u2014 the same strike that had brought Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis, where he was assassinated exactly one week later. Payne had been seen removing televisions from a Sears store amid the disorder; an officer pursued him on foot to a housing complex, where Payne entered a basement boiler room. The officer said that when Payne partially opened the door, he raised one hand but kept a knife in his lowered other hand, and that he fired in self-defense, striking Payne once in the abdomen. Hours earlier, Payne had been photographed elsewhere in the city watching an officer strike his friend with a baton. A large, hostile crowd gathered at the scene of the shooting. No one was ever charged.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the March 28, 1968 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file.", "No criminal charges were ever filed against the officer involved, per the same file." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Payne actually held a knife in a threatening manner, as the officer claimed, was never independently tested at trial.", "The full sequence of events inside the boiler room, witnessed only by Payne and the officer, was never independently corroborated." ], "unanswered": [ "What became of the photograph taken of Payne hours before the shooting, and what broader context does it provide about that day's unrest?", "What connection, if any, did local officials at the time draw between this shooting and the escalating tensions that preceded Dr. King's assassination one week later?", "What internal Memphis Police Department review, if any, followed the shooting?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/larry-payne-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "herbert-lee", "caseNumber": "079", "name": "Herbert Lee", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1961, "age": 52, "gender": "male", "city": "Liberty", "county": "Amite", "state": "MS", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Herbert Lee, 52, a farmer and NAACP voter-registration organizer who worked closely with SNCC activist Bob Moses, was shot and killed at Westbrook's Cotton Gin in Liberty on September 25, 1961, by Mississippi state representative E.H. Hurst. Hurst said the two men argued over a debt and that Lee swung a tire iron at him, prompting Hurst to strike him with a pistol, which discharged and killed him. A coroner's inquest, held inside the cotton gin office within an hour of the shooting, found Hurst acted in self-defense; witnesses, including Lee's friend Louis Allen, corroborated Hurst's account under oath. Two justices of the peace subsequently declined to send the case to a grand jury, and Hurst was released the same day he was charged. Louis Allen later told the FBI he had lied at the inquest out of fear, and that Lee had not actually threatened Hurst. Allen was harassed for years afterward and was murdered in 1964, shortly before he planned to leave Mississippi \u2014 a killing documented separately in this archive.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the September 25, 1961 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file.", "A coroner's inquest and two justices of the peace concluded Hurst acted in self-defense and declined to refer the case to a grand jury; the corroborating witness, Louis Allen, later told the FBI he had lied out of fear, per the same file." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Lee actually threatened Hurst with a tire iron, as multiple witnesses testified under oath at the time, was directly contradicted by at least one of those same witnesses years later.", "No one was ever convicted in Lee's death." ], "unanswered": [ "What specifically caused Louis Allen to recant his corroborating testimony to the FBI, and what protection, if any, was he offered in exchange?", "What connection exists between this case and Louis Allen's own unsolved 1964 murder, committed after he began cooperating with federal investigators?", "What became of the other witnesses who testified alongside Allen at the original 1961 inquest?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/herbert-lee", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "samuel-younge-jr", "caseNumber": "080", "name": "Samuel Younge Jr.", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1966, "age": 21, "gender": "male", "city": "Tuskegee", "county": "Macon", "state": "AL", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Samuel Younge Jr., 21, a Navy veteran, civil rights activist, and freshman at Tuskegee Institute, was fatally shot beneath the left eye by 68-year-old gas station attendant Marvin Segrest just before midnight on January 3, 1966, after an argument over Younge's use of a whites-only restroom. Segrest was arrested the next day, indicted for second-degree murder by a Macon County grand jury, and released on $20,000 bond. His shooting set off a demonstration in Tuskegee attended by roughly 2,000 students and faculty. At trial in December 1966, forensic testimony indicated the fatal shot had been fired from several feet away, contradicting any claim of a close struggle. An all-white jury in Lee County acquitted Segrest after deliberating for 71 minutes.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the January 3, 1966 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file.", "Marvin Segrest was indicted for second-degree murder and tried, but was acquitted by an all-white jury after 71 minutes of deliberation in December 1966, per the same file." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever convicted in Younge's death.", "The medical examiner's finding that the fatal shot came from several feet away was never reconciled with any account of a close physical struggle." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific evidence or arguments led the jury to acquit despite the forensic distance findings?", "What became of the roughly 2,000-person demonstration's broader effect on civil rights organizing at Tuskegee Institute?", "What additional trial transcript detail, if any, has been preserved beyond the summary in the DOJ's file?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/marvin-l-segrest-samuel-l-younge-jr-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "isaiah-taylor", "caseNumber": "081", "name": "Isaiah Taylor", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1964, "age": null, "gender": "male", "city": "Ruleville", "county": "Sunflower", "state": "MS", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Isaiah Taylor, who had a documented history of mental health problems, was shot and killed on the side of Highway 49 near Ruleville on the afternoon of June 26, 1964, by Mississippi Highway Patrol Patrolman Robert Wallace. Wallace said he and a local constable were searching for an escaped state penitentiary inmate when they came upon Taylor standing beside the road, covering his face with his hands. According to Wallace's account, when he approached and questioned him, a confrontation followed that ended in the shooting. No independent civilian witnesses to the encounter were ever identified. No charges were ever filed against Wallace, and the case was closed decades later after the DOJ determined both Wallace and the constable present were deceased.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the June 26, 1964 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file.", "No independent civilian witnesses to the shooting were ever identified, and no charges were filed against Patrolman Robert Wallace, per the same file." ], "unknown": [ "The specific sequence of events between Wallace's approach and the shooting itself rests entirely on Wallace's own account.", "Whether Taylor's documented mental health history played any role in the encounter was never independently examined." ], "unanswered": [ "What became of the escaped penitentiary inmate Wallace and the constable were reportedly searching for that day?", "Why were no independent witnesses to the roadside encounter ever located, given the highway setting?", "What internal Mississippi Highway Patrol review, if any, followed the shooting?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/file/950762/dl", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "maceo-snipes", "caseNumber": "082", "name": "Maceo Snipes", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1946, "age": 37, "gender": "male", "city": "Butler", "county": "Taylor", "state": "GA", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Maceo Snipes, 37, a World War II veteran who had fought in New Guinea, was shot in the back on July 18, 1946, one day after becoming the first and only Black resident of Taylor County to vote in that year's Georgia Democratic primary, despite explicit threats from the Ku Klux Klan and a public warning from a former governor that \u201cwise Negroes will stay away from the white folks' ballot boxes.\u201d Four white men, led by Edward Williamson, drove to the farmhouse where Snipes lived with his mother and grandfather and called him outside; Williamson shot him and the men drove away. Snipes died two days later after the hospital treating him said no blood was available for a needed transfusion. A coroner's jury acquitted Williamson on a self-defense claim, despite Snipes's own deathbed statement and his mother's witness testimony contradicting it. Fearing retaliation, the family buried him secretly at night in a grave whose location remains unknown to his surviving relatives, and much of the family fled the county. Snipes's killing, alongside the Moore's Ford lynchings that occurred in Georgia just one week later, prompted a young Morehouse College student, Martin Luther King Jr., to write a public letter condemning the state's racial violence. No one was ever held accountable.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the July 17\u201320, 1946 timeline, per the DOJ's public case file, PBS FRONTLINE's \u201cUn(re)solved\u201d case summary, and the Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project at Emory University.", "A coroner's jury acquitted Edward Williamson on a self-defense claim on July 29, 1946, despite contradicting deathbed and eyewitness testimony; no one was ever held accountable, per the same sources." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever convicted in Snipes's death.", "The exact location of Snipes's grave, buried secretly at night out of fear for the family's safety, remains unknown even to his surviving relatives." ], "unanswered": [ "What did the FBI's investigation, requested by the DOJ after Williamson's acquittal, ultimately establish?", "What connection, if any, exists between this case and Isaiah Nixon's killing two years later in nearby Montgomery County, documented separately in this archive \u2014 both killings tied to voting, both resulting in acquittals, both driving surviving families out of the region?", "What became of the 2006 push by the NAACP and the Prison & Jail Project for a renewed federal investigation?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "PBS FRONTLINE Un(re)solved \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/maceo-snipes/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project, Emory University \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://coldcases.emory.edu/maceo-snipes/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "james-earl-motley", "caseNumber": "083", "name": "James Earl Motley", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1966, "age": 27, "gender": "male", "city": "Wetumpka", "county": "Elmore", "state": "AL", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "James Earl Motley, 27, died from head injuries in the Elmore County jail around 3:30 a.m. on November 20, 1966, hours after Deputy Harvey Conner stopped the car he was riding in for a traffic violation. When Motley told Conner he lacked jurisdiction because the stop had occurred in a different county, Conner ordered him out of the car; witnesses said Conner then struck Motley repeatedly in the head with a slapjack, and that state troopers who arrived as backup held Motley by the arms while he was beaten. Conner took the bleeding Motley to the county jail, where local authorities said he fell twice and struck his head before losing consciousness. An autopsy found multiple skull fractures and brain hemorrhage; a coroner concluded the fatal injury could have come from the beating, the falls, or some combination, and classified the death as \u201caccidental.\u201d A state grand jury declined to indict Conner on a homicide charge in January 1967. He was separately tried in federal court for violating Motley's civil rights; an all-white jury with one Black member returned a not-guilty verdict on April 12, 1967.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the November 20, 1966 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file and PBS FRONTLINE's \u201cUn(re)solved\u201d case summary.", "A state grand jury declined to indict Deputy Harvey Conner, and a subsequent federal jury acquitted him in April 1967; the coroner classified Motley's death as accidental, per the same sources." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever held criminally accountable for Motley's death.", "Whether the fatal head injury resulted from the beating, the falls at the jail, or some combination was never conclusively determined." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific testimony from the two incarcerated men who carried Motley into his cell was presented at either the grand jury or the federal trial?", "What became of the state troopers who reportedly held Motley by the arms during the beating?", "What additional detail, if any, survives in the original 1966 Alabama Department of Public Safety investigative file?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "PBS FRONTLINE Un(re)solved \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/james-earl-motley/", "verified": true }, { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/james-earl-motley-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "thad-christian", "caseNumber": "084", "name": "Thad Christian", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1965, "age": 54, "gender": "male", "city": "Anniston", "county": "Calhoun", "state": "AL", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Thad Christian, 54, was fatally shot in the abdomen with a shotgun on August 30, 1965, while fishing with a friend at a creek in the rural community of Central City, west of Anniston. Robert Haynes, 41, had earlier told the two men to leave the area without saying whether he owned the property, then returned and shot Christian as they loaded their fishing gear into their car. Haynes was arrested and charged with murder, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to five years at a prison camp; how much of that sentence he actually served was not documented. Haynes died in a car accident three years later, in 1968. When the FBI reopened the case decades afterward, it found most surviving local records had been damaged by water and were illegible; one salvaged 1965 file noted a claim that several other Black men had also been at the creek that afternoon, a detail never further investigated.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the August 30, 1965 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file and PBS FRONTLINE's \u201cUn(re)solved\u201d case summary.", "Robert Haynes pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to five years, a fraction of the murder charge originally filed; he died in 1968, per the same sources." ], "unknown": [ "How much of his five-year sentence Haynes actually served before his 1968 death was never documented.", "The identities of the other Black men reportedly present at the creek that afternoon, referenced in a 1965 FBI file, were never established." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was a murder charge reduced to first-degree manslaughter, and what plea negotiation led to that outcome?", "Who were the other men reportedly at the creek, and might any of them have left surviving accounts?", "What became of the original Calhoun County court records before they were damaged beyond legibility?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "PBS FRONTLINE Un(re)solved \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/thad-christian/", "verified": true }, { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/thad-christian-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "isaiah-henry", "caseNumber": "085", "name": "Isaiah Henry", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1954, "age": 38, "gender": "male", "city": "Greensburg", "county": "St. Helena Parish", "state": "LA", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "Isaiah Henry, 38, a school bus driver and farmer who helped his Black neighbors prepare for voter registration tests, was found severely beaten on the side of a road in St. Helena Parish on July 28, 1954, one day after he voted in the Democratic primary. Unidentified men had called on him that morning and he left with them; he was later taken to a hospital in New Orleans. In early August 1954, sheriff's office deputies arrested a local police juror, Lester Hornsby, and a sheriff's deputy, Carl Womak, on charges of simple kidnapping and attempted murder; Womak had been the deputy assigned to the polling place where Henry voted. A contemporaneous news article quoted the assistant district attorney saying the two men were held because he believed they knew something about the beating, but no record indicates either man was ever indicted. Local jail logbooks, arrest warrants, and prosecutorial files from the case no longer exist. One of Henry's sons later said his father was likely beaten because of his political involvement.", "known": [ "Victim identity, background, and the July 27\u201328, 1954 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file, drawing on a 2007 article in The Advocate.", "Lester Hornsby and Carl Womak were arrested on kidnapping and attempted murder charges in connection with the case, but no record indicates either was ever indicted, per the same file." ], "unknown": [ "No one was ever convicted in connection with Henry's beating.", "The full circumstances of his abduction that morning, and what happened to him before he was found on the roadside, were never documented." ], "unanswered": [ "Why were Hornsby and Womak never indicted despite being arrested and held specifically because officials believed they knew something about the beating?", "What became of the original St. Helena Parish jail logbooks and investigative files before they were lost?", "What connection, if any, existed between Henry's beating and his broader work helping neighbors prepare for voter registration tests?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/isaiah-henry-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "john-earl-reese", "caseNumber": "086", "name": "John Earl Reese", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1955, "age": 16, "gender": "male", "city": "Mayflower", "county": "Rusk", "state": "TX", "caseSeries": null, "summary": "John Earl Reese, 16, was shot and killed on the night of October 22, 1955, while dancing with his cousins in a caf\u00e9 in Mayflower, a small Black community near Longview. Perry Dean Ross, driving roughly 85 miles per hour, fired nine shots from a rifle into the caf\u00e9 window as his car passed; Reese was killed, and two of his cousins were wounded. The same night, gunmen fired into at least one other home in the area where Black residents lived. The attacks were tied to local anger over a bond election to build a new school for Black children following the Brown v. Board of Education decision; Ross later admitted his anger over the new school had \u201ca great deal\u201d to do with the shooting. The local sheriff initially refused to investigate, insisting Black residents were responsible for their own community's shooting. Texas Rangers eventually interviewed over 300 people and identified Ross and a second man, Joe Simpson, both of whom confessed. Simpson's charges were dropped in exchange for his testimony against Ross, who was convicted of murder in April 1957 and given a two-to-five-year sentence that was immediately suspended; Simpson later pleaded guilty to the same charge and received an identical suspended sentence. Neither man served any time in prison.", "known": [ "Victim identity and the October 22, 1955 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file and extensive contemporaneous and historical reporting.", "Perry Dean Ross and Joe Simpson both confessed and were convicted, but both received fully suspended sentences and served no prison time, per the same sources." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the other shootings that same night at additional homes were connected to the same group of men was never conclusively established.", "The full scope of who else may have been involved in planning the night's attacks beyond Ross and Simpson was never investigated." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the local sheriff initially refuse to investigate despite the shooting's obvious severity?", "What became of the broader dispute over the new school's location that the Texas Rangers identified as the underlying motive?", "Why were fully suspended sentences considered appropriate for two confessed killers in a case the district attorney himself urged the jury to punish severely?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 Notice to Close File", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/john-earl-reese", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Dallas Morning News \u2014 \u201cFBI takes new look at white men's killing of black teen in 1955\u201d", "url": "https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2010/02/09/fbi-takes-new-look-at-white-men-s-killing-of-black-teen-in-1955/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21", "dateAdded": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "frank-andrews", "caseNumber": "087", "name": "Frank Andrews", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1964, "age": 27, "gender": "male", "city": "Lisman", "county": "Choctaw County", "state": "AL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Frank Andrews, 27, was shot in the back and killed on November 28, 1964 outside Smith's Caf\u00e9 in Lisman, Alabama, by Quinnie Donald, a white Choctaw County sheriff's chief deputy. Donald and another deputy said they were at the caf\u00e9, which served the local Black community, investigating illegal whiskey; Donald claimed Andrews advanced on a fellow deputy with a knife, a claim disputed by witness accounts. A local grand jury declined to indict, and no one was ever prosecuted for his death.", "known": [ "Victim identity, age, and the November 28, 1964 shooting outside Smith's Caf\u00e9 in Lisman, per the Department of Justice's Cold Case closing memorandum.", "The shooter, sheriff's chief deputy Quinnie Donald, was publicly identified in the DOJ memo and in FBI records reviewed by PBS Frontline's Unresolved project.", "A local grand jury declined to indict Donald in 1964, and no state or federal charges were ever brought." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Andrews in fact drew a knife, as Donald claimed, is disputed \u2014 the three eyewitnesses identified in 1964 gave factually inconsistent accounts, per the DOJ memo.", "In a 2008 re-interview under the Till Act, Donald reportedly gave an account of the shooting that conflicted with what he told investigators in 1964; the full substance of that shift is not detailed in the public record." ], "unanswered": [ "What specifically changed between Donald's 1964 and 2008 accounts of the shooting, and why?", "Why did the three 1964 eyewitness accounts conflict, and was that inconsistency investigated further at the time?", "What led the FBI and DOJ to close the reopened case in 2013 without prosecution, given the disputed record?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division \u2014 Frank Andrews closing memorandum", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/frank-andrews-notice-close-file", "verified": true }, { "name": "PBS Frontline \u2014 \u201cUnresolved\u201d, Frank Andrews case profile", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/unresolved/cases/frank-andrews/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Alabama Reflector \u2014 \u201cNo justice in 1964 slaying by sheriff's deputy\u201d", "url": "https://www.alreporter.com/2026/06/05/no-justice-in-1964-slaying-by-sheriffs-deputy/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "alexis-patterson", "caseNumber": "088", "name": "Alexis Patterson", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "missing_persons", "year": 2002, "age": 7, "gender": "female", "city": "Milwaukee", "county": "Milwaukee County", "state": "WI", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "victimPhotos": [ { "url": "https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/alexis-s.-patterson/@@images/image/large", "caption": "Alexis S. Patterson", "credit": "FBI" } ], "summary": "Alexis Patterson, 7, disappeared on the morning of May 3, 2002 after her stepfather walked her to a crosswalk roughly half a block from Hi-Mount Community School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and a crossing guard escorted her across the street. She never arrived in her first-grade classroom; classmates later reported seeing her crying on the playground before and after the school day. Her disappearance prompted one of the largest search efforts in Milwaukee police history, but no arrests have ever been made and Alexis has never been found.", "known": [ "Victim identity, age, and the May 3, 2002 disappearance near Hi-Mount Community School, per the FBI's public case listing and the Milwaukee Police Department.", "Her stepfather told police he watched her cross the street toward the school playground before he walked home; the school reported she never attended class that day.", "The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to her return, and the FBI continues to list her as an open case." ], "unknown": [ "What happened to Alexis between being seen on the playground and her confirmed absence from class has never been publicly established.", "No suspect has ever been officially named by police.", "Full results of the searches of the Milwaukee River and other sites are not comprehensively public." ], "unanswered": [ "What, if anything, did the reported 2003 John Doe investigation \u2014 never officially confirmed by police \u2014 establish?", "What has the Milwaukee Police Department's cold case unit found in its ongoing review, if anything?", "Why does a documented gap remain between witness accounts of Alexis's morning and her confirmed disappearance?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Federal Bureau of Investigation \u2014 Alexis S. Patterson case listing", "url": "https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/alexis-s.-patterson", "verified": true }, { "name": "Milwaukee Police Department, via Solve the Case \u2014 official case narrative", "url": "https://www.solvethecase.org/case/2002-11/alexis-patterson", "verified": true }, { "name": "WUWM (Milwaukee NPR) \u2014 \u201cMilwaukee Police Department is still looking for Alexis Patterson, 20 years later\u201d", "url": "https://www.wuwm.com/2022-05-03/milwaukee-police-department-is-still-looking-for-alexis-patterson-20-years-later", "verified": true }, { "name": "NamUs \u2014 Missing Person Case #MP3071", "url": "https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP3071", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "nacomie-freeman", "caseNumber": "089", "name": "Nacomie Freeman", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2004, "age": 24, "gender": "female", "city": "Phoenix", "county": "Maricopa County", "state": "AZ", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Nacomie Freeman, 24, was shot in the stomach and pushed out of a moving truck in the 1600 block of West Denton Avenue in Phoenix, Arizona, on June 24, 2004. Witnesses reported seeing her pushed from a dark-colored, late-1990s-model short-bed truck; she was pronounced dead at the scene. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has said investigators developed some leads but have never made an arrest.", "known": [ "Victim identity, age, and the June 24, 2004 date and location, per the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and Project Cold Case's case record.", "Witnesses reported the truck she was pushed from as a dark-colored, late-1990s-model short-bed truck with the partial license plate letters \u201cJ, T, L,\u201d per contemporaneous reporting." ], "unknown": [ "No arrest has ever been made.", "The relationship, if any, between Freeman and the occupants of the truck has not been publicly disclosed.", "The full license plate and the truck's owner or driver have never been publicly identified." ], "unanswered": [ "What specific leads have investigators developed, and why have they not resulted in an arrest?", "Has the truck described by witnesses ever been located or identified?", "What, if anything, has advances in forensic technology contributed to the case since 2004?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, via Project Cold Case \u2014 case record and spotlight", "url": "https://projectcoldcase.org/victim-detail/nacomie-freeman-351/", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Arizona Republic \u2014 \u201cKiller sought in death of Phoenix woman\u201d (2004)", "url": "https://www.newspapers.com/article/arizona-republic/200158960/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "quincy-booker", "caseNumber": "090", "name": "Quincy Booker", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2011, "age": 36, "gender": "male", "city": "Albuquerque", "county": "Bernalillo County", "state": "NM", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Quincy Booker, 36, was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting near the intersection of Arno Avenue and Santa Fe Avenue Southeast in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on July 17, 2011. Witnesses said four men got out of a blue Dodge Neon and opened fire, hitting him more than a dozen times, next to a church filled with people on a Sunday. The attackers fled immediately, and the case has remained unsolved since.", "known": [ "Victim identity, age, and the July 17, 2011 shooting near Arno Avenue and Santa Fe Avenue SE, per the Albuquerque Police Department's case record via Project Cold Case.", "Witnesses described four men exiting a blue Dodge Neon and firing on Booker before fleeing." ], "unknown": [ "No arrest has ever been made.", "The identities of the four men described by witnesses have not been publicly disclosed.", "The motive for the shooting has not been made public." ], "unanswered": [ "What, if anything, connected Booker to the men who attacked him?", "Has the blue Dodge Neon described by witnesses ever been identified or located?", "What leads, if any, have Albuquerque police developed since 2011?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Albuquerque Police Department, via Project Cold Case \u2014 case record", "url": "https://projectcoldcase.org/victim-detail/quincy-booker-1863/", "verified": true }, { "name": "KOAT \u2014 \u201cMan gunned down in SE Albuquerque, police say\u201d (2011)", "url": "https://www.koat.com/article/man-gunned-down-in-se-albuquerque-police-say/5036927", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "julius-dubouse", "caseNumber": "091", "name": "Julius Dubouse", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1998, "age": 45, "gender": "male", "city": "Anchorage", "county": null, "state": "AK", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Julius Dubouse, 45, died in Anchorage, Alaska in the early morning hours of December 3, 1998, after an accelerant was thrown through the back window of his residence. The Anchorage Police Department's Cold Case Section, whose mission is to systematically review unsolved deaths in its jurisdiction, lists his death among its open homicide investigations. No arrest has ever been made.", "known": [ "Victim identity, age, and the December 3, 1998 date of death, per Anchorage Police Department case records.", "An accelerant was thrown through the back window of his residence in the early morning hours, per those same records." ], "unknown": [ "No arrest has ever been made.", "The specific circumstances connecting Dubouse to whoever targeted his residence have not been publicly disclosed.", "The full APD case narrative and any named persons of interest are not publicly available beyond the case summary." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was Dubouse's residence targeted specifically?", "What leads, if any, has the Anchorage Police Department's Cold Case Section developed in the 25+ years since?", "Has the case been reviewed using forensic methods unavailable in 1998?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Anchorage Police Department, via Crime Solvers Central \u2014 case summary", "url": "https://crimesolverscentral.com/state/alaska", "verified": true }, { "name": "Anchorage Police Department \u2014 Violent Crimes / Cold Case Section", "url": "https://www.anchoragepolice.com/violent-crimes", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "kierre-davies", "caseNumber": "092", "name": "Kierre Davies", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2022, "age": 27, "gender": "male", "city": "Fargo", "county": "Cass County", "state": "ND", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Kierre Davies, 27, was shot and killed alongside his friend and fellow rapper, 28-year-old Jaquan Gatewood, in the early morning hours of November 19, 2022, outside a house near the North Dakota State University campus in Fargo. Both men were at a gathering at the home; neither lived there. Police say everyone involved knew each other and have said there is no danger to the public, but more than a year later no arrest has been made and the case remains open.", "known": [ "Victim identity, age, and the November 19, 2022 shooting near NDSU, per Fargo Police Department statements and local news coverage.", "Davies and Gatewood, both local rappers, were shot together at a gathering neither of them hosted; police say the men involved were known to each other.", "A search warrant later revealed a gun was found in Gatewood's hand at the scene, and an officer noted \u201csignificant evidence\u201d was missing." ], "unknown": [ "No arrest has ever been made.", "Police have not said whether Davies had a weapon near him at the scene.", "The specific sequence of events \u2014 including whether the two men's deaths were connected to a rap rivalry, as some in the community speculated \u2014 has not been publicly established; police have said they don't believe rivalry played a role." ], "unanswered": [ "What was the missing \u201csignificant evidence\u201d referenced in the search warrant, and has it since been recovered?", "What specific forensic results (e.g. on the weapons involved) are investigators still waiting on, as referenced in 2023 coverage?", "Why did detectives conclude no one at the gathering was a stranger to the others, and does that conclusion still hold?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "InForum \u2014 \u201cWarrant: Gun found in hand of slain local rapper at double-homicide scene near NDSU\u201d", "url": "https://www.inforum.com/news/fargo/warrant-gun-found-in-hand-of-slain-local-rapper-at-double-homicide-scene-near-ndsu", "verified": true }, { "name": "InForum \u2014 \u201cOne year later, double homicide near NDSU campus remains unsolved\u201d", "url": "https://www.inforum.com/news/fargo/one-year-later-double-homicide-near-ndsu-campus-remains-unsolved", "verified": true }, { "name": "City of Fargo \u2014 Fargo Police Department press conference summary", "url": "https://fargond.gov/news-events/city-news-room/post-detail?id=637c02cb77e6027243d8665b", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "emmett-till", "caseNumber": "093", "name": "Emmett Till", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1955, "age": 14, "gender": "male", "city": "Money", "county": "Leflore County", "state": "MS", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Emmett Till, 14, of Chicago, was abducted from his great-uncle's home near Money, Mississippi, on August 28, 1955, and beaten, shot, and thrown into the Tallahatchie River after Carolyn Bryant, a white woman working at a local store, accused him of grabbing her and making sexual advances. Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, her husband and brother-in-law, were tried for murder and acquitted by an all-white jury within about an hour; months later, protected by double jeopardy, they confessed to the killing in a paid magazine interview. Neither man was ever punished, and no one has ever been convicted in the case. Till's mother's decision to hold an open-casket funeral, and photographs of his mutilated body published in Jet magazine, helped galvanize the civil rights movement.", "known": [ "Till's abduction, the accusation by Carolyn Bryant, and the murder itself, per contemporaneous 1955 trial testimony and reporting.", "Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam were tried for murder and acquitted by an all-white jury in September 1955, a verdict reached quickly.", "Months after the acquittal, protected from further prosecution by double jeopardy, Bryant and Milam confessed to the killing in a paid interview with Look magazine.", "The U.S. Department of Justice reopened the investigation twice (2004 and 2018) and closed it both times without new charges, most recently in December 2021, citing insufficient evidence to prove Carolyn Bryant Donham had lied to the FBI about a later-alleged recantation.", "In 2022, Till family researchers discovered an unserved 1955 arrest warrant for Donham (then named as \u201cMrs. Roy Bryant\u201d) in the Leflore County courthouse basement; a Leflore County grand jury heard the case that August and declined to indict her on kidnapping or manslaughter charges.", "Bryant and Milam are both dead. Donham died in Louisiana on April 25, 2023, having never been charged in the case." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Till in fact touched or spoke inappropriately to Bryant, or whether her account was accurate, has never been independently established \u2014 accounts from witnesses who were with Till that day differ from hers.", "Bryant and Milam described the killing in their paid 1956 confession, but that account has never been tested by cross-examination or an actual conviction, and its full accuracy is unverified.", "Whether Carolyn Bryant Donham identified Till to Bryant and Milam on the night of the abduction, as some witnesses alleged, versus attempting to intervene, as she claimed in a later unpublished memoir, was never resolved by the 2022 grand jury." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was the 1955 arrest warrant for Donham never served, when police reportedly knew her location for at least part of the time?", "What specifically did the 2022 Leflore County grand jury find insufficient in the evidence against Donham, given the additional decades of investigation and the since-discovered warrant?", "Were there other participants in the abduction or killing beyond Bryant, Milam, and Donham who were never identified or charged?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 closing statement on the Emmett Till investigation (2021)", "url": "https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/7/us-justice-dept-closes-re-opened-emmett-till-lynching-case", "verified": true }, { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cEmmett Till death: Grand jury declines to indict Carolyn Bryant Donham\u201d (2022)", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/09/us/emmett-till-carolyn-bryant-no-indictment-reaj/index.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Mississippi Free Press \u2014 \u201cCarolyn Bryant Donham... Dies at 88\u201d (2023)", "url": "https://www.mississippifreepress.org/carolyn-bryant-donham-whose-accusations-led-to-emmett-tills-lynching-dies-at-88/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "malcolm-x", "caseNumber": "094", "name": "Malcolm X", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1965, "age": 39, "gender": "male", "city": "New York", "county": "New York County", "state": "NY", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Malcolm X, 39, was shot and killed while delivering a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan on February 21, 1965. Talmadge Hayer (also known as Mujahid Abdul Halim) was caught at the scene and confessed to being one of the shooters; he, along with Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam, were convicted of murder in 1966. Aziz and Islam always maintained their innocence, and in November 2021 a joint reinvestigation by the Manhattan District Attorney's office and the men's attorneys resulted in both convictions being vacated, citing withheld exculpatory evidence. Hayer had named four other men as participants in a 1978 affidavit, but that information was never used to reopen the case at the time, and no one beyond Hayer has ever been properly convicted of the killing.", "known": [ "The shooting and Hayer's capture and confession at the scene, per contemporaneous 1965 police and trial records.", "Aziz, Islam, and Hayer were convicted of murder in 1966.", "In a 1977\u201378 affidavit, Hayer stated that Aziz and Islam were not involved and separately named four other men he said helped plan and carry out the killing; a judge at the time declined to reopen the case on that basis, per the Innocence Project.", "In November 2021, the Manhattan DA's office moved to vacate Aziz's and Islam's convictions after a reinvestigation found the FBI and NYPD had withheld evidence likely to have changed the trial's outcome; both men were exonerated, Islam posthumously.", "New York City and State later paid Aziz and Islam's estate a combined $36 million in settlements over the wrongful convictions." ], "unknown": [ "The identities of the men Hayer named in his 1978 affidavit beyond Hayer himself have never resulted in any prosecution.", "Whether or how federal and city law enforcement's own conduct around the investigation \u2014 including withheld evidence cited in the 2021 reinvestigation \u2014 affected the outcome has not been fully accounted for publicly.", "No one beyond Hayer has ever been properly convicted and had that conviction stand for the killing." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was Hayer's 1978 affidavit naming other participants never used to reopen the investigation at the time?", "What specific evidence did the FBI and NYPD withhold from the original 1966 trial, and why?", "Will any of the men named in Hayer's affidavit ever face investigation or charges?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NPR \u2014 \u201cThe men exonerated in the Malcolm X killing will receive $36 million\u201d (2022)", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2022/10/31/1132757141/the-men-exonerated-in-the-malcolm-x-killing-will-receive-36-million", "verified": true }, { "name": "Innocence Project, via WilmerHale \u2014 \u201cJustice Overdue: Reinvestigating the Murder of Malcolm X\u201d", "url": "https://www.wilmerhale.com/en/insights/blogs/in-the-public-interest/20230307-justice-overdue-reinvestigating-the-murder-of-malcolm-x", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cTwo men convicted [in the] killing of Malcolm X expected [to be] exonerated\u201d (2021)", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/two-men-convicted-killing-malcom-x-expected-exonerated-rcna5891", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "fred-hampton", "caseNumber": "095", "name": "Fred Hampton", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1969, "age": 21, "gender": "male", "city": "Chicago", "county": "Cook County", "state": "IL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Fred Hampton, 21, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, was shot and killed in his bed during a pre-dawn raid on his Chicago apartment on December 4, 1969, carried out by a tactical unit assembled by Cook County State's Attorney Edward Hanrahan in coordination with the FBI. Fellow Panther Mark Clark was also killed. A coroner's inquest initially ruled the deaths justifiable homicide, but a 13-year civil lawsuit brought by survivors and the victims' families produced evidence of FBI involvement, including an informant who supplied a floor plan of the apartment marking Hampton's bed. The case ended in a 1982 settlement, not a criminal conviction: no officer, agent, or official involved in the raid was ever criminally charged or convicted for the deaths.", "known": [ "The raid, the deaths of Hampton and Clark, and the initial \u201cjustifiable homicide\u201d coroner's ruling, per contemporaneous 1969\u201370 records.", "FBI informant William O'Neal, who had infiltrated the Chicago Black Panther Party, supplied federal agents a floor plan of the apartment that marked the location of Hampton's bed, per documents surfaced in the subsequent civil litigation and later congressional review.", "The Church Committee's 1975 Senate investigation found the FBI's COINTELPRO program had used improper and, in the committee's words, dangerous tactics against domestic political organizations including the Black Panther Party.", "In 1982, the City of Chicago, Cook County, and the federal government settled the survivors' and families' civil lawsuit for $1.85 million, split evenly three ways, without formally admitting wrongdoing; the plaintiffs' attorney called it an admission of a conspiracy between the FBI and Hanrahan's men.", "No officer, agent, or official involved in the raid was ever criminally charged or convicted for the deaths of Hampton or Clark." ], "unknown": [ "The full extent of the FBI's direct role in planning the raid, beyond the floor plan supplied by O'Neal, has never been fully accounted for in a criminal proceeding.", "Independent autopsy findings showed a dangerous level of barbiturates in Hampton's bloodstream despite initial toxicology tests finding none; how that discrepancy arose has never been resolved.", "Which individual officer fired the shots described by witnesses as killing Hampton at close range after he was already down has never been established in any criminal finding." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did initial toxicology tests on Hampton's body differ from the independent autopsy's finding of barbiturates?", "Why was no officer, agent, or official ever criminally charged, despite the civil case's findings?", "What redactions remain in FBI files related to the raid, and what do they conceal, as attorneys for the plaintiffs have continued to allege decades later?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Encyclopaedia Britannica \u2014 \u201cFred Hampton Facts\u201d", "url": "https://www.britannica.com/facts/Fred-Hampton", "verified": true }, { "name": "HISTORY \u2014 \u201cThe 1969 Raid That Killed Black Panther Leader Fred Hampton\u201d", "url": "https://www.history.com/articles/black-panther-fred-hampton-killing", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Real News Network \u2014 interview with civil rights attorney Jeff Haas, \u201cWill it ever be held accountable?\u201d", "url": "https://therealnews.com/the-government-murdered-fred-hampton-will-it-ever-be-held-accountable", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "amadou-diallo", "caseNumber": "096", "name": "Amadou Diallo", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1999, "age": 23, "gender": "male", "city": "New York", "county": "Bronx County", "state": "NY", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Amadou Diallo, 23, an unarmed immigrant from Guinea, was shot and killed just after midnight on February 4, 1999 outside his Bronx apartment building by four plainclothes NYPD Street Crime Unit officers, who fired 41 rounds, 19 of which struck him. The officers said they believed Diallo, who was reaching for his wallet, matched the description of a rape suspect and that they mistook the wallet for a gun. A Bronx grand jury indicted all four officers on second-degree murder and other charges; the trial was moved to Albany, and on February 25, 2000, the jury acquitted all four of every charge. The Department of Justice later found insufficient evidence to bring federal charges. No one has ever been held criminally responsible for Diallo's death.", "known": [ "The shooting, the 41 rounds fired, and the 19 that struck Diallo, per the Bronx grand jury indictment and trial record.", "The four officers \u2014 Sean Carroll, Edward McMellon, Kenneth Boss, and Richard Murphy \u2014 were indicted on second-degree murder and other charges, tried in Albany after a change of venue, and acquitted of all charges on February 25, 2000.", "The U.S. Department of Justice separately reviewed the case and found insufficient evidence to bring federal civil rights charges.", "The city of New York settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Diallo's family for $3 million, without admitting liability.", "The NYPD's Street Crime Unit, to which all four officers belonged, was disbanded in 2002 following the case." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Diallo made any movement that could reasonably have been mistaken as reaching for a weapon, versus simply retrieving his wallet as he had been asked, was disputed at trial and never resolved beyond the acquittal.", "Eyewitness Sherrie Elliott testified that officers continued firing after Diallo had already fallen; that account was not accepted by the jury as sufficient to convict.", "No individual officer has ever been identified as bearing greater responsibility than the others for the number of rounds fired." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the jury \u2014 which included Black jurors \u2014 find the officers' account of mistaking a wallet for a gun sufficient to acquit on all charges, including lesser counts like reckless endangerment?", "What specific evidence did the Department of Justice find insufficient for federal civil rights charges?", "What became of each of the four officers' careers after the acquittal, and were any ever disciplined internally beyond retraining?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "HISTORY \u2014 \u201cAmadou Diallo killed by police\u201d", "url": "https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/amadou-diallo-killed-by-police-new-york-city", "verified": true }, { "name": "NY1 \u2014 \u201cMarking 25 years since the killing of Amadou Diallo\u201d (2024)", "url": "https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/public-safety/2024/02/02/marking-25-years-since-the-killing-of-amadou-diallo", "verified": true }, { "name": "EBSCO Research Starters \u2014 \u201cDiallo shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/diallo-shooting", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "sean-bell", "caseNumber": "097", "name": "Sean Bell", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2006, "age": 23, "gender": "male", "city": "Queens", "county": "Queens County", "state": "NY", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Sean Bell, 23, was shot and killed by NYPD undercover officers in Jamaica, Queens in the early morning hours of November 25, 2006 \u2014 the day he was to be married. Officers fired 50 rounds at Bell and his two friends, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman, as the men left Bell's bachelor party; no weapon was ever recovered from the vehicle. Detectives Gescard Isnora and Michael Oliver were charged with manslaughter and Detective Marc Cooper with reckless endangerment. In April 2008, a judge acquitted all three of every charge, ruling that prosecutors had not proven their actions were unjustified. Federal prosecutors declined to bring civil rights charges. No one has ever been held criminally responsible for Bell's death.", "known": [ "The shooting, the 50 rounds fired, and that no weapon was found in the vehicle, per contemporaneous investigation and trial records.", "Detectives Michael Oliver (31 shots), Gescard Isnora (11 shots), and Marc Cooper (4 shots) were the officers charged; two other officers who also fired were never charged, per trial testimony.", "Justice Arthur Cooperman acquitted all three defendants of every charge on April 25, 2008, stating the prosecution had not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers' actions were unjustified.", "Federal prosecutors reviewed the case and declined to bring civil rights charges against any of the officers involved.", "The city of New York settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Bell's family for $3.25 million." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Bell's car in fact struck an officer (Isnora), as the defense argued, in a manner that justified the volume of gunfire that followed remains disputed \u2014 the judge found the officers' account more credible, but the prosecution's witnesses gave a different version.", "Why two additional officers who fired shots at the scene were never criminally charged has not been publicly explained in detail.", "What became of the disciplinary proceedings against the involved officers, delayed for years after the acquittal, has received limited public follow-up." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the judge find the officers' account \u201cmore credible\u201d despite conflicting witness testimony from Bell's surviving friends?", "What specific findings led federal prosecutors to decline civil rights charges after the state acquittal?", "What was the outcome of the long-delayed internal NYPD disciplinary trial for the involved officers?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NPR \u2014 \u201cSean Bell Verdict Shakes New York\u201d (2008)", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2008/04/28/89993589/sean-bell-verdict-shakes-new-york", "verified": true }, { "name": "ABC7 New York \u2014 \u201cSean Bell shooting: NYPD Officers found Not Guilty\u201d", "url": "https://abc7ny.com/archive/6101602/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Democracy Now! \u2014 \u201cFollowing Acquittal of NYPD Officers in Sean Bell Killing...\u201d", "url": "https://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/28/following_acquittal_of_nypd_officers_in", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "trayvon-martin", "caseNumber": "098", "name": "Trayvon Martin", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2012, "age": 17, "gender": "male", "city": "Sanford", "county": "Seminole County", "state": "FL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Trayvon Martin, 17, was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, inside a gated community in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012. Martin was unarmed, walking back from a convenience store. Zimmerman, who had called police to report Martin as suspicious before following him, claimed he acted in self-defense during a physical altercation. Unlike most cases in this archive, this one did reach trial: charges were filed after weeks of public pressure, and a jury acquitted Zimmerman of second-degree murder and manslaughter in July 2013. The county medical examiner's report is unambiguous on the underlying facts \u2014 Martin died of a gunshot wound to the chest, and the manner of death is listed as homicide. This case is classified here as Unresolved \u2014 No Conviction, not Unsolved: the distinction matters, since a full trial did take place and its outcome is a matter of public record, unlike the majority of cases in this archive where no charges were ever filed at all. The U.S. Department of Justice separately investigated and did not bring federal civil rights charges. No one has ever been held criminally responsible for Martin's death.", "known": [ "The shooting and Martin's death, per the Sanford Police Department investigation and subsequent trial record.", "The Seminole County Medical Examiner's Office found Martin died of a gunshot wound to the chest, with manner of death listed as homicide \u2014 a factual, forensic finding distinct from the jury's later legal verdict on Zimmerman's culpability.", "Zimmerman had called police non-emergency lines to report Martin as suspicious and followed him despite being told by a dispatcher that doing so was not necessary, per the recorded call played at trial.", "Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder more than six weeks after the shooting, following public pressure and the appointment of a special prosecutor.", "An all-women jury acquitted Zimmerman of both second-degree murder and manslaughter on July 13, 2013, after roughly 16 hours of deliberation \u2014 a full trial that reached a final verdict, unlike the majority of cases in this archive where no charges were ever filed.", "The U.S. Department of Justice investigated separately for potential federal civil rights violations and ultimately did not bring charges." ], "unknown": [ "The specific sequence of the physical altercation between Zimmerman and Martin \u2014 including who initiated contact \u2014 was disputed at trial and never independently established beyond the acquittal.", "Whether racial assumptions specifically motivated Zimmerman's decision to follow Martin has never been legally established, though it was central to public debate about the case.", "Full details of the DOJ's federal civil rights review, including what evidence it considered insufficient, have not been made public in detail." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was Zimmerman not charged for over six weeks after the shooting, and what specifically changed to prompt the eventual charge?", "What evidence did the Department of Justice's federal review weigh, and why did it conclude charges were not warranted?", "How did Florida's \u201cStand Your Ground\u201d law shape the investigation and prosecution's strategy, even though Zimmerman's defense ultimately did not formally invoke a Stand Your Ground hearing?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cGeorge Zimmerman found not guilty of murder in Trayvon Martin's death\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/13/justice/zimmerman-trial", "verified": true }, { "name": "NPR \u2014 \u201cJury Acquits Zimmerman Of All Charges\u201d", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/07/13/201744637/jury-in-zimmerman-trial-enters-second-day-of-deliberation", "verified": true }, { "name": "Al Jazeera \u2014 \u201cZimmerman acquitted of Trayvon Martin murder\u201d", "url": "https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2013/7/14/zimmerman-acquitted-of-trayvon-martin-murder", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "freddie-gray", "caseNumber": "099", "name": "Freddie Gray", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2015, "age": 25, "gender": "male", "city": "Baltimore", "county": null, "state": "MD", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Freddie Gray, 25, suffered a fatal spinal cord injury while in the back of a Baltimore Police transport van after his arrest on April 12, 2015, and died a week later. The city medical examiner ruled his death a homicide. Six officers were criminally charged, with counts ranging from misconduct in office to second-degree \u201cdepraved heart\u201d murder. Four officers went to trial: three were acquitted by a judge and one trial ended in a hung jury. Prosecutors then dropped all remaining charges against the other officers in July 2016, securing no convictions. The U.S. Department of Justice separately reviewed the case and declined federal prosecution. No one has ever been convicted in Freddie Gray's death.", "known": [ "Gray's arrest, the injury sustained in the police van, and his death a week later, per the Baltimore Police Department and the state's attorney's charging documents.", "The city medical examiner ruled the death a homicide.", "Six officers \u2014 Caesar Goodson, William Porter, Garrett Miller, Edward Nero, Brian Rice, and Alicia White \u2014 were criminally charged in May 2015.", "Of the four officers who went to trial, three (Nero, Goodson, and Rice) were acquitted by Judge Barry Williams in bench trials, and one (Porter) ended in a mistrial after a hung jury.", "In July 2016, Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby dropped all remaining charges against the other officers, stating she still believed the death was a homicide but could not secure a conviction.", "The U.S. Department of Justice reviewed the case for federal civil rights charges and declined to prosecute, per its own public statement." ], "unknown": [ "The specific point at which Gray's spinal injury occurred during transport, and which officer's actions or inaction caused it, was never established to a court's satisfaction in any of the trials.", "Whether the failure to seatbelt Gray in the van, as prosecutors alleged, was department policy in practice versus a documented violation specific to these officers, was disputed at trial.", "Full findings of the Montgomery County Police Department's internal administrative investigation, which recommended discipline for some officers, were not made fully public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was the prosecution unable to secure a conviction on any of the six officers despite the medical examiner's homicide ruling?", "What specific evidence did the Department of Justice find insufficient for federal civil rights charges?", "What ultimately came of the internal disciplinary findings against individual officers, several of whom continued or advanced their careers within the department afterward?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 \u201cFederal Officials Decline Prosecution in the Death of Freddie Gray\u201d", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/federal-officials-decline-prosecution-death-freddie-gray", "verified": true }, { "name": "ABC News \u2014 \u201cCharges Dismissed Against Baltimore Police Officers in Freddie Gray Case\u201d", "url": "https://abcnews.com/US/charges-dismissed-baltimore-police-officers-freddie-gray-case/story?id=40922140", "verified": true }, { "name": "NPR \u2014 \u201cBaltimore Police promotes Alicia White, officer involved in Freddie Gray's death\u201d (2024)", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2024/02/14/1231225553/alicia-white-baltimore-police-promotion-freddie-gray-death", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "breonna-taylor", "caseNumber": "100", "name": "Breonna Taylor", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 26, "gender": "female", "city": "Louisville", "county": "Jefferson County", "state": "KY", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Breonna Taylor, 26, an emergency room technician, was shot and killed by Louisville Metro Police officers executing a no-knock search warrant at her apartment shortly after midnight on March 13, 2020. The warrant was later found to have been based on falsified information. Taylor's boyfriend, believing intruders had broken in, fired a shot that struck an officer; police returned more than 30 rounds, killing Taylor. A local grand jury declined to charge any officer for her death. The U.S. Department of Justice later brought federal civil rights charges against four current and former officers; only one, Brett Hankison, was convicted, for firing blindly into the apartment \u2014 not for killing Taylor, since his shots never struck her. No one has ever been charged with, or convicted of, causing Taylor's death itself.", "known": [ "The raid, the warrant, and Taylor's death, per Louisville Metro Police Department records and the subsequent federal investigation.", "A Jefferson County grand jury in September 2020 declined to charge any officer with Taylor's death; one officer, Hankison, was indicted only on charges of endangering her neighbors, and was acquitted of those state charges at trial in 2022.", "In 2022, the FBI arrested and the DOJ federally charged four current and former officers with civil rights violations connected to the raid and the falsified warrant.", "Hankison was convicted by a federal jury in November 2024 on one count of violating Taylor's civil rights for firing 10 shots blindly through a covered window; the jury separately cleared him of a charge involving her neighbors.", "The Department of Justice's own sentencing memo, filed under a later administration, stated Hankison \u201cdid not shoot Ms. Taylor and is not otherwise responsible for her death,\u201d and recommended a one-day sentence; the judge sentenced him to roughly 33 months instead.", "No officer has ever been charged with or convicted of causing Taylor's death." ], "unknown": [ "Which specific officer's bullet caused Taylor's fatal wounds has never been the basis of any criminal charge.", "The full extent of what individual officers knew about the falsified warrant application before the raid was disputed across the various proceedings.", "The outcomes of the other federally charged officers' cases, including one whose state charges were dismissed by a federal judge in 2026, remain only partially resolved." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the local grand jury decline to charge any officer with Taylor's death itself, and what evidence was or was not presented to it?", "Why has no officer ever been charged specifically with causing Taylor's death, as opposed to endangerment or civil rights violations connected to the raid?", "What accounts for the DOJ's own shift in position on the case's severity between the prosecution that secured Hankison's conviction and the sentencing memo that followed?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 \u201cFormer Louisville... Officer Found Guilty of Federal Civil Rights Crimes\u201d", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/former-louisville-kentucky-metro-police-officer-found-guilty-federal-civil-rights-crimes", "verified": true }, { "name": "Al Jazeera \u2014 \u201cUS police officer in Breonna Taylor death sentenced to 33 months\u201d (2025)", "url": "https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/21/us-police-officer-in-breonna-taylor-death-sentenced-to-33-months-in-prison", "verified": true }, { "name": "PBS NewsHour / AP \u2014 \u201cEx-Louisville officer convicted of using excessive force on Breonna Taylor\u201d", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/nation/ex-louisville-officer-convicted-of-using-excessive-force-on-breonna-taylor-during-deadly-raid", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "rekia-boyd", "caseNumber": "101", "name": "Rekia Boyd", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2012, "age": 22, "gender": "female", "city": "Chicago", "county": "Cook County", "state": "IL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Rekia Boyd, 22, was shot and killed by off-duty Chicago Police Detective Dante Servin near Douglas Park on the city's West Side in the early hours of March 21, 2012. Servin, in his car in a nearby alley, fired five shots over his shoulder at a group Boyd was part of, striking a man in the hand and Boyd in the back of the head; he said he believed one of the group had pulled a gun, but no weapon was ever found. Servin was charged nearly two years later with involuntary manslaughter and reckless discharge of a firearm. At his 2015 bench trial, the judge issued a directed verdict of not guilty before the defense even presented its case, ruling that Servin's conduct was intentional rather than reckless \u2014 meaning prosecutors had charged the wrong offense \u2014 while noting Servin's actions were \u201cbeyond reckless.\u201d Because of double jeopardy, he could never be retried on a more serious charge. No one has ever been convicted in Boyd's death.", "known": [ "The shooting, the five shots fired, and Boyd's death, per Chicago Police Department records and subsequent trial testimony.", "No weapon was ever recovered from the scene despite an extended police search, per contemporaneous reporting.", "Servin was charged in January 2014 with involuntary manslaughter, reckless discharge of a firearm, and reckless conduct.", "At an April 2015 bench trial, Cook County Judge Dennis Porter issued a directed finding of not guilty on all counts, ruling that the evidence showed Servin's firing was intentional rather than reckless \u2014 meaning it should have been charged as a more serious offense \u2014 and that the involuntary manslaughter charge as filed could not be sustained.", "The judge stated Servin's conduct was \u201cbeyond reckless,\u201d but because of the specific charge filed, was legally barred from convicting him of anything greater; double jeopardy protections mean Servin can never be retried on a murder charge for Boyd's death.", "The city of Chicago settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Boyd's family for $4.5 million in 2013, before the criminal trial concluded.", "In 2019, a different Cook County judge declined to expunge Servin's record, citing the strength of the evidence presented at trial despite the acquittal." ], "unknown": [ "Whether a member of Boyd's group in fact possessed or displayed a weapon, as Servin claimed, was never resolved \u2014 no weapon was found, but the claim was never conclusively disproven in court either.", "Why the Cook County State's Attorney's office originally filed involuntary manslaughter rather than a murder charge, given the judge's later finding that the conduct was intentional, has not been fully explained by prosecutors.", "The full internal disciplinary history and departure circumstances for Servin from the Chicago Police Department following the case have not been comprehensively documented." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did prosecutors choose to charge involuntary manslaughter rather than a charge that matched what the trial judge later found the evidence showed?", "What accountability mechanisms, if any, exist for cases where a charging decision itself forecloses a conviction that the evidence might otherwise support?", "What became of the group Boyd was with that night, and has any of them ever spoken publicly about what happened in the moments before the shooting?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "WTTW News \u2014 \u201cAftermath of Rekia Boyd Verdict\u201d (2015)", "url": "https://news.wttw.com/2015/04/21/aftermath-rekia-boyd-verdict", "verified": true }, { "name": "Chicago Sun-Times \u2014 \u201cDante Servin's record won't be expunged in death of Rekia Boyd\u201d (2019)", "url": "https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/11/19/20972731/dante-servin-denied-expungment-deadly-shooting-rekia-boyd", "verified": true }, { "name": "Fox News / AP \u2014 \u201cOff-duty Chicago police officer acquitted of involuntary manslaughter\u201d", "url": "https://www.foxnews.com/us/off-duty-chicago-police-officer-acquitted-of-involuntary-manslaughter-in-unarmed-womans-death.amp", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "eric-garner", "caseNumber": "102", "name": "Eric Garner", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2014, "age": 43, "gender": "male", "city": "Staten Island", "county": "Richmond County", "state": "NY", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Eric Garner, 43, died on July 17, 2014 after NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo placed him in an apparent chokehold \u2014 a maneuver banned under NYPD policy \u2014 while arresting him on suspicion of selling untaxed loose cigarettes on a Staten Island street corner. Bystander video captured Garner repeating \u201cI can't breathe\u201d eleven times before he lost consciousness. The city medical examiner ruled his death a homicide, citing the chokehold as a contributing cause. A Staten Island grand jury declined to indict Pantaleo in December 2014. The Department of Justice's five-year federal civil rights investigation ended in July 2019, one day before the fifth anniversary of Garner's death, with Attorney General William Barr declining to bring charges. Pantaleo was fired from the NYPD in an internal disciplinary proceeding later that year, but no criminal charge was ever filed against him or anyone else involved in Garner's death.", "known": [ "The arrest, the chokehold captured on bystander video, and Garner's death, per the New York City medical examiner's office and contemporaneous reporting.", "The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, finding the chokehold, along with compression of his chest and prone positioning during the arrest, contributed to his death.", "A Staten Island grand jury, composed of 15 white and 8 minority jurors, declined to indict Pantaleo on any charge in December 2014.", "In July 2019, the Department of Justice concluded a five-year federal civil rights investigation and declined to bring charges, a decision made personally by Attorney General William Barr following the recommendation of Brooklyn federal prosecutors.", "An NYPD internal disciplinary trial in 2019 found Pantaleo had used a prohibited chokehold; he was fired from the department later that year \u2014 an administrative outcome, not a criminal one.", "New York City settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Garner's family for $5.9 million in 2015." ], "unknown": [ "Why the Staten Island grand jury, having seen the same video the medical examiner and NYPD's own disciplinary trial later relied on to find a chokehold occurred, concluded there was not probable cause to indict on any charge has never been made public \u2014 grand jury proceedings are sealed by law.", "The specific evidence and legal reasoning behind the DOJ's 2019 decision not to prosecute has not been fully detailed publicly.", "Why the federal investigation took five years, nearly the entire relevant statute of limitations window, has not been officially explained." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did New York State's grand jury secrecy laws prevent any public accounting of what evidence was presented and how it was weighed?", "What specifically changed, if anything, in the Justice Department's assessment of the case between when career prosecutors reportedly recommended charges and the final decision not to prosecute?", "Beyond Pantaleo's firing, did any other officer at the scene face any consequence, criminal or administrative, for their role in the arrest?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cNYPD officer in Eric Garner's chokehold death won't face federal charges\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-york-city-officer-eric-garner-s-chokehold-death-won-n1030321", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC New York \u2014 \u201cGrand Jury Declines to Indict NYPD Officer in Eric Garner Chokehold Death\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/grand-jury-decision-eric-garner-staten-island-chokehold-death-nypd/1427980/", "verified": true }, { "name": "NY1 \u2014 \u201cDeputy Inspector says chokehold was used\u201d (2019 disciplinary trial coverage)", "url": "https://ny1.com/news/2019/05/14/eric-garner-death-daniel-pantaleo-nypd-trial-deputy-inspector-says-chokehold-was-used", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "tamir-rice", "caseNumber": "103", "name": "Tamir Rice", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2014, "age": 12, "gender": "male", "city": "Cleveland", "county": "Cuyahoga County", "state": "OH", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Tamir Rice, 12, was shot and killed by rookie Cleveland Police Officer Timothy Loehmann on November 22, 2014, within two seconds of Loehmann's patrol car skidding to a stop beside him outside a recreation center. Rice had been playing with a pellet gun; the 911 caller told the dispatcher the gun was \u201cprobably fake\u201d and the person waving it was \u201cprobably a juvenile,\u201d but that information was never relayed to the responding officers. A grand jury declined to indict Loehmann or his partner, Frank Garmback, in December 2015, with the county prosecutor calling the shooting a \u201cperfect storm of human error\u201d rather than a crime. The Department of Justice closed a five-year federal civil rights investigation in December 2020 without charges. No one has ever been criminally charged in Tamir Rice's death.", "known": [ "The shooting, the timing (within roughly two seconds of the patrol car's arrival), and Rice's death, per surveillance video and the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's public statements.", "The 911 caller's qualifications \u2014 that the gun was probably fake and the person was probably a juvenile \u2014 were not relayed by the dispatcher to Loehmann and Garmback before they arrived, per the prosecutor's own account.", "A Cuyahoga County grand jury declined to indict either officer on any charge in December 2015; prosecutor Timothy McGinty stated he had recommended against indictment.", "The U.S. Department of Justice concluded a five-year federal civil rights investigation in December 2020, finding insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Rice had not been reaching for the pellet gun, and declined to bring charges.", "The City of Cleveland fired Loehmann in 2017 \u2014 explicitly not for the shooting, but for omitting from his job application that a previous department had found him emotionally unfit for police work.", "The city settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Rice's family for $6 million in 2016.", "Loehmann was hired by at least two other police departments after his firing, each time resigning or withdrawing following public backlash led by Rice's mother, Samaria Rice." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Rice was in fact reaching for the pellet gun in his waistband, as the prosecutor characterized enhanced surveillance video as showing, versus complying with an instruction, was disputed by the family's attorneys and never tested at a trial.", "Why the dispatcher did not relay the 911 caller's qualifications about the gun being probably fake has not been fully explained in any public accounting.", "The specific tactical decision to drive the patrol car directly up to Rice at close range, rather than approaching from a distance, was criticized by outside police-practice experts but was not the basis for any criminal charge." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the dispatcher fail to relay the caller's own uncertainty about the gun and Rice's age to the responding officers?", "What specific tactical review, if any, changed Cleveland Police Department protocol for approaching reports of an armed person following this shooting?", "Why were other police departments able to hire Loehmann in the years after his firing without his history in the Rice shooting surfacing during hiring review?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NPR \u2014 \u201cJustice Department Declines To Prosecute Cleveland Officers In Death Of Tamir Rice\u201d", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2020/12/29/951277146/justice-department-declines-to-prosecute-cleveland-officers-who-killed-tamir-ric", "verified": true }, { "name": "NPR \u2014 \u201cCleveland Grand Jury Declines To Indict Police Officers In Tamir Rice Probe\u201d", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2015/12/29/461352907/cleveland-grand-jury-declines-to-indict-police-officers-in-tamir-rice-probe", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cCleveland police officer who fatally shot Tamir Rice fired\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cleveland-police-officer-who-fatally-shot-tamir-rice-fired-n766221", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "philando-castile", "caseNumber": "104", "name": "Philando Castile", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2016, "age": 32, "gender": "male", "city": "Falcon Heights", "county": "Ramsey County", "state": "MN", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Philando Castile, 32, a St. Paul-area elementary school cafeteria supervisor, was shot and killed by St. Anthony Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minnesota on July 6, 2016. Castile, who had a permit to carry, calmly informed Yanez he had a firearm in the car; Yanez fired seven shots, striking him five times, as Castile's girlfriend Diamond Reynolds and her 4-year-old daughter sat in the car. Reynolds began livestreaming the aftermath on Facebook within moments, and the video was viewed by millions. Yanez was charged with second-degree manslaughter and two counts of endangering Reynolds and her daughter; a jury acquitted him of all charges on June 16, 2017, after roughly 27 hours of deliberation. No one has ever been convicted in Castile's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop, the seven shots fired, and Castile's death, per squad-car video and trial testimony.", "Castile informed Yanez he had a firearm and a permit to carry before Yanez opened fire, per the dashcam audio played at trial.", "Yanez was charged with second-degree manslaughter and two counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm; a 12-member jury (two Black, ten white) acquitted him of every charge on June 16, 2017.", "The City of St. Anthony announced it would dismiss Yanez from the police force the same day as the acquittal, offering him a voluntary separation rather than returning him to duty.", "The City of St. Anthony and surrounding jurisdictions reached a $3 million settlement with Castile's family in 2017; St. Anthony also later disbanded its police department entirely." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Castile was reaching for his wallet, as his family and prosecutors argued, or for his firearm despite officer commands, as Yanez testified, was never resolved beyond the jury's acquittal.", "Why the dashcam audio in which Castile calmly disclosed the firearm did not, in the jury's assessment, undercut Yanez's stated fear for his life has not been explained by the jury, whose deliberations are not public.", "Whether a substitute teaching license later granted to Yanez, which a Minnesota appeals court ordered reconsidered, was ultimately approved or denied has not been consistently reported." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the jury find Yanez's account of Castile's movements more credible than the dashcam audio and Reynolds's own account?", "What became of St. Anthony's internal use-of-force review following the shooting, beyond the department's eventual dissolution?", "Did the licensing dispute over Yanez's eligibility to substitute teach ever reach a final resolution?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cOfficer who shot Philando Castile found not guilty\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/16/us/philando-castile-trial-verdict", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cOfficer Who Shot Philando Castile Acquitted of Manslaughter Charges\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/officer-who-shot-philando-castile-acquitted-manslaughter-charges-n771146", "verified": true }, { "name": "MPR News \u2014 \u201cThe death of Philando Castile and the trial of Jeronimo Yanez\u201d", "url": "https://www.mprnews.org/crime-law-and-justice/philandocastile", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "stephon-clark", "caseNumber": "105", "name": "Stephon Clark", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2018, "age": 22, "gender": "male", "city": "Sacramento", "county": "Sacramento County", "state": "CA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Stephon Clark, 22, was shot and killed by Sacramento Police officers Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet in his grandmother's backyard on March 18, 2018, after they responded to a report of vandalism and pursued him on foot. The officers said they believed Clark was pointing a gun at them in the dark; he was holding only a cellphone. Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert announced in March 2019 that no criminal charges would be filed. Days later, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra's independent state review reached the same conclusion. In September 2019, federal prosecutors also declined to bring civil rights charges. Three separate reviews \u2014 county, state, and federal \u2014 each concluded independently that no charges could be sustained, and no one has ever been convicted in Clark's death.", "known": [ "The foot pursuit, the shooting in his grandmother's backyard, and Clark's death, per the Sacramento Police Department's own investigation and subsequent reviews.", "Only a cellphone, not a firearm, was recovered from the scene.", "Sacramento County DA Anne Marie Schubert announced no charges on March 2, 2019, after reviewing the Sacramento Police Department's internal investigation.", "California Attorney General Xavier Becerra's office conducted a separate, independent state review at the request of Sacramento's police chief and announced on March 5, 2019 that no charges could be sustained.", "Federal prosecutors and the FBI announced on September 26, 2019 that they found insufficient evidence to support federal civil rights charges.", "The shooting and subsequent non-charging decisions prompted sustained protests in Sacramento, and contributed to California signing a 2019 law raising the legal standard for police use of deadly force." ], "unknown": [ "Why the officers believed Clark was armed in the dark, and what specifically about his movements led both officers to fire simultaneously, has been described differently across the three reviews and the family's own account.", "The exact number and sequence of shots fired, and Clark's position when struck, were disputed between the county's autopsy findings and an independent autopsy commissioned by the family.", "Whether either officer faced any internal departmental discipline, separate from the criminal charging decisions, was not fully resolved in public reporting at the time." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did three separate reviewing authorities \u2014 county, state, and federal \u2014 each reach the same no-charges conclusion despite Clark being unarmed?", "What specific findings from the family's independently commissioned autopsy were addressed, if at all, in the official reviews?", "What internal changes, if any, did the Sacramento Police Department make to its foot-pursuit and use-of-force protocols as a direct result of this case?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "California Department of Justice \u2014 \u201cAttorney General Becerra Releases Report on Independent Investigation into the Death of Stephon Clark\u201d", "url": "https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-becerra-releases-report-independent-investigation-death-stephon", "verified": true }, { "name": "NPR \u2014 \u201cOfficers In Stephon Clark Shooting Won't Be Charged, Says Sacramento D.A.\u201d", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2019/03/02/699719214/officers-in-stephon-clark-shooting-wont-be-charged-says-sacramento-d-a", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cFeds won't pursue charges against officers in Stephon Clark's shooting death\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/feds-won-t-pursue-charges-against-officers-stephon-clark-s-n1059411", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "michael-brown", "caseNumber": "106", "name": "Michael Brown", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2014, "age": 18, "gender": "male", "city": "Ferguson", "county": "St. Louis County", "state": "MO", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Michael Brown, 18, was shot and killed by Ferguson, Missouri Police Officer Darren Wilson on August 9, 2014, following a confrontation after Wilson stopped Brown and a friend for walking in the street. Brown's body remained in the street for roughly four hours afterward, which inflamed already-tense relations between the majority-Black city and its overwhelmingly white police force. A St. Louis County grand jury declined to indict Wilson in November 2014. The Department of Justice separately cleared Wilson of civil rights violations in March 2015, while issuing a scathing report finding Ferguson's police and courts had systematically targeted Black residents for revenue rather than public safety. In 2020, the county's first Black prosecutor, Wesley Bell, reopened the case at the family's request and, after a five-month independent review, announced in 2020 that he too could not prove murder or manslaughter charges. Three separate reviewing authorities have now each declined to charge Wilson, who resigned days after the grand jury decision; no one has ever been charged in Brown's death.", "known": [ "The August 9, 2014 shooting and the roughly four hours Brown's body remained on Canfield Drive afterward, per contemporaneous reporting and the DOJ's 2015 report.", "A St. Louis County grand jury of nine white and three Black jurors declined to indict Wilson on November 24, 2014; Wilson resigned from the Ferguson Police Department days later.", "The DOJ's March 2015 report cleared Wilson of federal civil rights violations, concluding prosecutors could not disprove his account that he feared for his life, while a companion DOJ report found a pattern of Ferguson police and courts systematically targeting Black residents for fines and fees.", "In 2020, St. Louis County's first Black prosecuting attorney, Wesley Bell, reopened the case at the family's request; after a five-month independent review, he announced he could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Wilson committed murder or manslaughter under Missouri law.", "Autopsy results cited in the DOJ report found Brown was struck six to eight times." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Brown had his hands raised in surrender, as some witnesses said, or was moving toward Wilson, as Wilson testified and the DOJ report found more consistent with physical evidence, was never resolved in any court proceeding.", "The full physical struggle at Wilson's vehicle, including whether Brown reached inside it, was reconstructed from disputed witness accounts rather than settled by any trial.", "Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson and five other city officials resigned following the DOJ's report, but the individual scope of each resignation's connection to Brown's case specifically, versus the broader pattern-or-practice findings, was not always made explicit." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did three separate reviewing authorities \u2014 a county grand jury, the DOJ, and a reform-minded Black prosecutor conducting an independent re-investigation years later \u2014 each reach the same conclusion that charges could not be proven?", "What specific reforms required under Ferguson's federal consent decree, prompted by the DOJ's pattern-or-practice findings, remain incomplete a decade later?", "What became of Darren Wilson professionally and personally in the years since his resignation, a subject on which public reporting has been limited?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "PBS NewsHour \u2014 \u201cProsecutor says no charges for officer in Michael Brown's death\u201d (2020)", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/prosecutor-says-no-charges-for-officer-in-michael-browns-death", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cDOJ Says Officer Darren Wilson, Cop in Ferguson Case, Won't Be Charged\u201d (2015)", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-brown-shooting/doj-says-officer-darren-wilson-cop-ferguson-case-wont-be-n317311", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News \u2014 \u201cNo charges against officer who fatally shot Michael Brown\u201d (2020)", "url": "https://cbsnews.com/news/michael-brown-ferguson-police-officer-no-charges-darren-wilson", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "alton-sterling", "caseNumber": "107", "name": "Alton Sterling", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2016, "age": 37, "gender": "male", "city": "Baton Rouge", "county": "East Baton Rouge Parish", "state": "LA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Alton Sterling, 37, a father of five who sold homemade CDs outside a Baton Rouge convenience store, was shot and killed by Officers Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II on July 5, 2016, during a struggle after the two officers responded to a report of a man threatening someone with a gun. Cellphone video of the roughly 90-second encounter, showing Sterling pinned to the ground when he was shot, circulated widely and prompted nationwide protests. The Department of Justice declined to bring federal civil rights charges in May 2017. Nearly a year later, in March 2018, Louisiana's attorney general separately declined to bring state charges, calling the shooting \u201cjustifiable\u201d and citing a toxicology report showing Sterling had drugs in his system. No one has ever been criminally charged in Sterling's death.", "known": [ "The struggle, the shooting, and Sterling's death outside the Triple S Food Mart, per cellphone video and the subsequent DOJ and state investigations.", "The DOJ's Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Louisiana announced in May 2017 that evidence was insufficient to prove the officers had willfully used unreasonable force, the standard required under federal civil rights law.", "Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry announced in March 2018, after reviewing the DOJ's evidence and conducting independent interviews, that his office would not bring state charges either, calling the officers' actions \u201cjustifiable.\u201d", "East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore recused his own office from the state review due to a professional relationship with one officer's parents, leaving the decision to the state attorney general.", "Sterling's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city, its police department, and the two officers in June 2017." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Sterling was reaching for a firearm in his pocket, as the officers stated, versus the extent to which he was still resisting being restrained at the moment of the shooting, was disputed in witness and video interpretation and never tested at trial.", "The specific weight the toxicology findings cited by Attorney General Landry actually carried in the legal determination that the shooting was justifiable has been disputed by the family's attorneys and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.", "Whether either officer faced internal departmental discipline separate from the criminal charging decisions has not been comprehensively documented publicly." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did both the federal and state reviews, conducted independently and nearly a year apart, reach the same no-charges conclusion despite Sterling being restrained on the ground when shot?", "What specific evidence from the officers' body-worn or dash camera footage, if any existed, factored into either review's conclusion?", "What became of the Sterling family's civil wrongful-death lawsuit against the city and the officers?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Al Jazeera \u2014 \u201cAlton Sterling shooting: No criminal charges for police officers\u201d", "url": "https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2018/3/27/alton-sterling-shooting-no-criminal-charges-for-police-officers", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cAlton Sterling Shooting: Justice Department Announces No Federal Charges\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alton-sterling-shooting-justice-department-announces-no-federal-charges-n754361", "verified": true }, { "name": "NAACP Legal Defense Fund \u2014 statement on the DOJ's decision not to charge", "url": "https://www.naacpldf.org/press-release/naacp-legal-defense-fund-statement-on-the-u-s-justice-departments-decision-not-to-charge-baton-rouge-police-officers-for-shooting-death-of-alton-sterling/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "john-crawford-iii", "caseNumber": "108", "name": "John Crawford III", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2014, "age": 22, "gender": "male", "city": "Beavercreek", "county": "Greene County", "state": "OH", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "John Crawford III, 22, was shot and killed by Beavercreek, Ohio Police Officer Sean Williams inside a Walmart store on August 5, 2014, while talking on his cell phone and holding an unboxed BB/pellet air rifle he had picked up from a store shelf. A 911 caller, Ronald Ritchie, had told dispatchers a man was waving a gun at customers \u2014 an account store surveillance video later contradicted, showing Crawford never pointed the item at anyone. A special Greene County grand jury declined to indict Williams in September 2014, the same day the Department of Justice opened its own civil rights investigation; that federal review closed in July 2017 without charges, finding insufficient evidence that Williams had willfully violated Crawford's civil rights. No one has ever been charged in Crawford's death.", "known": [ "The 911 call reporting a man with a gun, the shooting, and Crawford's death, per Walmart surveillance footage and the 911 audio, both later released publicly.", "Surveillance video showed Crawford was not pointing the air rifle at anyone and was largely engaged in a phone call in the moments before he was shot, contradicting the 911 caller's account.", "A special Greene County grand jury of nine members declined to indict Officer Williams on September 24, 2014; special prosecutor Mark Piepmeier stated Crawford \u201cdid nothing wrong.\u201d", "The Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney's Office for Southern Ohio announced on July 11, 2017 that evidence was insufficient to prove Williams had willfully violated Crawford's federal civil rights.", "A separate investigation concluded the 911 caller, Ronald Ritchie, would not be charged for his report, as prosecutors found no evidence he knowingly provided false information." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Officer Williams had a reasonable opportunity to perceive that Crawford was not an active threat before firing, given the surveillance video's contradiction of the initial 911 report, was never tested at trial.", "The precise verbal commands given to Crawford immediately before the shooting, and how much time he had to respond to them, were disputed between the family's account and the responding officers' statements.", "Whether internal Beavercreek Police Department training or policy changed as a direct result of the shooting has not been comprehensively documented in public reporting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the grand jury's and DOJ's conclusions differ so sharply from the family attorney's assessment that the surveillance video showed \u201cample evidence\u201d for charges?", "What became of the Crawford family's separate civil lawsuit against Walmart and the Beavercreek Police Department?", "Why was a 911 caller whose account was directly contradicted by video evidence not held to any legal accountability for that report?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cJohn Crawford III Case: Feds Announce No Charges for Officer in Fatal 2014 Shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/john-crawford-iii-case-feds-announce-no-charges-officer-fatal-n782091", "verified": true }, { "name": "NPR \u2014 \u201cGrand Jury Won't Indict Officers In Ohio Wal-Mart Shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/09/25/351422552/grand-jury-wont-indict-officers-in-ohio-wal-mart-shooting", "verified": true }, { "name": "Democracy Now! \u2014 \u201cNo Charges in Ohio Police Killing of John Crawford\u201d", "url": "https://www.democracynow.org/2014/9/25/no_charges_in_ohio_police_killing", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "sandra-bland", "caseNumber": "109", "name": "Sandra Bland", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2015, "age": 28, "gender": "female", "city": "Prairie View", "county": "Waller County", "state": "TX", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Sandra Bland, 28, was found dead in her cell at the Waller County Jail in Hempstead, Texas on July 13, 2015, three days after Texas State Trooper Brian Encinia arrested her during a traffic stop in nearby Prairie View for failing to signal a lane change. Dashcam video showed the stop escalating after Bland questioned why she had to put out her cigarette, ending with Encinia drawing a Taser and pulling her from her car. Her death was ruled a suicide by asphyxiation. A Waller County grand jury found no criminal wrongdoing by jailers or the sheriff's office, but did indict Encinia on a misdemeanor perjury charge for falsely writing that he removed Bland from her car to conduct a \u201csafer traffic investigation.\u201d That charge \u2014 the only criminal charge ever filed against anyone in connection with Bland's death \u2014 was dropped in June 2017 after Encinia agreed to surrender his peace officer license and never work in law enforcement again. No one has ever been convicted of any crime related to Bland's arrest, treatment, or death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop, its escalation, and the circumstances of the arrest, per Texas Department of Public Safety dashcam footage and a cell phone video Bland recorded herself.", "Bland was found dead in her cell three days later; the Harris County Medical Examiner ruled the death a suicide by asphyxiation using a plastic garbage bag.", "A Waller County grand jury found no felony had been committed by jailers or the sheriff's office, but indicted Encinia in January 2016 on a single misdemeanor perjury charge for his written account of the arrest.", "Encinia was fired by the Texas Department of Public Safety in March 2016 following the indictment.", "In June 2017, the sole perjury charge against Encinia was dismissed at prosecutors' request after he agreed to permanently surrender his peace officer license, never work in law enforcement again, and never seek to have the charge expunged.", "Bland's family settled a wrongful death lawsuit against Waller County and the Texas Department of Public Safety for $1.9 million in September 2016.", "The Texas Legislature passed the Sandra Bland Act in 2017, mandating that county jails divert people with mental health or substance abuse issues toward treatment and requiring independent investigation of jail deaths \u2014 though the bill was significantly narrowed from its original scope during the legislative process." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Bland's death was in fact a suicide, as officially ruled, continues to be disputed by her family and some outside observers, though no official investigation has overturned the medical examiner's finding.", "Whether jail staff followed required cell-check protocols in the hours before Bland's death was examined by the grand jury, which found no felony conduct, but the full internal findings were not comprehensively made public.", "Whether Encinia's conduct during the arrest itself, beyond the specific written misstatement charged as perjury, was ever independently assessed for criminal liability separate from the dropped charge." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was perjury \u2014 a charge about a written statement made after the arrest \u2014 the only charge ever brought, when video showed Encinia drawing a weapon and pulling Bland from her vehicle during a stop for a minor traffic violation?", "What jail protocols, if any, were not followed in the three days between Bland's arrest and her death, and were any jail employees ever held accountable?", "How much of the original, broader version of the Sandra Bland Act \u2014 which initially included stronger police accountability provisions \u2014 was ultimately removed before passage, and why?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cSandra Bland Case: Perjury Charge Dropped Against Ex-Trooper Brian Encinia\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sandra-bland-case-perjury-charge-dropped-against-ex-trooper-brian-n777986", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Texas Tribune \u2014 \u201cPerjury charge dropped against trooper who arrested Sandra Bland\u201d", "url": "https://www.texastribune.org/2017/06/28/perjury-charge-dropped-against-trooper-who-arrested-sandra-bland/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Community Impact \u2014 \u201cExperts reflect 5 years after Sandra Bland's death in Waller County jail\u201d", "url": "https://communityimpact.com/houston/katy/public-safety/2020/07/23/experts-reflect-5-years-after-sandra-blands-death-in-waller-county-jail/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "terence-crutcher", "caseNumber": "110", "name": "Terence Crutcher", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2016, "age": 40, "gender": "male", "city": "Tulsa", "county": "Tulsa County", "state": "OK", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Terence Crutcher, 40, was shot and killed by Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby on September 16, 2016, after she encountered him beside his stalled SUV in the middle of a north Tulsa street. Video from a police helicopter piloted by Shelby's own husband and from officers' body cameras showed Crutcher walking toward his vehicle with his hands visible before Shelby fired; the helicopter pilot could be heard remarking that Crutcher \u201clooks like a bad dude.\u201d Shelby testified she believed Crutcher was reaching into the vehicle for a weapon; no weapon was found. She was charged with first-degree manslaughter and, after nine hours of jury deliberation, acquitted of all charges on May 17, 2017. Crutcher's family called the verdict an injustice; no one has ever been convicted in his death.", "known": [ "The encounter, the shooting, and Crutcher's death, per body camera and police helicopter video that was released publicly.", "No weapon was recovered from Crutcher's vehicle or person.", "Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler charged Shelby with first-degree manslaughter less than a week after the shooting.", "A 12-member jury, including three Black jurors, deliberated for nine hours before acquitting Shelby of all charges on May 17, 2017; several jurors were reported crying as the verdict was read.", "Shelby was reinstated to the Tulsa Police Department in an administrative role following her acquittal, then resigned from the department in August 2017.", "An autopsy found PCP in Crutcher's system at the time of the shooting, which the defense raised at trial; the family's attorneys argued this did not justify the shooting regardless." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Crutcher was in fact reaching into his vehicle, as Shelby testified, versus simply attempting to comply or retrieve documentation, was disputed by the family's attorneys based on the same video evidence and never resolved beyond the acquittal.", "The full content and reasoning behind the jury's nine hours of deliberation is not public, as with all jury deliberations.", "Whether the Department of Justice's separate federal civil rights review, opened after the state acquittal, reached a final public conclusion has not been consistently reported in available sources." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the jury find Shelby's account of reaching for a weapon credible when body camera video reviewed by outside experts showed Crutcher's hands were not near the vehicle's interior at the moment of the shooting?", "What became of the Department of Justice's civil rights investigation into the shooting, opened following Shelby's state acquittal?", "What internal Tulsa Police Department policy changes, if any, resulted directly from this case regarding response to stalled-vehicle calls?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cBetty Shelby: Tulsa officer acquitted in fatal shooting of Terence Crutcher\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/17/us/tulsa-police-shooting-trial", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cJury Acquits Tulsa Officer Betty Shelby in Shooting Death of Terence Crutcher\u201d", "url": "https://nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jury-acquits-tulsa-officer-shooting-death-terence-crutcher-n761206", "verified": true }, { "name": "NAACP Legal Defense Fund \u2014 \u201cCase in Point: Four Holes in Officer Betty Shelby's Defense\u201d", "url": "https://www.naacpldf.org/naacp-publications/ldf-blog/case-in-point-four-holes-in-officer-betty-shelbys-defense/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "samuel-dubose", "caseNumber": "111", "name": "Samuel DuBose", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2015, "age": 43, "gender": "male", "city": "Cincinnati", "county": "Hamilton County", "state": "OH", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Samuel DuBose, 43, was shot in the head and killed by University of Cincinnati Police Officer Ray Tensing during a traffic stop on July 19, 2015, after Tensing pulled him over for a missing front license plate. Body camera video showed a brief exchange over DuBose's license before he began to drive away; Tensing testified he was dragged by the car and feared for his life, while the county prosecutor called the shooting \u201casinine\u201d and \u201ctotally unwarranted\u201d when announcing a murder indictment less than two weeks later. Two separate juries, in trials roughly eight months apart, deadlocked and produced mistrials in 2016 and 2017. Hamilton County's prosecutor then dropped the case rather than pursue a third trial, saying jurors had told him he would never get twelve people to agree to convict a police officer. No one has ever been convicted in DuBose's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop, the brief struggle, and the shooting, captured on Tensing's body camera and released publicly.", "Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters indicted Tensing on a murder charge less than two weeks after the shooting, calling his actions \u201casinine\u201d and \u201ctotally unwarranted.\u201d", "A first jury deadlocked after roughly 25 hours of deliberation in November 2016, resulting in a mistrial; prosecutors said that jury had a majority favoring conviction on the lesser voluntary manslaughter charge.", "A second jury deadlocked again after roughly 31 hours of deliberation in June 2017, resulting in a second mistrial.", "In July 2017, Prosecutor Deters formally dropped the murder and voluntary manslaughter charges rather than pursue a third trial; the judge dismissed the case in a manner that permanently barred retrial on those charges, while declining the defense's request to formally acquit Tensing.", "The University of Cincinnati settled a wrongful death lawsuit with DuBose's family for $4.85 million and a tuition-free college scholarship for his children in 2015, and separately disbanded its own police force's traffic-stop authority off campus." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Tensing was in fact dragged by DuBose's car and reasonably feared for his life, as he testified, or whether the body camera video showed a shooting that occurred before any such danger existed, as prosecutors argued, was never resolved \u2014 two separate juries considered the same video and could not agree.", "The specific numerical breakdown of each deadlocked jury's votes was reported by prosecutors as favoring conviction after the first trial, but the precise count was not made formally public.", "Whether federal civil rights charges, which the U.S. Attorney's office said it would consider after the state case ended, were ever formally pursued was not confirmed in available public reporting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did two separate juries, reviewing the same body camera footage, each fail to reach a unanimous verdict?", "Did the U.S. Attorney's Office ultimately pursue or decline federal civil rights charges against Tensing after the state case was dismissed?", "What specific reforms did the University of Cincinnati Police Department make to its traffic-stop authority and training as a result of this case?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NPR \u2014 \u201cJudge Declares Mistrial, Again, In Cincinnati Police Shooting Case\u201d", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/06/23/534117475/judge-declares-mistrial-again-in-cincinnati-police-shooting-case", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cRay Tensing Trial: Mistrial Declared for a Second Time\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ray-tensing-trial-judge-declares-another-mistrial-killing-samuel-dubose-n775111", "verified": true }, { "name": "Essence \u2014 \u201cCharges Dropped Against Ray Tensing Who Shot Sam DuBose\u201d", "url": "https://www.essence.com/news/sam-dubose-tensing-trial/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "keith-lamont-scott", "caseNumber": "112", "name": "Keith Lamont Scott", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2016, "age": 43, "gender": "male", "city": "Charlotte", "county": "Mecklenburg County", "state": "NC", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Keith Lamont Scott, 43, a father of seven, was shot and killed by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Brentley Vinson on September 20, 2016, in an apartment complex parking lot. Officers were at the complex to serve a warrant on someone else when they encountered Scott, who has a brain injury, sitting in his SUV; police said body-camera video showed a gun in his hand as he exited the vehicle after repeated orders to drop it, while Scott's wife, who recorded the aftermath on her phone, said he had no gun and was unarmed. A firearm was recovered at the scene with Scott's fingerprints and DNA. After a two-month investigation, Mecklenburg County District Attorney Andrew Murray announced in November 2016 that Vinson \u2014 who is also Black \u2014 had acted lawfully, a conclusion 15 prosecutors in his office reached unanimously. No charges were ever filed against Vinson or any other officer at the scene.", "known": [ "The encounter, the shooting, and Scott's death, per police dashcam, body-worn camera, and his wife's cell phone video, all released publicly.", "A handgun, reported stolen out of Gaston County, was recovered at the scene bearing Scott's fingerprints and DNA.", "District Attorney Andrew Murray announced on November 30, 2016 that his office, after unanimous agreement among 15 prosecutors, would not charge Vinson, concluding the shooting was justified based on the totality of the evidence.", "The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Justice both separately investigated the shooting alongside the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department's own review.", "Scott's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and Vinson, alleging officers needlessly escalated an unconfirmed marijuana-possession stop into a fatal confrontation." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Scott in fact held the recovered handgun in his hand at the moment he was shot, as police maintained body-camera video showed, or whether he was unarmed and reading a book, as his wife stated, was never resolved by any criminal proceeding since none occurred.", "The family's lawsuit alleged Scott never raised his arms or made any threatening gesture; how this account squares with the DA's conclusion that the shooting was justified was not resolved through litigation before any reported settlement.", "Whether Scott's brain injury, which his family said affected his ability to communicate and comply with commands, was factored into the DA's justification analysis was not detailed in the office's public statements." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the district attorney's office conclude the shooting was justified when the victim's own family disputed the central factual claim \u2014 that Scott was holding a weapon \u2014 underlying that conclusion?", "What became of the wrongful death lawsuit Scott's family filed against the city and Officer Vinson?", "What findings, if any, did the separate North Carolina SBI and DOJ investigations reach, beyond the county DA's own conclusion?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cKeith Scott killing: No charges against officer\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/30/us/keith-lamont-scott-case-brentley-vinson", "verified": true }, { "name": "ABC News \u2014 \u201cCop Who Shot Keith Lamont Scott 'Acted Lawfully,' DA Says\u201d", "url": "https://abcnews.com/US/cop-shot-keith-lamont-scott-acted-lawfully-da/story?id=43872494", "verified": true }, { "name": "NAACP Legal Defense Fund \u2014 \u201cLDF on No Charges for Officer in Death of Keith Lamont Scott\u201d", "url": "https://www.naacpldf.org/press-release/ldf-on-no-charges-for-officer-in-death-of-keith-lamont-scott/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "ezell-ford", "caseNumber": "113", "name": "Ezell Ford", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2014, "age": 25, "gender": "male", "city": "Los Angeles", "county": "Los Angeles County", "state": "CA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Ezell Ford, 25, who his family said had a serious mental illness, was shot and killed by LAPD Officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas on August 11, 2014, during a struggle after the officers stopped him while he was walking near his South Los Angeles home. Police said Ford grabbed for Wampler's holstered weapon during the struggle; DNA evidence supported that he was on top of Wampler at the time of the shooting. The Los Angeles Police Commission ruled in June 2015 that Wampler had no legal justification to stop Ford in the first place, making the entire encounter \u2014 and by extension the shooting \u2014 out of department policy. Despite that finding, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced in January 2017, more than two years after the shooting, that neither officer would face criminal charges, concluding both had acted in lawful self-defense. No officer in Los Angeles County had been criminally charged for an on-duty shooting since 2000, and none was in Ford's case either.", "known": [ "The stop, struggle, and shooting, per the LAPD's own investigation and the district attorney's 28-page charging decision report.", "DNA evidence indicated Ford was on top of Officer Wampler and struggling for his holstered weapon at the time of the shooting, per the DA's report.", "The Los Angeles Police Commission ruled in June 2015 that Wampler had no legal basis to stop and pursue Ford, making the stop itself a violation of department policy, and that this violation extended to the use of deadly force that followed; the commission found Villegas's conduct largely within policy, apart from how he drew his weapon.", "The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced on January 24, 2017 that both officers acted lawfully in self-defense and would not be charged, a decision reached despite the Police Commission's contrary policy finding.", "The Los Angeles City Council approved a $1.5 million settlement with Ford's family in February 2017, weeks after the DA's decision.", "Per a 2015 analysis, no Los Angeles County law enforcement officer had faced criminal charges for an on-duty shooting since 2000." ], "unknown": [ "How the DA's office reconciled its self-defense finding with the Police Commission's separate, contrary conclusion that the underlying stop \u2014 and by extension the encounter that led to the shooting \u2014 violated department policy has not been fully explained publicly.", "Whether officers were aware of, or had reason to know of, Ford's mental illness at the time they initiated the stop was disputed between the family's account and the department's official record.", "What internal discipline, if any, either officer faced as a result of the Police Commission's out-of-policy finding, separate from the criminal charging decision, was not comprehensively documented in public reporting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the district attorney's office reach a different conclusion than the city's own police oversight board on whether the underlying stop and shooting were justified?", "Why did the criminal investigation take more than two years to conclude?", "What accounts for the broader pattern the ACLU of Southern California identified \u2014 only one Southern California officer criminally charged for an on-duty shooting since 2000 \u2014 and has that pattern changed since?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "CBS News \u2014 \u201cNo charges for 2 LAPD officers in killing of Ezell Ford\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/no-charges-for-2-lapd-officers-in-killing-of-ezell-ford/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office \u2014 official charging decision letter", "url": "https://da.lacounty.gov/sites/default/files/press/012417_District_Attorneys_Office_Declines_to_File_Charges_Against_LAPD_Officers_in_Ezell_Ford_Shooting.pdf", "verified": true }, { "name": "ACLU of Southern California \u2014 statement on the DA's decision", "url": "https://www.aclusocal.org/press-releases/aclu-statement-los-angeles-das-refusal-press-charges-against-officers-responsible/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "danroy-henry-jr", "caseNumber": "114", "name": "Danroy Henry Jr.", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2010, "age": 20, "gender": "male", "city": "Thornwood", "county": "Westchester County", "state": "NY", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Danroy \u201cDJ\u201d Henry Jr., 20, a Pace University football player, was shot and killed by Pleasantville, New York Police Officer Aaron Hess on October 17, 2010, in a shopping center parking lot after officers responded to a bar disturbance following Pace's homecoming game. Henry was driving away in his car when Hess, on foot, ended up on the hood of the vehicle and fired through the windshield, saying he feared for his life; Henry's family disputed that account, saying Hess ran into the car's path. A Westchester County grand jury found no reasonable cause for an indictment in March 2011. The U.S. Department of Justice separately investigated and announced in 2015 that it would bring no federal civil rights charges. In 2023, more than a decade later, Westchester's District Attorney's office reopened the case as part of an independent review and again concluded there was no legal basis to prosecute. No one has ever been charged in Henry's death.", "known": [ "The shooting and Henry's death in the Thornwood shopping center parking lot, per Westchester County and federal investigation records.", "Officer Aaron Hess acknowledged through his attorney that he fired the shots that killed Henry, stating he was on the hood of Henry's moving car and feared for his life.", "A second officer, Ronald Beckley of the Mount Pleasant police, also fired at the vehicle, apparently striking the hood.", "A Westchester County grand jury found no reasonable cause for an indictment in March 2011, under then-District Attorney Janet DiFiore.", "U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara announced in 2015 that the evidence did not meet the exacting standard of criminal intent required for federal civil rights charges, following the DOJ's own investigation.", "In 2023, Westchester District Attorney Miriam Rocah's office conducted an independent review of past police-involved deaths, including Henry's, and again concluded there was no legal basis to bring the case to a new grand jury.", "Henry's family filed a $120 million federal lawsuit against the towns of Mount Pleasant and Pleasantville." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Henry's car in fact struck Officer Hess before he fired, as Hess's attorney stated and prosecutors found credible, or whether Hess moved into the car's path, as the family's attorney alleged, was never resolved at trial since no charges were ever filed.", "Witness accounts of the sequence of events differed sharply and were never reconciled through any adversarial court proceeding.", "The specific new evidence or analysis, if any, that Westchester's 2023 independent review considered beyond the original 2011 and 2015 findings has not been made fully public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did three separate reviewing authorities \u2014 a county grand jury, the DOJ, and a reform-era DA's independent re-investigation over a decade later \u2014 each reach the same no-charges conclusion despite the family's persistent and specific factual dispute?", "What became of the Henry family's $120 million federal lawsuit against Mount Pleasant and Pleasantville?", "What prompted Westchester's DA to select Henry's case, alongside Kenneth Chamberlain Sr.'s, for independent re-review in 2023, and what criteria determine which past cases receive that kind of second look?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "ABC7 New York \u2014 \u201cProsecutor: No civil rights charges in police shooting of Pace football player\u201d", "url": "https://abc7ny.com/danroy-henry-police-shooting-pleasantville-civil-rights/638887/", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News \u2014 \u201cDanroy Henry Update: No Indictment in Police Killing of N.Y. College Football Player\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/danroy-henry-update-no-indictment-in-police-killing-of-ny-college-football-player/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WATD 95.9 FM \u2014 \u201cWestchester DA Says No Charges Will Be Submitted To Grand Jury In Death Of DJ Henry\u201d (2023)", "url": "https://959watd.com/blog/2023/07/westchester-da-says-no-charges-will-be-submitted-to-grand-jury-in-death-of-dj-henry/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "kenneth-chamberlain-sr", "caseNumber": "115", "name": "Kenneth Chamberlain Sr.", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2011, "age": 68, "gender": "male", "city": "White Plains", "county": "Westchester County", "state": "NY", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., 68, a retired Marine and 20-year Westchester County corrections officer with a chronic heart condition, was shot and killed in his own White Plains apartment on November 19, 2011, after his medical alert pendant was triggered accidentally. Chamberlain repeatedly told police through the door that he did not need help and asked them to leave; after roughly an hour, officers broke the door down, used a Taser and beanbag rounds, and then fatally shot him. A Westchester County grand jury declined to indict any officer in May 2012. The Department of Justice's Southern District of New York investigated separately and closed its inquiry in 2017 without federal charges, and a federal civil jury cleared the city and the officer of liability in 2016. No one has ever been criminally charged in Chamberlain's death.", "known": [ "The medical alert trigger, the hour-long standoff, and the shooting, per police dashcam, stun-gun camera footage, and the medical alert company's recorded audio, later released publicly.", "A Westchester County grand jury found no reasonable cause for an indictment against any officer in May 2012, per then-District Attorney Janet DiFiore.", "Then-Westchester Public Safety Commissioner David Chong confirmed that one officer at the scene, Steven Hart, used a racial slur while outside Chamberlain's apartment, which the department said it would review.", "The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York closed its own federal civil rights investigation in 2017, finding insufficient evidence for prosecution.", "A federal civil jury concluded in November 2016 that the City of White Plains and the officer who shot Chamberlain were not liable for his death, in a lawsuit brought by his family.", "The City of White Plains separately agreed in 2023 to a $5 million settlement with Chamberlain's family \u2014 the largest in the city's history \u2014 resolving remaining civil claims." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Chamberlain in fact brandished a knife at officers as they entered, as police maintained, was disputed by the family's attorney, who noted the only witnesses to that specific moment were the officers themselves.", "The full content of the medical alert company's recorded audio from inside the apartment has not been comprehensively released to the public.", "What specific review or discipline, if any, Officer Hart faced for the racial slur identified by the public safety commissioner has not been made public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did police continue and escalate a forced entry after being told repeatedly, over roughly an hour, that no medical emergency existed?", "What became of the department's stated review of Officer Hart's use of a racial slur during the standoff?", "Why did three separate proceedings \u2014 a grand jury, a federal civil rights investigation, and a federal civil trial \u2014 each conclude no one was liable, given the recorded evidence of Chamberlain's repeated statements that he needed no help?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice, Southern District of New York \u2014 \u201cU.S. Attorney's Office Closes Investigation Into The Death Of Kenneth Chamberlain\u201d", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/us-attorney-s-office-closes-investigation-death-kenneth-chamberlain", "verified": true }, { "name": "Democracy Now! \u2014 \u201cAs Grand Jury Clears White Plains Police in Kenneth Chamberlain's Death, New Tape Shows Fatal Raid\u201d", "url": "https://www.democracynow.org/2012/5/4/kenneth_chamberlain_sr_as_charges_ruled", "verified": true }, { "name": "ABC7 New York \u2014 \u201cCity of White Plains agree to $5 million settlement with family of Kenneth Chamberlain Sr.\u201d (2023)", "url": "https://abc7ny.com/post/white-plains-kenneth-chamberlain-sr-settlement-family/13624569/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "jonathan-ferrell", "caseNumber": "116", "name": "Jonathan Ferrell", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2013, "age": 24, "gender": "male", "city": "Charlotte", "county": "Mecklenburg County", "state": "NC", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Jonathan Ferrell, 24, a former Florida A&M football player, was shot and killed by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Randall \u201cWes\u201d Kerrick on September 14, 2013, after crawling from a wrecked car and banging on a nearby house's door seeking help; the resident, mistaking him for a home invader, called 911. Kerrick fired 12 rounds, striking Ferrell 10 times, eight while he was already on the ground; the two other responding officers did not fire. Kerrick was charged with voluntary manslaughter \u2014 the first Charlotte officer ever charged for an on-duty shooting \u2014 but a 2015 jury deadlocked 8-4 in favor of acquittal after four days of deliberation, resulting in a mistrial. North Carolina's attorney general declined to seek a retrial, and the charge was formally dismissed. No one has ever been convicted in Ferrell's death.", "known": [ "The car accident, Ferrell's approach to the house, and the shooting, per police dashcam footage and trial testimony.", "Kerrick fired 12 shots, striking Ferrell 10 times; the two other officers at the scene did not fire their weapons.", "Kerrick was arrested and charged with voluntary manslaughter within about 18 hours of the shooting, becoming the first Charlotte-Mecklenburg officer charged for an on-duty shooting.", "A jury of eight women and four men deliberated for four days before deadlocking 8-4 in favor of acquittal; Judge Robert C. Ervin declared a mistrial on August 21, 2015.", "North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper's office announced on August 28, 2015 that it would not seek a retrial, concluding a second trial was unlikely to yield a different result; the charge was dismissed.", "Kerrick resigned from the department and reached a separation agreement including approximately $180,000 in back pay." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Ferrell was charging at Kerrick, as Kerrick testified, or approaching in a manner that did not require deadly force, as prosecutors argued, was never resolved \u2014 the jury itself could not agree.", "Why the two other officers on scene, facing the same situation, did not fire their weapons was raised by prosecutors at trial but not resolved as a formal finding.", "The specific reasoning of the four jurors who favored conviction, versus the eight who favored acquittal, is not public, as with all jury deliberations." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did a jury split so evenly on whether deadly force was justified when two of three responding officers did not fire?", "What specific factors led North Carolina's attorney general to conclude a retrial would not yield a different outcome?", "What, if any, use-of-force policy changes did the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department make as a direct result of this case?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cJudge Declares Mistrial For Police Officer Who Killed Jonathan Ferrell\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna414001", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cRandall Kerrick, North Carolina Police Officer, Won't Be Retried For Killing\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/randall-kerrick-north-carolina-police-officer-wont-be-retried-killing-n417776", "verified": true }, { "name": "Slate \u2014 \u201cJonathan Ferrell shooting: How Charlotte avoided Ferguson's fate.\u201d", "url": "https://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2015/10/jonathan_ferrell_shooting_how_charlotte_avoided_ferguson_s_fate.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "milton-hall", "caseNumber": "117", "name": "Milton Hall", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2012, "age": 49, "gender": "male", "city": "Saginaw", "county": "Saginaw County", "state": "MI", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Milton Hall, 49, a homeless man with a documented history of mental illness, was shot and killed by six Saginaw, Michigan police officers on July 1, 2012, in a parking lot after a dispute with a convenience store clerk. Eight officers formed a semicircle around Hall, who held a small pocketknife; after a police dog was allowed to bark and snap at him, six officers opened fire, striking him 11 times out of 46 rounds fired, continuing to shoot after he had collapsed. The Saginaw County prosecutor and the Michigan Attorney General's office both declined to bring criminal charges, finding the officers had not acted with criminal intent. The Department of Justice opened its own civil rights investigation and announced in February 2014 that it too would not prosecute, citing insufficient evidence of willful misconduct. No one has ever been charged in Hall's death.", "known": [ "The confrontation, the police dog, and the shooting of 46 rounds by six of eight officers present, striking Hall 11 times, per Saginaw County Prosecutor Mike Thomas's public account and video obtained by CNN.", "The entire incident was captured on police dashcam video and a bystander's cellphone video, both later made public.", "After a 10-week investigation, the Saginaw County prosecutor announced in September 2012 that the six officers who fired would not face criminal charges, concluding they had not acted with criminal intent.", "The Saginaw Police Department demoted the on-site supervising officer to patrolman and disciplined two others for policy violations connected to the shooting; the six officers who fired remained on the force.", "The U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, and the FBI jointly announced in February 2014 that the evidence was insufficient to prove the officers had willfully shot Hall for an unlawful purpose, and declined federal prosecution.", "The ACLU of Michigan presented the case, including previously unreleased dashcam footage, to the Organization of American States' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in October 2014." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Hall's movements with the pocketknife, at the distance officers maintained, presented the imminent threat officers described has been disputed by the ACLU of Michigan and outside observers reviewing the same video the prosecutor's office relied on.", "The specific individual conduct of each of the six officers who fired, versus the two who did not, has not been distinguished in public reporting beyond the aggregate shot count.", "The precise nature of the internal discipline given to the supervising officer and two others, beyond a demotion, was not detailed publicly." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did six armed officers, having already deployed a police dog and formed a wide perimeter, conclude that a barrage of 46 rounds was the only available response to a man holding a small pocketknife at a distance?", "What specific evidence did both the county prosecutor's office and the Department of Justice find insufficient to establish criminal intent, given that video captured the entire incident?", "What became of the six officers who fired and remained on the Saginaw police force after the shooting?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "ACLU of Michigan \u2014 \u201cSaginaw Homeless Man Dies by Police Firing Squad\u201d", "url": "https://www.aclumich.org/cases/saginaw-homeless-man-dies-police-firing-squad/", "verified": true }, { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 \u201cJustice Department Announces Results of Investigation into the Death of Milton Hall\u201d", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-results-investigation-death-milton-hall", "verified": true }, { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cFeds: No charges in Michigan police shooting of homeless man\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2014/02/25/justice/michigan-police-shooting/index.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "miriam-carey", "caseNumber": "118", "name": "Miriam Carey", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2013, "age": 34, "gender": "female", "city": "Washington", "county": null, "state": "DC", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Miriam Carey, 34, a dental hygienist from Stamford, Connecticut, was shot and killed by U.S. Secret Service and Capitol Police officers on October 3, 2013, after a seven-minute car chase that began when she drove into a restricted checkpoint near the White House with her 1-year-old daughter in the car and ended near the U.S. Capitol. Carey, who her family said had been hospitalized for postpartum depression, was unarmed; two officers each fired nine rounds in the final confrontation, striking her five times. Her daughter was found unharmed in the car. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia announced in July 2014 that it found insufficient evidence to bring federal civil rights or local charges against any officer involved. No one has ever been charged in Carey's death.", "known": [ "The White House checkpoint breach, the seven-minute chase to the Capitol, and the shooting, per the U.S. Attorney's Office's public account based on more than 60 witness interviews and physical evidence.", "Carey was unarmed and not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, per the investigation; her 1-year-old daughter, in the car throughout, was found unharmed.", "Two officers, one from the Secret Service and one from Capitol Police, each fired nine rounds in the final confrontation near the Capitol, striking Carey five times.", "The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia announced on July 10, 2014 that there was insufficient evidence to prove the officers used excessive force or possessed criminal intent, and declined to bring any charges.", "Carey's sister filed a $75 million wrongful death lawsuit against the Secret Service and Capitol Police, alleging a failure of firearms control among officers on scene." ], "unknown": [ "Whether officers could have used other, less lethal means to stop Carey's vehicle before resorting to gunfire was raised publicly by observers and the family's attorney but was not addressed as a specific finding in the U.S. Attorney's public account.", "The full internal review of the specific decision-making by the individual officers who fired, beyond the aggregate 18 rounds described publicly, has not been released.", "The extent to which Carey's documented mental health history factored into how officers assessed and responded to the situation in real time was not detailed in the public charging decision." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did officers at three separate locations over seven minutes escalate to lethal force against an unarmed woman with a child in the car, rather than attempting to disable the vehicle by other means?", "What became of the Carey family's $75 million wrongful death lawsuit against the Secret Service and Capitol Police?", "What specific evidence did the U.S. Attorney's Office weigh in concluding the officers' use of force did not meet the threshold for criminal intent?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office for D.C. \u2014 official statement on the Miriam Carey investigation", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/us-attorney-s-office-concludes-investigation-death-miriam-careyno-charges-be-filed", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Washington Post \u2014 \u201cOfficers who shot woman in chase that ended near U.S. Capitol will not be charged\u201d", "url": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/officers-who-shot-woman-in-chase-that-ended-near-us-capitol-will-not-be-charged/2014/07/10/b46c1c2c-0858-11e4-8a6a-19355c7e870a_story.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "NPR \u2014 \u201cNo Charges For Police Who Killed Woman After D.C. Chase\u201d", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/07/10/330498423/no-charges-for-police-who-killed-woman-after-d-c-chase", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "daniel-prude", "caseNumber": "119", "name": "Daniel Prude", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 41, "gender": "male", "city": "Rochester", "county": "Monroe County", "state": "NY", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Daniel Prude, 41, a father of five visiting Rochester, New York from Chicago, died on March 30, 2020, a week after Rochester police officers restrained him naked on a snow-covered street during a mental health crisis. Body-camera video, not made public until September 2020, showed officers placing a mesh \u201cspit hood\u201d over his head and pressing his face into the pavement for roughly two minutes until he stopped breathing. The Monroe County medical examiner ruled his death a homicide from \u201ccomplications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint.\u201d New York Attorney General Letitia James's office presented the case to a grand jury, which voted 15\u20135 in February 2021 not to indict any of the three officers involved. No one has ever been charged in Prude's death.", "known": [ "The restraint, the spit hood, and Prude's death a week later, per body-camera video released by the family's attorneys in September 2020 and the Monroe County Medical Examiner's autopsy report.", "The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, citing asphyxia from physical restraint, with PCP listed as a contributing factor.", "New York Attorney General Letitia James's office, required by state law to investigate police-involved deaths of unarmed civilians, presented a criminally negligent homicide charge to a grand jury.", "The grand jury voted 15\u20135 not to indict any of the three officers, according to grand jury transcripts later released; five jurors indicated they would have voted to indict at least one officer.", "Rochester's police chief was fired and seven officers were suspended in the aftermath of the video's public release, before the grand jury's decision.", "The City of Rochester agreed to a $12 million settlement with Prude's estate for his five children in 2020." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the specific restraint technique used \u2014 which a 2015 department training bulletin itself warned could cause fatal positional asphyxia \u2014 was applied in a manner consistent with that training was presented to the grand jury but not resolved by any indictment.", "The full grand jury proceedings remain sealed by law beyond the vote count and portions of transcripts later released; the specific legal theory prosecutors argued for and against indictment on each officer individually is not fully public.", "Internal emails later showed Rochester police commanders urged withholding the video's public release, citing fears of unrest; the full extent of who in city government was aware of this recommendation, and when, has not been comprehensively detailed." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did five of twenty grand jurors favor indicting at least one officer while the majority did not, given a 2015 department training bulletin warning explicitly about the restraint position's asphyxiation risk?", "What specific role did the delayed public release of the body-camera footage \u2014 nearly six months after Prude's death \u2014 play in the investigation and prosecution timeline?", "What accountability, if any, did Rochester city officials face for the internal recommendation to delay releasing the video?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "New York Attorney General \u2014 official statement on the grand jury decision", "url": "https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2021/attorney-general-james-releases-statement-grand-jury-decision-regarding-death", "verified": true }, { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cGrand jury votes not to indict police officers in Rochester death of Daniel Prude\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/23/us/daniel-prude-rochester-police-grand-jury/index.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News \u2014 \u201cDaniel Prude's estate settles with city of Rochester for $12 million\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/daniel-prude-death-rochester-new-york-settlement", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "manuel-ellis", "caseNumber": "120", "name": "Manuel Ellis", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 33, "gender": "male", "city": "Tacoma", "county": "Pierce County", "state": "WA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Manuel \u201cManny\u201d Ellis, 33, died in a south Tacoma, Washington intersection on March 3, 2020, after Tacoma police officers tackled, punched, shocked him with a Taser, and restrained him face-down while he repeatedly told them he could not breathe. The Pierce County medical examiner ruled his death a homicide caused by oxygen deprivation from physical restraint. Washington's attorney general charged three officers in 2021 \u2014 the first time the state's AG had criminally charged officers for unlawful use of deadly force, using a new voter-approved police accountability law. After a nine-week trial, a Pierce County jury acquitted all three officers of every charge on December 21, 2023. The officers each subsequently received $500,000 to voluntarily leave the department. No one has ever been convicted in Ellis's death.", "known": [ "The confrontation, restraint, and Ellis's death, captured partly on a bystander's video, a doorbell camera, and police dispatch audio in which Ellis is heard repeatedly saying he could not breathe.", "The Pierce County medical examiner ruled the death a homicide caused by oxygen deprivation from physical restraint.", "Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson charged officers Matthew Collins and Christopher Burbank with second-degree murder and manslaughter, and Officer Timothy Rankine with manslaughter, in May 2021.", "A Pierce County jury acquitted all three officers of every charge on December 21, 2023, after a trial described as the largest single trial against law enforcement for an in-custody death since 1938.", "Defense attorneys argued at trial that methamphetamine intoxication and a heart condition, not the officers' restraint, caused Ellis's death.", "Following the acquittal, the Tacoma Police Department found none of the three officers had violated the department's use-of-force policy in effect at the time; all three subsequently received $500,000 separation payments to leave the department." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the combination of restraint techniques and Ellis's underlying physical state was the actual mechanism of death, as the defense argued, or whether the restraint itself was the primary cause, as the medical examiner's ruling and prosecution argued, was contested by expert witnesses on both sides and not resolved beyond the acquittal.", "The specific sequence of the initial contact \u2014 including what exactly officers observed before deciding to pursue and restrain Ellis \u2014 was disputed between witness accounts and the officers' testimony.", "The jury's specific reasoning for acquitting on every charge, across three different defendants and multiple counts, is not public, as with all jury deliberations." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the first criminal trial of police officers under Washington's new voter-approved accountability law end in a full acquittal despite video and audio evidence of Ellis repeatedly saying he could not breathe?", "What does the department's post-acquittal finding that no use-of-force policy was violated suggest about whether that policy itself needs to change?", "What became of the Ellis family's pending federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Tacoma, referenced during the criminal trial?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Seattle Times \u2014 \u201cTacoma police officers acquitted of charges in Manuel Ellis' death\u201d", "url": "https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/times-watchdog/verdict-delivered-in-tacoma-police-trial-over-manuel-ellis-death/", "verified": true }, { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201c3 Tacoma police officers found not guilty on all charges in death of Black man in police custody\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/21/us/manuel-ellis-tacoma-police-trial-verdict/index.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cWashington state officers acquitted in death of Manuel Ellis to receive $500K to leave police department\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/washington-state-officers-cleared-death-manuel-ellis-receive-500k-leav-rcna134366", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "relisha-rudd", "caseNumber": "121", "name": "Relisha Rudd", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "missing_persons", "year": 2014, "age": 8, "gender": "female", "city": "Washington", "county": null, "state": "DC", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "victimPhotos": [ { "url": "https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/relisha-tenau-rudd/@@images/image/large", "caption": "Relisha Tenau Rudd", "credit": "FBI" } ], "summary": "Relisha Rudd, 8, disappeared from Washington, D.C.'s D.C. General Family Shelter, where she lived with her mother and siblings, in early 2014. She was last seen on security footage on March 1, 2014, at a Northeast D.C. hotel with Kahlil Tatum, a 51-year-old shelter janitor with a prior felony record whom her mother had allowed to take her overnight. Her absence from school went unreported for roughly 18 days until a school counselor raised the alarm. Tatum was later found to have shot and killed his wife before being found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on April 1, 2014. Investigators believe Tatum killed Relisha before taking his own life, though her body has never been found and no charges have ever been filed in connection with her disappearance. Her case remains open more than a decade later.", "known": [ "Relisha's identity, age, and the March 1, 2014 sighting with Kahlil Tatum at a Northeast D.C. hotel, per the Metropolitan Police Department's official case listing and FBI surveillance footage.", "Tatum, the shelter's janitor, had a prior felony record for burglary, larceny, and breaking-and-entering, and had befriended Relisha's mother, buying gifts and taking the family on outings before being allowed to take Relisha overnight.", "Tatum's wife, Andrea Tatum, was found shot to death on March 20, 2014, in a Prince George's County, Maryland motel; Kahlil Tatum was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on April 1, 2014, at Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens in Northeast D.C.", "The FBI and Metropolitan Police Department continue to offer a reward, now reported at up to $50,000, for information leading to Relisha's location or recovery.", "D.C. police have stated the case remains open, with periodic public renewals of the search on anniversaries of her disappearance, including the case's 12th anniversary in March 2026." ], "unknown": [ "Relisha's exact fate and the location of her remains, if she is in fact deceased as investigators believe, have never been established; no body has ever been found.", "The precise circumstances and timeline of what happened to Relisha after the March 1 hotel sighting, and specifically whether Tatum acted alone, have not been publicly confirmed.", "Why Relisha's prolonged absence from school went unreported by shelter staff and family for roughly 18 days has not been fully explained in any public accounting." ], "unanswered": [ "What specifically happened to Relisha between the March 1, 2014 hotel sighting and Tatum's own death a month later?", "Why did it take 18 days for anyone \u2014 family, shelter staff, or school \u2014 to report her absence, despite Tatum's documented pattern of inappropriately fraternizing with shelter residents' children?", "What became of the contracted operator of the D.C. General Shelter's screening and supervision practices for staff following this case?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Federal Bureau of Investigation \u2014 Relisha Tenau Rudd case listing", "url": "https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/relisha-tenau-rudd", "verified": true }, { "name": "Metropolitan Police Department (DC), via Solve the Case \u2014 official case narrative", "url": "https://www.solvethecase.org/case/2014-2/relisha-tenau-rudd", "verified": true }, { "name": "WTOP News \u2014 \u201cSearch continues for DC girl who went missing 10 years ago\u201d", "url": "https://wtop.com/dc/2024/03/somebody-out-there-knows-something-search-continues-for-dc-girl-who-went-missing-10-years-ago/", "verified": true }, { "name": "NamUs \u2014 Missing Person Case #MP23937", "url": "https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP23937", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "asha-degree", "caseNumber": "122", "name": "Asha Degree", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "missing_persons", "year": 2000, "age": 9, "gender": "female", "city": "Shelby", "county": "Cleveland", "state": "NC", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "victimPhotos": [ { "url": "https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best/newscms/2017_06/1897191/asha_degree_photo.jpg", "caption": "Asha Degree", "credit": "FBI, via NBC News" } ], "summary": "Asha Degree, 9, disappeared from her family's home in Shelby, North Carolina in the early morning hours of February 14, 2000. Several motorists reported seeing her walking alone south along Highway 18 around 3:30\u20134:00 a.m. in heavy rain, carrying a backpack she had packed herself; when one driver slowed to approach her, she ran into the woods. Her parents discovered her missing later that morning. Eighteen months later, her backpack was found buried along the same highway, about 26 miles from her home. In 2024, investigators searched multiple properties belonging to a local family, seizing a vehicle matching a description linked to the night she disappeared, and increased the reward to $100,000; a person reportedly told police in 2024 that a member of that family had once said \u201cI killed Asha Degree.\u201d No arrest has ever been made, and Asha has never been found.", "known": [ "Asha's identity, age, and the February 14, 2000 disappearance, per the FBI's official case record and the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office.", "Multiple motorists independently reported seeing a girl matching her description walking alone along Highway 18 in the predawn hours; one driver who slowed to approach her said she ran into a wooded area.", "Asha's backpack, containing items including a children's book and a concert T-shirt, was found buried in a plastic bag along the same highway roughly 18 months later.", "In September 2024 and again in 2026, investigators executed search warrants on properties belonging to the Dedmon family of Shelby, seizing a vehicle matching witness descriptions, VHS tapes, journals, and other items; the FBI and North Carolina SBI have named a member of that family as a person of interest.", "The combined reward for information has grown to $100,000, and no arrest warrants have been issued as of the most recent public reporting." ], "unknown": [ "Why Asha left her home in the middle of the night carrying a packed backpack has never been established.", "The specific vehicle she may have entered, described as a dark green early-1970s Lincoln Mark IV or Ford Thunderbird, has not been conclusively confirmed as connected to a named suspect despite a similar vehicle being seized in the 2024 searches.", "The full content of items seized in the 2024 and 2026 property searches, and what specifically they are alleged to show, has not been made public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did Asha leave her home on her own in the middle of the night, and where was she walking to?", "What specifically has the seized vehicle and other evidence from the Dedmon family property searches shown investigators, and why has no arrest followed?", "Is Asha still alive, as her family continues to hope, or was she killed shortly after her disappearance, as investigators have said they now believe?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Federal Bureau of Investigation, Charlotte Field Office \u2014 official case appeal", "url": "https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/charlotte/news/press-releases/investigators-seek-public-assistance-in-unsolved-missing-girl-investigation", "verified": true }, { "name": "ABC11 Raleigh-Durham \u2014 \u201cSearch continues 25 years after girl vanished\u201d", "url": "https://abc11.com/post/asha-degree-nc-girl-disappears-missing-25-years-shelby-cleveland-co-fbi-sbi-search/15885590/", "verified": true }, { "name": "CrimeOnline \u2014 \u201cWhere Is Asha Degree? Questions Loom Decades After Girl's Suspicious 2000 Disappearance\u201d", "url": "https://www.crimeonline.com/2026/02/10/where-is-asha-degree-questions-loom-decades-after-girls-suspicious-2000-disappearance/", "verified": true }, { "name": "NamUs \u2014 Missing Person Case #MP2316", "url": "https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP2316", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "keeshae-jacobs", "caseNumber": "123", "name": "Keeshae Jacobs", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "missing_persons", "year": 2016, "age": 21, "gender": "female", "city": "Richmond", "county": null, "state": "VA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Keeshae Jacobs, 21, disappeared in Richmond, Virginia after visiting a male friend's home on September 26, 2016. She texted her mother, Toni Jacobs, that she had arrived safely and would see her the next day; she was never heard from again. Richmond Police publicly stated in November 2017 that they believed foul play was involved, and in 2023 named a man, Otis Tucker, as a suspect in her disappearance; Tucker had given Jacobs's mother conflicting accounts of when he last saw her. In November 2022, Tucker was separately arrested and charged with second-degree murder and evidence tampering in the death of a different woman in Florida. He has never been charged in connection with Jacobs's disappearance. No arrest has been made and Keeshae has never been found.", "known": [ "Jacobs's identity, age, and the September 26, 2016 disappearance after visiting a friend's home in Richmond's Church Hill neighborhood, per Richmond Police statements and her mother's account.", "Richmond Police publicly stated in November 2017 that they suspected foul play in her disappearance.", "In 2023, Richmond Police told local media their detectives consider Otis Tucker a suspect; Jacobs's mother has said Tucker gave her conflicting accounts of when he last saw her daughter.", "In November 2022, Tucker was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and tampering with evidence in the death of a woman in Jacksonville, Florida \u2014 a case separate from Jacobs's disappearance.", "Jacobs's case is featured in the HBO Max docuseries \"Black and Missing\" and an NBC \"Dateline: Missing in America\" episode, both examining the comparatively limited media and law enforcement attention her case received relative to some missing white women's cases." ], "unknown": [ "What specifically happened to Jacobs after she was last seen at the friend's home has never been established.", "Whether Tucker's arrest and conviction in the unrelated Florida case has any evidentiary connection to Jacobs's disappearance has not been stated by investigators.", "Jacobs's mother has said the FBI, to her knowledge, had not opened a federal investigation into the case as of 2021; whether that status has since changed has not been confirmed publicly." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did it take Richmond Police over a year to publicly state that foul play was suspected in Jacobs's disappearance?", "Has any connection been investigated between Otis Tucker's 2022 Florida murder charge and Jacobs's 2016 disappearance?", "Why has the case received markedly less sustained law enforcement and media attention than comparable missing-person cases involving white victims, as advocates and Jacobs's own mother have publicly noted?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NBC News / Dateline \u2014 \u201cDateline Missing in America podcast covers 2016 disappearance of Keeshae Jacobs\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/dateline-missing-america-podcast-covers-2016-disappearance-keeshae-jacobs-richmond-n1297692", "verified": true }, { "name": "WWBT NBC12 \u2014 \u201c\u2018I just want justice\u2019: Investigation continues into disappearance of Keeshae Jacobs\u201d", "url": "https://www.12onyourside.com/2023/09/26/i-just-want-justice-investigation-continues-into-disappearance-keeshae-jacobs/", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News \u2014 \u201cThese families want help finding Keeshae Jacobs, Mary Johnson, Alicia Navarro and hundreds of other missing people\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gabby-petito-keeshae-jacobs-mary-johnson-alicia-navarro-missing-people/", "verified": true }, { "name": "NamUs \u2014 Missing Person Case #MP35792", "url": "https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP35792", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "kierra-coles", "caseNumber": "124", "name": "Kierra Coles", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "missing_persons", "year": 2018, "age": 26, "gender": "female", "city": "Chicago", "county": "Cook", "state": "IL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Kierra Coles, 26, a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier who was three months pregnant, disappeared from Chicago's Chatham neighborhood on October 2, 2018, after calling in sick to work. Surveillance footage that day showed her walking near her apartment in her postal uniform despite having called out; her car was later found parked on her block with her phone, purse, and lunch bag still inside. Chicago Police announced within two weeks that they suspected foul play. In 2022, police released additional surveillance video showing Coles withdrawing cash at a Walgreens ATM and driving off with a man identified as a person of interest shortly before her disappearance; that man was questioned but gave varying accounts and has never been arrested. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service raised its reward to $250,000 in 2026, the largest the agency offers. No arrest has ever been made and Coles has never been found.", "known": [ "Coles's identity, age, pregnancy, and the October 2, 2018 disappearance, per the Chicago Police Department and U.S. Postal Inspection Service.", "Surveillance video showed Coles in her postal uniform near her apartment the day she had called in sick; her car was later found parked nearby with her phone, purse, and a packed lunch bag inside.", "Chicago Police publicly stated in mid-October 2018, roughly two weeks after her disappearance, that they suspected foul play.", "In 2022, police released surveillance video from shortly before her disappearance showing Coles withdrawing cash at a Walgreens ATM and driving off with a man police have called a person of interest; that same man returned her car to her apartment block the next day.", "The person of interest was questioned by police and gave varying accounts of that night, but no arrest has been made.", "The U.S. Postal Inspection Service increased its reward to $250,000 in August 2026, a tenfold increase from the original $25,000 reward offered in 2018 and the largest reward the agency offers." ], "unknown": [ "The identity of the man seen with Coles on the Walgreens surveillance video shortly before her disappearance has not been publicly released.", "What specifically the varying accounts that man gave to police described, and why they were considered insufficient to support an arrest, has not been detailed publicly.", "Whether Coles's pregnancy or her relationship with the child's father played any role in her disappearance has not been established by investigators." ], "unanswered": [ "Why has the person of interest seen with Coles hours before her disappearance never been publicly named or arrested?", "What specific new evidence, if any, prompted the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's tenfold reward increase in 2026, nearly eight years after her disappearance?", "What became of the car, phone, and purse recovered at the scene, and what forensic analysis, if any, was performed on them?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "CBS News Chicago \u2014 \u201c$250,000 reward offered in 2018 disappearance of pregnant postal worker Kierra Coles\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/new-reward-disappearance-missing-pregnant-postal-worker-kierra-coles/", "verified": true }, { "name": "ABC News \u2014 \u201cFoul play suspected in disappearance of pregnant postal worker Kierra Coles\u201d", "url": "https://abcnews.com/US/pregnant-postal-worker-missing-weeks-police-suspect-foul/story?id=58582518", "verified": true }, { "name": "Chicago Sun-Times \u2014 \u201c$250,000 reward offered for information in 2018 disappearance of pregnant postal worker\u201d", "url": "https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2026/08/18/250-000-reward-offered-for-information-in-2018-disappearance-of-pregnant-postal-worker", "verified": true }, { "name": "NamUs \u2014 Missing Person Case #MP56098", "url": "https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP56098", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "nakyla-williams", "caseNumber": "125", "name": "Nakyla Williams", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "missing_persons", "year": 2021, "age": 24, "gender": "female", "city": "Indianapolis", "county": null, "state": "IN", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Nakyla Williams, 24, a hairstylist who ran a salon out of her basement, disappeared in Indianapolis, Indiana on November 8, 2021, after a doorbell camera captured her getting into a loud, gray or white pickup truck outside her mother's home. She was later seen at a different residence that evening before leaving and never being heard from again. Her family identified a man named Bestin (or Destyn) Hoyle as the last person known to be with her; police sought him for questioning, though they have not classified him as a formal suspect. Her mother has said Hoyle left the state for Flint, Michigan shortly after Williams disappeared and deleted his social media interactions with her. Her family believes she may have been trafficked. No arrest has ever been made and Williams has never been found.", "known": [ "Williams's identity, age, and the November 8, 2021 disappearance, per the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and her family's accounts.", "A doorbell camera captured her leaving her mother's home and getting into a loud pickup truck; she was later seen at a residence in the 3400 block of North Leland Avenue before leaving that evening.", "Her cell phone last pinged along Kentucky Avenue shortly after her disappearance.", "Police identified Bestin (or Destyn) Hoyle as someone they wished to question, though they have stated he has not been classified as a suspect; Williams's mother has said Hoyle left for Flint, Michigan shortly afterward and deleted online interactions with Williams.", "IMPD issued a public missing person alert roughly three weeks after her disappearance; police later said their characterization of the case shifted from \u201cfoul play not suspected\u201d to a less definitive position within about a year." ], "unknown": [ "What happened to Williams after she was last seen leaving the North Leland Avenue residence has never been established.", "Whether Hoyle has ever been formally interviewed or cleared by police, beyond being sought for questioning, has not been made public.", "Whether Williams's disappearance is connected to drug use or trafficking, as some family members have suggested, has not been confirmed by investigators." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did it take Indianapolis police roughly three weeks to issue a public missing person alert for Williams?", "Has Bestin Hoyle ever been located and formally interviewed by police regarding the case?", "Why did police's public characterization of the case shift from \u201cfoul play not suspected\u201d without a clear public explanation of what changed?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NewsNation \u2014 \u201cNakyla Williams: Family pleads for someone to speak up\u201d", "url": "https://www.newsnationnow.com/missing/nakyla-williams/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WTHR \u2014 \u201cIMPD searching for missing 24-year-old Indianapolis woman\u201d", "url": "https://www.wthr.com/article/news/local/impd-indianapolis-missing-person-nakyla-williams/531-ef8c8107-32e8-4529-8bee-9d14fc87fd2b", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cCarlee Russell's case gave hope missing Black women finally mattered\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/carlee-russells-case-gave-hope-missing-black-women-finally-mattered-do-rcna95331", "verified": true }, { "name": "NamUs \u2014 Missing Person Case #MP107987", "url": "https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP107987", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "jahi-turner", "caseNumber": "126", "name": "Jahi Turner", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "missing_persons", "year": 2002, "age": 2, "gender": "male", "city": "San Diego", "county": "San Diego", "state": "CA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Jahi Turner, 2, disappeared from a Golden Hill-area playground in San Diego on April 25, 2002, while in the care of his stepfather, Tieray Jones, whose 18-year-old Navy sailor wife was deployed at sea. Jones told police he left Jahi with a woman and other children at the park to buy a soda and returned to find them all gone; police found inconsistencies in his account but lacked evidence to charge him at the time. The case went cold for 14 years until new evidence, including a journal entry Jones wrote to his wife describing Jahi as unresponsive after a fall two days before he was reported missing, led to a murder charge in 2016. A 2018 jury deadlocked 10\u20132 in favor of acquittal on second-degree murder, and 10\u20132 in favor of conviction on the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter; the judge declared a mistrial and later denied prosecutors' request for a second trial, finding it unlikely any future jury could reach a unanimous verdict given the missing body and 16-year delay. No one has ever been convicted, and Jahi has never been found.", "known": [ "Jahi's disappearance from a Golden Hill park on April 25, 2002, per San Diego police records and Jones's own account to investigators.", "Police found inconsistencies in Jones's story in 2002 but lacked sufficient evidence to file charges at that time; the case remained open as a suspected homicide for over a decade.", "Jones was arrested in North Carolina in 2016 after new evidence emerged, and charged with murder and felony child abuse causing death.", "A journal entry Jones had written to his deployed wife, dated two days before he reported Jahi missing, described the toddler as unresponsive and not moving or talking after falling off a bed.", "A 2018 jury deadlocked after deliberation, splitting 10\u20132 toward acquittal on second-degree murder and 10\u20132 toward conviction on involuntary manslaughter; the judge declared a mistrial.", "Superior Court Judge Joan Weber denied the prosecution's request for a second trial in March 2018, stating the missing body and 16-year gap made it unlikely any future jury could reach a unanimous verdict, effectively ending the criminal case.", "Jahi's body has never been found despite extensive searches, including of the Miramar landfill." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Jahi died from an accidental injury that Jones then concealed, or was killed outright, has never been resolved \u2014 the judge herself said she could not rule out several different scenarios, including the possibility Jones's original story was true.", "The location of Jahi's remains, if his death is confirmed, has never been established.", "The exact numerical jury split differed slightly between contemporaneous news reports on the murder versus manslaughter counts, though all describe a hung jury favoring acquittal on the more serious charge." ], "unanswered": [ "What did the journal entry Jones wrote to his wife actually describe happening to Jahi, and why did it take 14 years to surface as evidence?", "Why couldn't the jury reach a unanimous verdict despite the circumstantial evidence prosecutors presented, including witness testimony about Jones disposing of unusual bags the day before Jahi was reported missing?", "Is there any possibility of resolving the case through renewed forensic examination, given advances since the original 2002 investigation?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "KPBS \u2014 \u201cStepfather Arrested In 2002 Cold Case Of Missing Toddler\u201d", "url": "https://www.kpbs.org/news/midday-edition/2016/04/18/suspect-arrested-for-2-year-old-who-disappeared", "verified": true }, { "name": "KPBS \u2014 \u201cJudge Dismisses Charge Against Tieray Jones In Murder Of 2-Year-Old Stepson\u201d", "url": "https://www.kpbs.org/news/public-safety/2018/03/21/judge-dismisses-murder-charge-against-tieray-jones", "verified": true }, { "name": "ABC7 Los Angeles \u2014 \u201cJury deadlocks in murder trial of stepfather accused of killing 2-year-old Jahi Turner\u201d", "url": "https://abc7.com/post/mistrial-declared-in-jahi-turner-murder-case/3225743/", "verified": true }, { "name": "City of San Diego Police Department \u2014 official cold case record", "url": "https://www.sandiego.gov/police/news-center/cold-cases/jahi-turner", "verified": true }, { "name": "NamUs \u2014 Missing Person Case #MP6751", "url": "https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP6751", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "anwar-green", "caseNumber": "127", "name": "Anwar Green", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "missing_persons", "year": 2001, "age": null, "gender": "male", "city": "Newark", "county": "Essex", "state": "NJ", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Anwar Green disappeared in Newark, New Jersey on January 19, 2001, after he and his friend Rahim Martin cashed a civil lawsuit settlement check for over $8,000 at a bank in downtown Newark. Surveillance footage showed Green appearing nervous and repeatedly glancing at the door inside the bank. The two men were last seen together at a nearby office building, where Martin briefly called his uncle from a lobby payphone without going up to see him. The day after the pair were reported missing, a man's burned and murdered body was found inside a deliberately set house fire in Newark; that body was identified as Martin in August 2010, nine years later, using DNA technology unavailable at the time of his death. No trace of Green has ever been found, and investigators believe both men were the victims of a robbery connected to the cash they were carrying.", "known": [ "The bank withdrawal, the surveillance footage showing Green appearing nervous, and the men's disappearance, per the Charley Project's case record.", "A man's murdered, burned body was found in a deliberately set house fire in Newark the day after Green and Martin were reported missing; that body was identified as Rahim Martin in August 2010 through DNA analysis.", "Green had no adult criminal history beyond a juvenile probation violation and was not known to abandon contact with his close family, per the same record.", "Investigators theorize both men were targeted and killed for the cash they had just withdrawn, given the timing and the discovery of Martin's body." ], "unknown": [ "Where Green's remains are, if he is deceased as investigators believe, has never been established.", "Whether the same person or people responsible for Martin's murder and arson are also responsible for Green's disappearance has not been confirmed publicly.", "No suspect has ever been publicly named in either man's case." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did it take nine years to identify Martin's body despite it being recovered within a day of the men's disappearance?", "What specific evidence, if any, connects Martin's murder and arson to Green's disappearance beyond their shared timeline?", "Has advancing forensic technology been applied to any physical evidence retained from the original 2001 investigation?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Charley Project \u2014 Anwar Green case record", "url": "https://charleyproject.org/case/anwar-green", "verified": true }, { "name": "NamUs \u2014 Missing Person Case #MP788", "url": "https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP788", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "brown-family", "caseNumber": "128", "name": "Carolyn, Sheketah, Barry & Brandon Brown", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "missing_persons", "year": 1985, "age": null, "gender": null, "city": "Port St. Lucie", "county": "St. Lucie", "state": "FL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Carolyn Denise Brown, 27, and her three children \u2014 10-year-old Sheketah, 6-year-old Barry, and 2-year-old Brandon \u2014 disappeared from their Port St. Lucie, Florida home in July 1985. Carolyn's mother alerted police in August after weeks without contact; officers found the home undisturbed at first glance, but Carolyn's purse held identification cut into pieces, an untouched meal sat on the dining table, and a freshly repainted wall concealed bloodstains beneath. Carolyn's husband and the children's father, James Michael Brown, later confessed in detail to killing all four, telling investigators where he said he disposed of each body \u2014 locations that were searched without any remains ever being recovered. Court-appointed psychiatrists diagnosed James as a paranoid schizophrenic experiencing hallucinations; a jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity in the deaths of Carolyn and Sheketah, and he was never separately charged for Barry and Brandon's deaths because their locations couldn't be confirmed. He was committed to a Florida mental health facility, later released to a halfway house, and was free by 1997. No family member has ever been found, and no one has ever been convicted of a crime in their deaths.", "known": [ "The family's disappearance and the physical evidence found in the home \u2014 the cut-up identification, the untouched meal, and bloodstains hidden beneath fresh paint \u2014 per the Charley Project's case record and contemporaneous reporting.", "James Michael Brown confessed to killing his wife and all three children, describing shooting Carolyn and smothering Brandon at the home, then separately killing Sheketah and Barry days later after driving them toward Georgia.", "A jury found James not guilty by reason of insanity in the deaths of Carolyn and Sheketah in late 1985; he was never charged in Barry and Brandon's deaths because prosecutors could not confirm the disposal locations he described.", "Court-appointed mental health professionals diagnosed James with paranoid schizophrenia, including auditory and visual hallucinations.", "James was committed to a Florida mental health facility, transferred to a halfway house in 1996, and released from the program in 1997; he was later imprisoned in 2005 on unrelated armed robbery charges.", "Despite extensive searches of the locations James described, none of the four family members has ever been found." ], "unknown": [ "Whether James's detailed confession accurately describes what happened is unconfirmed independent of his own account \u2014 some investigators have said they believe he lied about where he disposed of the bodies.", "The full reasoning behind the jury's not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity finding, including how it weighed the confession's internal consistency against the insanity defense, has not been made public.", "Why searches of every location James named turned up no remains at all has never been explained." ], "unanswered": [ "If James's confession is accurate, why have extensive searches of the locations he described never recovered any remains?", "What accounts for the specific timeline discrepancy between the family's actual disappearance and the July 25 date under which the case is sometimes recorded?", "What has become of James Michael Brown since his 2005 imprisonment on unrelated charges?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Charley Project \u2014 Brandon Mitchell Brown case record", "url": "https://charleyproject.org/case/brandon-mitchell-brown", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Doe Network \u2014 Sheketah Michele Brown case record", "url": "https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/250dffl.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "NamUs \u2014 Missing Person Case #MP10492 (Carolyn Denise Brown)", "url": "https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP10492", "verified": true }, { "name": "NamUs \u2014 Missing Person Case #MP5887 (Sheketah Brown)", "url": "https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP5887", "verified": true }, { "name": "NamUs \u2014 Missing Person Case #MP5885 (Barry Brown)", "url": "https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP5885", "verified": true }, { "name": "NamUs \u2014 Missing Person Case #MP5886 (Brandon Brown)", "url": "https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP5886", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "jalesa-reynolds", "caseNumber": "129", "name": "Jalesa Chantell Reynolds", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "missing_persons", "year": 2010, "age": null, "gender": "female", "city": "Scotland Neck", "county": "Halifax", "state": "NC", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Jalesa Chantell Reynolds, a shy teenager described by loved ones as more outgoing online than in person, disappeared from Scotland Neck, North Carolina on February 22, 2010. She had logged onto Facebook that morning from the public library, then logged on again that afternoon from the home of Dwayne Hosea Davis, a registered sex offender with a prior rape conviction. Authorities believe she left Davis's residence sometime between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. that day; she has never been heard from since. No arrest has ever been made and Jalesa has never been found.", "known": [ "Jalesa's identity and the February 22, 2010 disappearance, per the Charley Project's case record.", "She logged into Facebook from the Scotland Neck Memorial Library at 11:00 a.m. and again from Dwayne Hosea Davis's residence at 1:40 p.m. that same day.", "Davis is a registered sex offender who served nearly seven years in prison for a 1994 rape conviction.", "Authorities believe Jalesa left Davis's residence between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m., the last confirmed indication of her whereabouts." ], "unknown": [ "What happened to Jalesa after she left Davis's residence has never been established.", "Whether Davis has ever been named a formal suspect, versus simply the last known person to have contact with her, has not been made public.", "No physical evidence connected to her disappearance has been publicly disclosed." ], "unanswered": [ "Why has the fact that Jalesa was last confirmed at the home of a registered sex offender not resulted in any publicly disclosed charge or named suspect?", "What, if anything, did Davis tell investigators about her visit and departure?", "Has DNA or other forensic evidence from Davis's residence ever been tested against Jalesa's case?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Charley Project \u2014 Jalesa Chantell Reynolds case record", "url": "https://charleyproject.org/case/jalesa-chantell-reynolds", "verified": true }, { "name": "NamUs \u2014 Missing Person Case #MP10109", "url": "https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP10109", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "tasha-wright", "caseNumber": "130", "name": "Tasha Shante Wright", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "missing_persons", "year": 1989, "age": 10, "gender": "female", "city": "Dallas", "county": "Dallas", "state": "TX", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Tasha Shante Wright, 10, a gifted-and-talented fourth-grader, disappeared while walking a short distance within her own apartment complex in east Dallas, Texas on October 14, 1989. She successfully delivered a message from her mother to a neighbor's apartment, but never made it back to her own unit only a few doors away. An unconfirmed witness sighting placed her in a nearby breezeway shortly afterward, and she may have been seen staring at nearby bushes moments before vanishing. Extensive searches by police, search dogs, and helicopters covering a five-mile radius found no trace of her. No suspect has ever been publicly named and Tasha has never been found.", "known": [ "Tasha's identity, age, and the October 14, 1989 disappearance at the Valley Glen Apartments in east Dallas, per the Dallas Police Department and NamUs case record.", "She successfully reached a neighbor's apartment to deliver her mother's message before vanishing on the short walk back to her own unit.", "An extensive search involving search dogs, helicopters, and a five-mile radius canvass by neighbors turned up no trace of her.", "Investigators and her family believe she was abducted, based on the short, familiar distance involved and the absence of any indication she left voluntarily." ], "unknown": [ "What happened to Tasha in the brief window between leaving the neighbor's apartment and her own has never been established.", "Whether the unconfirmed breezeway sighting and the report of her \u201cstaring at some bushes\u201d beforehand are connected to her disappearance, or to each other, has never been verified.", "No suspect has ever been publicly named in the 36 years since her disappearance." ], "unanswered": [ "Why has no suspect ever been publicly identified despite the disappearance occurring in broad daylight within a residential apartment complex?", "Was the unconfirmed breezeway sighting ever meaningfully investigated, and if so, what did it yield?", "What, if any, cold case review has this file received in the decades since, given advances in investigative technology?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Charley Project \u2014 Tasha Shante Wright case record", "url": "https://charleyproject.org/case/tasha-shante-wright", "verified": true }, { "name": "Solve the Case \u2014 Tasha Shante Wright case narrative", "url": "https://www.solvethecase.org/case/1989-28/tasha-shante-wright", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Doe Network \u2014 Tasha Shante Wright case record", "url": "https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/245dftx.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "NamUs \u2014 Missing Person Case #MP9889", "url": "https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP9889", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "barbara-dreher", "caseNumber": "131", "name": "Barbara Jean Dreher", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "missing_persons", "year": 1984, "age": 39, "gender": "female", "city": "Washington", "county": null, "state": "DC", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Barbara Jean Dreher, 39, a mother of five who had worked as a Washington, D.C. public school secretary for fifteen years, disappeared on August 12, 1984 after dropping her two young sons off at her adult daughter's home, telling them she was going to pick up some money and would return shortly. Days later, her son spotted her burgundy Oldsmobile being driven by an unfamiliar man; he followed the car, called police, and identified the driver at the scene. Because the car had not been reported stolen, the man was released without arrest, though a ski mask, gloves, and rope were found inside the impounded vehicle. In 2018, D.C. police's cold case squad examined whether skeletal remains found in a Southeast D.C. apartment crawl space could be Dreher's; those remains were later identified as three unrelated women who had disappeared in 2006, ruling out a connection to Dreher's case. No one has ever been charged, and Barbara has never been found.", "known": [ "Barbara's identity, age, and the August 12, 1984 disappearance, per the Metropolitan Police Department's missing person record and family accounts.", "Her son spotted and followed her Oldsmobile days after her disappearance, called police, and identified the man driving it at the scene; that man denied knowing Dreher or having driven the car.", "A ski mask, gloves, and rope were found inside the impounded vehicle, though the identified driver was released without arrest since the car had not been reported stolen at that point.", "The Washington Post reported the identified driver had a documented history of violence: as a teenager he had pleaded guilty to the stabbing deaths of a 23-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl, who was also gang-raped before being killed; he received a short sentence for his role. A year after Dreher's disappearance, he was separately charged with abducting and raping another woman, though those charges were later dismissed.", "D.C. police's Cold Case squad examined a potential DNA match between Dreher and skeletal remains found in a Southeast D.C. apartment crawl space in 2018; those remains were identified that August as Jewel Marquita King, Verdell Jefferson, and Dorothy Jean Butts, three women unconnected to Dreher who had all disappeared from the same Southeast D.C. neighborhood in 2006, ruling out any connection between that discovery and Dreher's case.", "The department has offered a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in Dreher's case." ], "unknown": [ "The identity of the man found driving Dreher's car, and why he was released without arrest despite the items found inside the vehicle, has never been fully explained publicly.", "Original case evidence was reportedly mishandled or lost early in the investigation, per family and podcast reporting, though the full extent of what was lost is unclear." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was the man identified driving Dreher's car released without arrest, given the items found inside the vehicle and his separate documented history of violence?", "What specific case evidence was lost or mishandled in the investigation's early days, and has that affected the case's prospects for resolution?", "With the 2018 crawl-space remains now identified as unrelated to her case, what investigative leads, if any, remain open in Dreher's own file today?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Washington Post \u2014 \u201cIn 1984, she went missing. Could the skeletal remains found in a D.C. apartment crawl space...belong to this mother?\u201d", "url": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/in-1984-she-went-missing-could-the-skeletal-remains-found-in-a-dc-apartment-crawl-space-in-april-belong-to-this-mother/2018/06/20/37f3955c-68ea-11e8-9e38-24e693b38637_story.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Charley Project \u2014 Barbara Jean Dreher case record", "url": "https://charleyproject.org/case/barbara-jean-dreher", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Deck (podcast) \u2014 \u201cBarbara Dreher, King of Hearts, Washington DC\u201d", "url": "https://thedeckpodcast.com/barbara-dreher/", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Washington Post \u2014 \u201cPolice connect remains to three women who vanished in Southeast Washington in 2006\u201d", "url": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/police-identify-remains-of-three-skeletons-found-buried-in-southeast-washington/2018/08/15/7c1cfe32-a09c-11e8-8e87-c869fe70a721_story.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "NamUs \u2014 Missing Person Case #MP7962", "url": "https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP7962", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "millbrook-twins", "caseNumber": "132", "name": "Dannette & Jeannette Millbrook", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "missing_persons", "year": 1990, "age": 15, "gender": "female", "city": "Augusta", "county": "Richmond", "state": "GA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Dannette and Jeannette Millbrook, 15-year-old fraternal twins, disappeared in Augusta, Georgia on March 18, 1990, after walking to a nearby gas station for snacks and telling their mother a man in a van had followed part of their route earlier that day. A gas station clerk was the last person to see them; nothing further is known about the man in the van. The Richmond County Sheriff's Office concluded the girls were runaways based on hearsay and closed the case in 1991, despite their mother's insistence they would not have left voluntarily. The case sat effectively unworked for over two decades until a newly elected sheriff reopened it in 2013; investigators have since interviewed witnesses, canvassed the area, and collected DNA samples from family members. Investigators have since examined a possible connection to convicted serial killer Joseph Patrick Washington, who had ties to the twins' own father and was separately convicted of murdering, kidnapping, and sexually assaulting Black women in the area during the 1990s; as of January 2026, DNA from the twins' family was being compared against unidentified remains found in Louisiana in 1993. Their case is believed to be one of the only unresolved disappearances of twins in American history.", "known": [ "The twins' identities, ages, and the March 18, 1990 disappearance after visiting a Pump-N-Shop gas station, per the Richmond County Sheriff's Office and Wikipedia's sourced case record.", "The twins told their mother a man in a van had followed part of their route earlier that day; investigators never identified this man.", "The Richmond County Sheriff's Office closed the case in 1991, having concluded based on hearsay that the girls were runaways, over their mother's objections.", "The case was reopened in 2013 after a newly elected sheriff, Richard Roundtree, took office; investigators have since collected DNA from family members and conducted new interviews and area canvasses.", "A witness account relayed years later to investigators and journalists alleged violence against one of the twins at a specific location in Augusta, though this account has not been independently confirmed or resulted in any charge.", "Local television investigators reported ties between convicted serial killer Joseph Patrick Washington, charged with murders, kidnapping, and sexual assaults of Black women in the Augusta area during the 1990s, and the twins' father, John Millbrook, who has himself been separately linked to unrelated Richmond County crimes dating to that era.", "The family submitted DNA in 2017 for comparison against unidentified remains believed connected to Washington's other victims; as of a January 2026 update, DNA from the family was being newly compared against a separate set of unidentified remains found in Louisiana in 1993, described by local reporters as a potential first major break in the case.", "The twins' sister, Shanta Sturgis, has continued public advocacy for the case, including a dedicated tip website and a reward that stood at $50,000 as of 2023, with a stated reduction to $11,000 if the case remained unresolved past that August.", "A 2017 investigative podcast examining the case is credited by local reporters with pushing the family's first-ever in-person meeting with Sheriff Roundtree to discuss the investigation's handling.", "No arrest has ever been made and neither twin has ever been found." ], "unknown": [ "What happened to the twins after they were last seen at the gas station has never been established.", "The identity of the man in the van the twins described to their mother has never been confirmed.", "Whether the unverified witness account describing violence against one twin at a specific Augusta location is accurate has not been independently confirmed by investigators.", "Whether either twin was in fact a victim of Joseph Patrick Washington has never been confirmed; the connection remains a working theory investigators and journalists have pursued, not an established fact.", "The outcome of the DNA comparison against the 1993 Louisiana remains, ongoing as of January 2026, was not yet known as of the sources reviewed for this summary." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the original 1990\u201391 investigation conclude the twins were runaways based on hearsay, over their mother's direct objections?", "What did the DNA samples collected from family members after the 2013 reopening ultimately contribute to the investigation?", "Has the unverified account alleging violence against one twin at a specific location ever been formally investigated, and if so, what did it yield?", "What is the outcome of the January 2026 DNA comparison against the unidentified Louisiana remains, and has it been resolved one way or the other?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 \u201cDisappearance of Dannette and Jeannette Millbrook\u201d (sourced case history)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Dannette_and_Jeannette_Millbrook", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News / Dateline \u2014 \u201cLittle sister still searching for twins Dannette and Jeannette Millbrook\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/cold-case-spotlight/little-sister-still-searching-twins-dannette-jeannette-millbrook-last-rcna80952", "verified": true }, { "name": "WFXG \u2014 \u201c35 years since the Millbrook twins went missing, family still looking for answers\u201d", "url": "https://www.wfxg.com/news/35-years-since-the-millbrook-twins-went-missing-family-still-looking-for-answers/article_5490666e-0464-11f0-a99f-fb6a75488013.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "WRDW/WAGT \u2014 \u201cNew DNA comparison offers hope in 36-year-old Millbrook twins case\u201d", "url": "https://www.wrdw.com/2026/01/21/new-dna-comparison-offers-hope-36-year-old-millbrook-twins-case/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WRDW/WAGT \u2014 \u201cI-TEAM UPDATE: After TV documentary, Sheriff Richard Roundtree reacts, talks leads in Millbrook twins case\u201d", "url": "https://www.wrdw.com/content/news/I-TEAM-UPDATE-After-TV-documentary-Sheriff-Richard-Roundtree-seeks-new-leads-in-Millbrook-twins-case-565746392.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "NamUs \u2014 Missing Person Case #MP20497 (Dannette Latonia Millbrook)", "url": "https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP20497", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "pshara-jones", "caseNumber": "133", "name": "Pshara Marie Jones", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "missing_persons", "year": 2015, "age": 20, "gender": "female", "city": "Claremore", "county": "Rogers", "state": "OK", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Pshara Marie Jones, 20, a pharmacy employee, left her family's home in Claremore, Oklahoma on foot and without her phone on the evening of September 21, 2015, following an argument. Bank records show two transactions that same night, including one at a convenience store, but no account activity since. She never returned for medication she took for a mental health condition and never showed up for her next shift at the pharmacy where she worked. Her mother did not report her missing for roughly two weeks, initially expecting her to return or call as she reportedly had after past arguments. The Claremore Police Department's chief investigator has stated publicly that investigators strongly believe foul play was involved. No arrest has ever been made and Pshara has never been found.", "known": [ "Pshara's identity, age, and the September 21, 2015 disappearance following an argument at her family's home, per the Claremore Police Department and NamUs case record.", "Bank records show two transactions the night she disappeared, including one at a convenience store, and no account activity since.", "She left her phone and car behind and never returned for medication she took for a documented mental health condition.", "Claremore Police Department Chief Investigator John Singer has stated publicly that investigators strongly believe foul play was involved in her disappearance.", "A lead involving a man Pshara had reportedly discussed meeting online was investigated by police and did not yield further evidence." ], "unknown": [ "What happened to Pshara after her recorded transactions on the night she disappeared has never been established.", "No suspect has ever been publicly named in the case.", "Whether her documented mental health condition played any role in the circumstances of her disappearance, beyond her having left without her medication, has not been established by investigators." ], "unanswered": [ "Why do investigators strongly suspect foul play, and what specific evidence supports that conclusion beyond the absence of any activity on her accounts?", "What came of the online-contact lead police investigated, and were there others like it?", "Why did it take roughly two weeks for her disappearance to be formally reported, and did that delay affect the investigation?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Charley Project \u2014 Pshara Marie Jones case record", "url": "https://charleyproject.org/case/pshara-marie-jones", "verified": true }, { "name": "Missing Pshara Jones (family-maintained case site) \u2014 case narrative and updates", "url": "https://missingpsharajones.com/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "clinton-avenue-five", "caseNumber": "134", "name": "The Clinton Avenue Five", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "missing_persons", "year": 1978, "age": null, "gender": "male", "city": "Newark", "county": "Essex", "state": "NJ", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Melvin Pittman, 17, Ernest Taylor, 17, Alvin Turner, 16, Randy Johnson, 16, and Michael McDowell, 16 \u2014 five teenagers known as the Clinton Avenue Five \u2014 vanished together in Newark, New Jersey on August 20, 1978, after playing basketball and getting into a pickup truck driven by Lee Anthony Evans, a local handyman who paid them in odd jobs. The case went cold as a missing-persons file for three decades until 2008, when Evans's cousin Philander Hampton, in police custody on an unrelated charge, confessed after a 13-hour interrogation that Evans had lured the boys to a vacant house, locked them in a closet at gunpoint over a stolen-marijuana dispute, and set the building on fire, killing all five. Hampton pleaded guilty and received a 10-year sentence plus $15,000 in relocation money in exchange for testifying against Evans. At Evans's 2011 trial, where he represented himself, a jury acquitted him of all ten murder-related charges, finding the prosecution's case \u2014 built almost entirely on Hampton's confession, with no bodies or physical evidence ever recovered \u2014 insufficient. No one has ever been convicted of killing the five boys, whose remains have never been found.", "known": [ "The five teenagers' identities, ages, and the August 20, 1978 disappearance after boarding Evans's pickup truck, per Wikipedia's sourced case history and contemporaneous reporting.", "In November 2008, Philander Hampton confessed after a 13-hour police interrogation that he and his cousin, Lee Anthony Evans, lured the boys to a vacant house at 256 Camden Street, locked them in a third-floor closet at gunpoint, and burned the building down with them inside.", "Sonar searches of the fire site, conducted after Hampton's confession, found no human remains.", "Evans and Hampton were arrested and charged with felony murder and arson in March 2010.", "Hampton pleaded guilty and received a 10-year prison sentence and $15,000 in relocation money in exchange for testifying against Evans.", "A jury acquitted Evans, who represented himself at trial, of all ten murder-related charges in November 2011, finding the prosecution had not proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.", "Evans later filed a federal civil suit against the Essex County prosecutor's office and Newark police alleging his confession-based prosecution relied on coerced testimony and fabricated evidence; a federal appeals panel ruled in 2025 that the detectives involved were not entitled to qualified immunity from that suit." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Evans was in fact responsible for the boys' deaths, as Hampton's confession described, has never been established beyond that single confession \u2014 the jury found it insufficient, and no physical evidence or remains have ever corroborated it.", "The specific details of what led two Newark detectives to reopen the case in 2008 after three decades, and what led to Hampton's 13-hour interrogation, have been disputed in Evans's later civil litigation.", "The extent to which coercion may have shaped Hampton's confession, as alleged in Evans's civil suit, remains an open legal question as of the 2025 appellate ruling." ], "unanswered": [ "If Hampton's confession is accurate, why have extensive searches never recovered any physical remains or corroborating evidence?", "What specifically will Evans's ongoing civil litigation over the detectives' interrogation tactics establish about how the case was built against him?", "Why was the case classified purely as a missing-persons matter for three decades, without the 1978 fire at 256 Camden Street ever being examined as a possible crime scene at the time?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 \u201cClinton Avenue Five\u201d (sourced case history)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Avenue_Five", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News \u2014 \u201cLee Evans Acquitted Of Murdering 5 Newark Teens In 1978\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/lee-evans-acquitted-of-murdering-5-newark-teens-in-1978", "verified": true }, { "name": "Local Talk Weekly \u2014 \u201cFederal Judges: Detectives' Immunity Lifted In Clinton Avenue Five Case\u201d", "url": "https://localtalkweekly.com/index.php/2025/09/26/federal-judges-detectives-immunity-lifted-in-clinton-avenue-five-case/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "anthony-lamar-smith", "caseNumber": "135", "name": "Anthony Lamar Smith", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2011, "age": 24, "gender": "male", "city": "St. Louis", "county": "St. Louis", "state": "MO", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Anthony Lamar Smith, 24, was shot and killed by St. Louis Police Officer Jason Stockley on December 20, 2011, after a high-speed chase that began when Stockley believed he witnessed a drug transaction outside a Church's Chicken. Dashcam audio captured Stockley telling his partner \u201cwe're killing this [expletive], don't you know it\u201d less than a minute before shooting Smith five times. Prosecutors alleged Stockley then planted a revolver in Smith's car \u2014 only Stockley's DNA was found on the gun, not Smith's. Stockley was charged with first-degree murder in 2016 and chose to have his case decided by a judge rather than a jury; in September 2017, Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson acquitted him, writing the state had not proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt and remarking that \u201can urban heroin dealer not in possession of a firearm would be an anomaly.\u201d No one has ever been convicted in Smith's death.", "known": [ "The chase, the shooting, and Smith's death, per dashcam footage and evidence presented at Stockley's 2017 bench trial.", "Dashcam audio captured Stockley saying \u201cwe're killing this [expletive], don't you know it\u201d approximately one minute before he shot Smith five times.", "In-car camera footage showed Stockley returning to his SUV and searching through a duffel bag immediately after the shooting; prosecutors alleged he retrieved a revolver from that bag to plant in Smith's car.", "DNA testing found Stockley's DNA on the gun recovered from Smith's car, and did not find Smith's.", "Stockley requested a bench trial rather than a jury trial, over prosecutors' objection; Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson acquitted him of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in September 2017, ruling the state had not disproven self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt.", "The acquittal prompted sustained protests in downtown St. Louis, including dozens of arrests." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Stockley in fact planted the gun in Smith's car, as prosecutors alleged based on the DNA evidence and his return to the duffel bag, was never resolved by any conviction \u2014 the judge found the evidence insufficient to disprove self-defense regardless.", "The specific reasoning behind the judge's remark that an urban heroin dealer lacking a firearm would be unusual, as a basis for crediting Stockley's account, has been criticized by legal observers as an inference not grounded in evidence specific to Smith.", "Whether Smith in fact possessed a weapon prior to the alleged planting has never been independently established." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did DNA testing find only Stockley's DNA, not Smith's, on the gun recovered from Smith's car?", "What specifically was in the duffel bag Stockley searched through immediately after the shooting, and why did he go through it before securing the scene?", "Why did Judge Wilson choose to credit an inference about drug dealers generally, rather than evidence specific to this case, in his written ruling?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NPR \u2014 \u201cFormer St. Louis Police Officer Is Acquitted Of Murder In Anthony Lamar Smith Case\u201d", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/09/15/551228046/former-st-louis-police-officer-is-acquitted-of-murder-in-anthony-lamar-smith-cas", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News \u2014 \u201cJason Stockley not-guilty verdict: St. Louis ex-officer acquitted in killing of black man\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jason-stockley-verdict-st-louis-officer-acquitted-anthony-lamar-smith/", "verified": true }, { "name": "BlackPast.org \u2014 \u201cAnthony Lamar Smith (1987-2011)\u201d", "url": "https://blackpast.org/african-american-history/smith-anthony-lamar-1987-2011/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "christian-taylor", "caseNumber": "136", "name": "Christian Taylor", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2015, "age": 19, "gender": "male", "city": "Arlington", "county": "Tarrant", "state": "TX", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Christian Taylor, 19, an Angelo State University football player, was shot and killed by rookie Arlington, Texas Police Officer Brad Miller on August 7, 2015, inside a car dealership showroom he had broken into and was vandalizing while, an autopsy later showed, under the influence of a hallucinogen. Miller broke from his training officer and entered the showroom alone without informing his supervisor, then shot Taylor, who was unarmed, four times as Taylor advanced toward him after refusing to get on the ground. Miller was fired days later for what the police chief called a \u201ccatastrophic\u201d tactical decision to confront Taylor alone. A Tarrant County grand jury declined to indict Miller in June 2016. No one has ever been charged in Taylor's death.", "known": [ "The break-in, the confrontation, and the shooting, per Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson's public statements and dealership surveillance video of Taylor's behavior beforehand.", "Miller entered the showroom alone, without informing his supervising officer, rather than helping establish a perimeter as instructed.", "Taylor was unarmed; an autopsy found THC and a synthetic hallucinogen known as N-BOMB in his system, which the Tarrant County Medical Examiner said can cause hallucinations and erratic behavior.", "Miller's training officer, who followed him into the showroom, deployed a Taser that failed to stop Taylor before Miller fired his service weapon four times.", "Miller was fired four days after the shooting; Chief Johnson said Miller's tactical decisions led to \u201ccascading consequences\u201d resulting in the shooting.", "A Tarrant County grand jury declined to indict Miller on any charge on June 8, 2016.", "The City of Arlington approved an $850,000 settlement with Taylor's family in May 2017." ], "unknown": [ "The precise sequence of Taylor's advance toward Miller, and whether verbal commands were given the opportunity to work before Miller fired, was described only through police and Miller's own account, since no video exists of the shooting itself.", "Why Miller chose to enter alone rather than wait for backup, given ten other officers were reportedly in the vicinity, has not been fully explained beyond the department's internal review.", "The full grand jury proceedings, which concluded no charges were warranted, remain sealed as with all grand jury deliberations." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did a police chief's own department publicly characterize the shooting as caused by the responding officer's tactical errors, while the grand jury still declined to indict?", "Why was there no video capturing the shooting itself despite extensive surveillance coverage of the dealership showing Taylor's behavior beforehand?", "What specific additional training or protocol changes did the Arlington Police Department implement following this case?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "BlackPast.org \u2014 \u201cChristian Taylor (1995-2015)\u201d", "url": "https://blackpast.org/african-american-history/taylor-christian-1995-2015/", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth \u2014 \u201cTarrant County Grand Jury No Bills Arlington Police Officer in Fatal Teen Shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/tarrant-county-grand-jury-no-bills-arlington-police-officer-in-fatal-shooting-christian-taylor/95102/", "verified": true }, { "name": "National Police Accountability Project \u2014 \u201cFamily of Unarmed Texas 19-Year-Old Killed by Police Officer to Receive $850K Settlement\u201d", "url": "https://www.nlg-npap.org/project/family-of-unarmed-texas-19-year-old-killed-by-police-officer-to-receive-850k-settlement/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "kajieme-powell", "caseNumber": "137", "name": "Kajieme Powell", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2014, "age": 25, "gender": "male", "city": "St. Louis", "county": "St. Louis", "state": "MO", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Kajieme Powell, 25, was shot and killed by St. Louis Police Officers Nicholas Shelton and Ellis Brown outside a convenience store on August 19, 2014 \u2014 ten days after the shooting of Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson. Officers responding to a report of shoplifting and a man carrying a knife found Powell, who witnesses said was in mental distress; a bystander's cellphone video showed police firing 12 shots roughly 23 seconds after arriving on scene, as Powell advanced holding what a later analysis confirmed was a knife. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce reviewed forensic evidence, witness accounts, and a 3-D spatial reconstruction before announcing in November 2015 that no charges would be filed, concluding a criminal violation could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. A use-of-force expert later hired by Powell's family disputed the analysis Joyce's office relied on. No one has ever been charged in Powell's death.", "known": [ "The shooting, the roughly 23-second timeframe from officers' arrival to gunfire, and Powell's death, per bystander cellphone video and the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's 40-page public report.", "911 callers reported Powell had stolen items from the store and was carrying a knife, though no caller reported he appeared to be experiencing a mental health crisis.", "Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce's office reviewed forensic, video, 911, dispatch, and witness evidence along with a third-party 3-D spatial analysis before concluding in November 2015 that a criminal violation against either officer could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.", "A separate force analysis commissioned in 2015 by a Washington University professor and shared with both prosecutors and the family's attorney disputed the circuit attorney's application of standard use-of-force distance calculations, arguing officers who already had weapons drawn needed less reaction time than the analysis assumed.", "Powell's mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and the two named officers in federal court." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Powell was experiencing a mental health crisis that officers could have de-escalated differently, as his family's attorney has argued, was not resolved by the circuit attorney's charging decision.", "The specific weight given to the disputed 3-D spatial and use-of-force analyses in the circuit attorney's final conclusion has been challenged by outside experts but not independently re-examined by any court.", "What internal disciplinary review, if any, the two officers faced separate from the criminal charging decision has not been made comprehensively public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did prosecutors rely on a 3-D spatial analysis tool designed for traffic accident reconstruction, as the family's attorney and an outside use-of-force expert both questioned, to evaluate a deadly force shooting?", "What became of Karen Powell's federal wrongful death lawsuit against the city and the officers?", "What crisis-intervention training, if any, did the responding officers have, given witness accounts describing Powell as in mental distress?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "STLPR (St. Louis Public Radio) \u2014 \u201cOfficers will not face charges in August 2014 shooting death of Kajieme Powell\u201d", "url": "https://www.stlpr.org/government-politics-issues/2015-11-03/officers-will-not-face-charges-in-august-2014-shooting-death-of-kajieme-powell", "verified": true }, { "name": "St. Louis Magazine \u2014 \u201cPolice Officers Who Killed Kajieme Powell Won't Face Charges\u201d", "url": "https://www.stlmag.com/news/breaking-news-police-officers-who-killed-kajieme-powell-won%E2%80%99/", "verified": true }, { "name": "St. Louis Post-Dispatch \u2014 \u201cKajieme Powell's mother files wrongful death suit against St. Louis police\u201d", "url": "https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/kajieme-powells-mother-files-wrongful-death-suit-against-st-louis-police/article_87f99e85-b83f-5ebd-95e0-bfe19d5900fe.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "vonderrit-myers-jr", "caseNumber": "138", "name": "VonDerrit Myers Jr.", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2014, "age": 18, "gender": "male", "city": "St. Louis", "county": "St. Louis", "state": "MO", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "VonDerrit Myers Jr., 18, was shot and killed by an off-duty St. Louis police officer, Jason Flanery, working a private security patrol job on October 8, 2014, in the city's Shaw neighborhood \u2014 exactly two months after Michael Brown's death in nearby Ferguson. Police said Myers ran from the officer, then turned and fired three shots at him during a foot chase before Flanery returned fire, striking Myers multiple times; a stolen 9mm handgun was recovered at the scene. Myers's family disputed that he was armed at the moment he was shot and said the investigation contained inconsistencies. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce reviewed the case independently of a grand jury and announced in May 2015 that criminal charges could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. No one has ever been charged in Myers's death.", "known": [ "The chase, the shooting, and Myers's death in the 4100 block of Shaw Boulevard, per the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department's Force Investigation Unit and the Circuit Attorney's public report.", "A stolen 9mm Ruger handgun was recovered at the scene; gunshot residue and ballistics evidence cited in the Circuit Attorney's report were said to support that Myers fired first.", "The Circuit Attorney's Office, rather than a grand jury, independently reviewed the police department's investigation and announced on May 18, 2015 that a criminal violation could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.", "Three witnesses identified in the investigation declined to cooperate with the Circuit Attorney's review, per the office's own report.", "Myers's family's attorney stated the family believed Myers was not armed at the time he was shot and announced plans for a wrongful death lawsuit.", "The shooting prompted sustained protests in St. Louis, including confrontations with police in the following weeks." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Myers in fact fired at the officer before being shot, as the Circuit Attorney's report concluded based on ballistics and gunshot residue, or whether he was unarmed at the critical moment, as his family's attorney maintained, was never tested in any criminal trial.", "What the three witnesses who declined to cooperate with the investigation might have added to the record has never been established.", "The full physical sequence of the chase through the gangway between buildings, including the officer's final shots described in the report, relies substantially on the officer's own account." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did three witnesses decline to cooperate with the Circuit Attorney's investigation, and what might their accounts have added?", "Why did the Circuit Attorney choose to conduct an independent review rather than present the case to a grand jury, and how did that choice affect public confidence in the outcome?", "What became of the wrongful death lawsuit the Myers family's attorney announced plans to file?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "St. Louis Public Radio \u2014 \u201cOff-duty officer will not be charged in the shooting death of VonDerrit Myers Jr.\u201d", "url": "https://www.stlpr.org/politics-issues/2015-05-18/off-duty-officer-will-not-be-charged-in-the-shooting-death-of-vonderrit-myers-jr", "verified": true }, { "name": "St. Louis American \u2014 \u201cNo charges filed in police shooting of VonDerrit Myers Jr...raises case of mistaken identity\u201d", "url": "https://www.stlamerican.com/news/local-news/no-charges-filed-in-police-shooting-of-vonderrit-myers-jr-investigation-differs-with-police-on-key-points-and-raises-case-of-mistaken-identity/", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News \u2014 \u201cVonDerrit Myers Jr. shooting: St. Louis cop who killed 18-year-old avoids charges\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/st-louis-cop-who-killed-18-year-old-avoids-charges/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "legrier-and-jones", "caseNumber": "139", "name": "Quintonio LeGrier & Bettie Jones", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2015, "age": null, "gender": null, "city": "Chicago", "county": "Cook", "state": "IL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Quintonio LeGrier, 19, a Northern Illinois University student experiencing a mental health crisis, and Bettie Jones, 55, his family's downstairs neighbor, were both shot and killed by Chicago Police Officer Robert Rialmo on December 26, 2015, while responding to a domestic disturbance call. Jones opened her door to direct officers upstairs; LeGrier came down the stairs swinging an aluminum bat, and Rialmo fired eight shots, six striking LeGrier and one accidentally striking Jones, whom police immediately acknowledged was an innocent bystander. The Cook County State's Attorney's Office declined to bring criminal charges in 2017, finding insufficient evidence to disprove self-defense. The city's own police oversight agency later found Rialmo's account \u201cinconsistent and ultimately unreliable\u201d and recommended his firing; the Chicago Police Board unanimously fired him in 2019, though only over the Jones shooting \u2014 a separate civil jury found the LeGrier shooting itself justified. No one has ever been criminally charged in either death.", "known": [ "The domestic disturbance call, the shooting, and both deaths, per the Chicago Police Department, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), and Rialmo's own account.", "LeGrier's father called 911 three times reporting his son, who had a history of mental health issues, was behaving erratically and threatening him; neither the father's calls nor LeGrier's own three 911 calls that night informed dispatchers of any mental health context.", "Rialmo fired eight shots, striking LeGrier six times and Jones once; the department acknowledged Jones was shot by mistake.", "The Cook County State's Attorney's Office announced in February 2017 that there was insufficient evidence to prove Rialmo did not act in self-defense, declining to bring charges.", "COPA investigators concluded Rialmo's use of deadly force was not justified, finding \u201cno evidence\u201d to support his account and calling his statements \u201cinconsistent and ultimately unreliable\u201d; the police superintendent initially rejected that finding before later recommending Rialmo's firing.", "The Chicago Police Board voted unanimously in October 2019 to fire Rialmo specifically over the Jones shooting, finding he had room to safely reposition himself before firing in her direction.", "Jones's family settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the city for $16 million; LeGrier's family won $1 million from a civil jury, but a judge voided that award after the same jury separately found Rialmo's shooting of LeGrier itself was justified." ], "unknown": [ "Whether LeGrier was close enough and moving fast enough to justify deadly force at the moment Rialmo fired, as the civil jury ultimately found regarding LeGrier specifically while the Police Board found Rialmo could have repositioned to avoid hitting Jones, reflects two different bodies reaching different conclusions about the same shots.", "The specific reasoning behind the state's attorney's declination, versus COPA's contrary finding that Rialmo's account was unreliable, has not been fully reconciled in any public record.", "What if anything in the responding officers' training addressed encountering a person in mental health crisis has not been detailed publicly." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the state's attorney's office and the city's own police oversight agency reach opposite conclusions about the reliability of Rialmo's account of the shooting?", "Why were responding officers not informed of LeGrier's mental health history despite multiple 911 calls that night, and has CPD's dispatch protocol changed as a result?", "How can a civil jury find the LeGrier shooting itself justified while the same underlying volley of shots led to Rialmo's firing specifically over Jones's death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NBC Chicago \u2014 \u201cPolice Board Fires Robert Rialmo in Aftermath of Fatal 2015 Shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/police-board-fires-robert-rialmo-in-aftermath-of-fatal-2015-shooting/1939446/", "verified": true }, { "name": "ABC7 Chicago \u2014 \u201cNo charges for cop in fatal shooting of Bettie Jones, Quintonio LeGrier\u201d", "url": "https://abc7chicago.com/post/no-charges-for-cop-in-fatal-shooting-of-bettie-jones-quintonio-legrier/1748388/", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS Chicago \u2014 \u201cPolice Board Member To Decide If Officer Could Be Fired For Double Fatal Shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/police-board-robert-rialmo-shooting-quintonio-legrier-bettie-jones/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "willie-mccoy", "caseNumber": "140", "name": "Willie McCoy", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2019, "age": 20, "gender": "male", "city": "Vallejo", "county": "Solano", "state": "CA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Willie McCoy, 20, a local rapper, was shot and killed by six Vallejo, California police officers who fired 55 rounds at him in 3.5 seconds on February 9, 2019, after he was found asleep behind the wheel of his car in a Taco Bell drive-thru with a handgun in his lap. Officers surrounded the vehicle; when McCoy stirred awake, they said he reached for the gun, and all six opened fire, striking him roughly 25 times. The Solano County District Attorney recused her office, and a special prosecutor concluded in January 2021 that all six officers acted in lawful self-defense. An independent use-of-force report commissioned by the city separately found the shooting \u201creasonable and necessary,\u201d though the police chief internally recommended firing one of the six officers for unsafe firearm handling that endangered his colleagues \u2014 the only consequence any officer faced. No one has ever been criminally charged in McCoy's death.", "known": [ "The welfare-check call, the 55 shots fired in 3.5 seconds, and McCoy's death, per an independent use-of-force report commissioned by the City of Vallejo and body camera footage released by police.", "McCoy had a stolen handgun in his lap when officers arrived; police said he reached for it when he woke up, prompting the six officers to open fire.", "Solano County District Attorney Krishna Abrams recused her office from the case; special prosecutor Michael Ramos, a former San Bernardino County district attorney, concluded in January 2021 that all six officers were legally justified.", "An independent use-of-force report, prepared by a consultant retained by the city, found the officers' actions \u201cobjectively reasonable and necessary.\u201d", "Vallejo Police Chief Shawny Williams internally recommended firing Officer Ryan McMahon in March 2020, finding his firearm handling during the shooting endangered other officers on scene and violated department policy; McMahon had also fatally shot another man, Ronell Foster, in 2018 without facing discipline.", "McMahon was formally fired in 2020 \u2014 the only disciplinary consequence any of the six officers faced, and unconnected to any criminal charge." ], "unknown": [ "Whether McCoy was in fact reaching for the gun, versus simply waking up disoriented, was disputed by the family's attorney, who called the response \u201coverkill\u201d and \u201cunnecessary,\u201d and has never been resolved by any criminal proceeding.", "Why six officers firing 55 rounds at a man seated in a parked car was found reasonable by both the special prosecutor and the city's own hired use-of-force expert, when McCoy's family disputed that characterization, has not been reconciled.", "The same use-of-force expert who reviewed this shooting had also found the officers justified in the unrelated fatal shooting of Stephon Clark, a pattern the family's attorney publicly questioned." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did it take nearly two years for a charging decision to be reached after the district attorney's recusal?", "Why was Officer McMahon kept on the force after his 2018 shooting of Ronell Foster, only to be involved in a second fatal shooting the following year?", "What specific department-wide changes, if any, did Vallejo implement given its documented status as one of the region's highest per-capita rates of police shootings?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cVallejo police fired 55 shots at Willie McCoy in 3.5 seconds\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/vallejo-police-fired-55-shots-willie-mccoy-3-5-seconds-n1017176", "verified": true }, { "name": "KTVU \u2014 \u201cNo charges against Vallejo cops in deadly shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.ktvu.com/news/no-charges-against-vallejo-cops-in-deadly-shooting", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Guardian, via Yahoo News \u2014 \u201cVallejo police chief recommended firing officer involved in Willie McCoy shooting\u201d", "url": "https://news.yahoo.com/vallejo-police-chief-recommended-firing-011108233.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "marcus-david-peters", "caseNumber": "141", "name": "Marcus-David Peters", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2018, "age": 24, "gender": "male", "city": "Richmond", "county": null, "state": "VA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Marcus-David Peters, 24, a high school biology teacher, was shot and killed by Richmond, Virginia Police Officer Michael Nyantakyi on May 14, 2018, during a mental health crisis. Peters struck several vehicles with his car, crashed near an Interstate 95 ramp, then emerged naked and unarmed and ran into rush-hour highway traffic, where he was struck by a passing car. Body camera video showed him lying in the road, rolling and moving his limbs, before getting up and running toward Nyantakyi shouting threats; the officer deployed a Taser without effect, then fired his service weapon. Richmond's Commonwealth's Attorney found the shooting a \u201cjustifiable homicide\u201d months later in 2018, and a successor prosecutor who reopened the case at the family's request reached the identical conclusion in 2020. No one has ever been charged in Peters's death, and his name has become a lasting symbol of Richmond's police reform movement.", "known": [ "The car crash, Peters's naked and unarmed state, and the shooting on the I-95/64 ramp, per Richmond Police body camera footage and the Commonwealth's Attorney's public reports.", "Nyantakyi, who is also Black, first deployed a Taser, which appeared to have no effect, before firing his service weapon as Peters ran toward him shouting threats.", "Commonwealth's Attorney Michael Herring released a 15-page report in August 2018 concluding the shooting was reasonable and necessary and declining to charge Nyantakyi.", "A relative of Peters admitted to removing and disposing of a Ritalin prescription bottle from his apartment after his death, according to Herring's report; toxicology found THC and Ritalin in Peters's system.", "In 2020, successor Commonwealth's Attorney Colette McEachin agreed to review the case again at the urging of Peters's family and reform advocates, and reached the same conclusion in a 10-page report: the shooting was a reasonable response to the danger Peters posed.", "Peters's sister, Princess Blanding, became a prominent police-reform advocate following his death and later ran for governor of Virginia." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Peters, in the specific disoriented state captured on body camera \u2014 unarmed, naked, having just been struck by a car \u2014 posed the level of threat both prosecutors' reports concluded has been disputed by his family and reform advocates, but was never tested in any criminal trial.", "The removal of Peters's Ritalin bottle by a family member after his death, and what that family member's reasoning was, has not been fully explained publicly beyond Herring's report noting it occurred.", "What specific de-escalation options, if any, existed between the Taser's ineffectiveness and the use of a firearm has been debated by outside police-practice observers but not resolved by either prosecutorial review." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did two separate prosecutors, four years apart, reach identical conclusions despite sustained public and family pressure to reconsider?", "What specifically led a family member to remove and dispose of medication from Peters's apartment after his death, and how did that affect the investigation's toxicology findings?", "What crisis-intervention training did Nyantakyi have prior to the encounter, and did Richmond's police department change that training as a result of this case?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "PBS NewsHour / AP \u2014 \u201cVirginia prosecutor finds 2018 police shooting justified\u201d", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/virginia-prosecutor-finds-2018-police-shooting-justified", "verified": true }, { "name": "Richmond Magazine \u2014 \u201cNo Charges in Peters Death\u201d", "url": "https://richmondmagazine.com/news/news/peters/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WRIC ABC 8News \u2014 \u201cRichmond's top prosecutor won't reopen Marcus-David Peters investigation\u201d", "url": "https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/richmond/richmond-prosecutor-wont-reopen-marcus-david-peters-investigation/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "ronell-foster", "caseNumber": "142", "name": "Ronell Foster", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2018, "age": 33, "gender": "male", "city": "Vallejo", "county": "Solano", "state": "CA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Ronell Foster, 33, a father of two, was shot and killed by Vallejo, California Police Officer Ryan McMahon on February 13, 2018, after McMahon tried to stop him for riding his bicycle without a headlight. Foster fled on foot after a chase; McMahon Tased him twice without effect, struck him repeatedly with a metal flashlight \u2014 including at least one blow to the head, which McMahon later admitted was a use of deadly force \u2014 and, after Foster grabbed the flashlight, shot him seven times, including once in the head and four times in the back. The Solano County District Attorney's Office cleared McMahon of criminal charges in January 2020, nearly two years later, finding the shooting justified. McMahon was the same officer who, thirteen months after killing Foster, was one of six Vallejo officers who fired 55 rounds at Willie McCoy in a Taco Bell drive-thru. No one has ever been charged in Foster's death.", "known": [ "The bicycle stop, the pursuit, and the shooting, per McMahon's own sworn deposition in a subsequent civil lawsuit and body camera footage released by police.", "McMahon Tased Foster twice, without apparent effect, then struck him with a metal flashlight \u2014 including a blow to the head that McMahon later acknowledged in his deposition constituted deadly force \u2014 before shooting him seven times.", "The Solano County District Attorney's Office announced in January 2020 that it could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that McMahon's use of force was not justified, citing his account that Foster grabbed the flashlight and presented it in a threatening manner; body camera footage did not clearly show that alleged threat, per contemporaneous reporting.", "Internal Vallejo Police Department reviews reached conflicting conclusions: the internal affairs sergeant who investigated initially cleared McMahon of policy violations, while both the department's deputy chief and interim chief who ordered a later review disagreed.", "McMahon was the same officer involved in the February 2019 fatal shooting of Willie McCoy, and was ultimately fired in 2020 specifically for unsafe conduct during the McCoy shooting \u2014 not for his conduct in Foster's death.", "The City of Vallejo settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Foster's family for $5.7 million, reported as the largest settlement in the city's history at the time." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Foster in fact \u201cpresented\u201d the flashlight in a threatening manner sufficient to justify deadly force, as McMahon claimed, was disputed by a witness account cited in the family's lawsuit and was never resolved by any criminal proceeding.", "Why internal department reviewers reached opposite conclusions about whether McMahon's conduct violated policy has not been fully reconciled in public reporting.", "Why the same officer was permitted to remain on active duty after this shooting, going on to participate in the fatal shooting of Willie McCoy thirteen months later, has not been addressed in any official public accounting beyond his eventual firing over the McCoy incident specifically." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did prosecutors and internal investigators reach different conclusions about whether McMahon's conduct was within policy, and why was the more critical internal assessment not acted on sooner?", "What specifically changed between McMahon's clearance in this case and his firing over the McCoy shooting a year later, given both involved similar allegations of unsafe conduct?", "What accounts for Vallejo's documented rate of police shootings, among the highest of any California city per capita, and what reforms, if any, followed these two cases specifically?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "ProPublica \u2014 \u201cVallejo Police Killing Investigations\u201d", "url": "https://www.propublica.org/article/vallejo-police-killing-investigations", "verified": true }, { "name": "San Francisco Chronicle \u2014 \u201cVallejo police killing of Ronell Foster justified, says Solano County district attorney\u201d", "url": "https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Vallejo-police-killing-of-Ronell-Foster-15021838.php", "verified": true }, { "name": "Vallejo Sun \u2014 \u201cVallejo police killing of Ronell Foster led to internal conflict, newly released records show\u201d", "url": "https://www.vallejosun.com/vallejo-police-killing-of-ronell-foster-led-to-internal-conflict-newly-released-records-show/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "mansur-ball-bey", "caseNumber": "143", "name": "Mansur Ball-Bey", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2015, "age": 18, "gender": "male", "city": "St. Louis", "county": "St. Louis", "state": "MO", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Mansur Ball-Bey, 18, was shot and killed by St. Louis Police Officers Kyle Chandler and Ronald Vaughan while they were serving a search warrant in the Fountain Park neighborhood on August 19, 2015. Police said Ball-Bey pointed a gun at officers as he ran out the back door of the home being searched; his family disputed he was armed at all. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce declined to charge either officer in June 2016, citing insufficient evidence to disprove self-defense. In February 2025, nearly a decade later, a federal jury in a wrongful death lawsuit rejected the officers' account, awarding Ball-Bey's family $18.75 million after deliberating for just 90 minutes. As of August 2025, the city still had not paid the judgment. No one has ever been criminally charged in Ball-Bey's death.", "known": [ "The search warrant, the shooting, and Ball-Bey's death, per the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department's Force Investigative Unit and the Circuit Attorney's public report.", "Officer Kyle Chandler fired the fatal shot; Officer Ronald Vaughan also fired but did not strike Ball-Bey.", "Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce announced in June 2016 that a criminal violation against either officer could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, citing a lack of an independent witness who contradicted the officers' account.", "A pistol was recovered in the backyard near a dumpster; an off-duty officer who witnessed the chase testified Ball-Bey tossed the weapon there, and police said his fingerprints were found on it.", "Ball-Bey's father filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit in 2020 against the officers, the former police chief, and the city.", "A federal jury deliberated for approximately 90 minutes in February 2025 before awarding Ball-Bey's family $6.25 million in compensatory damages and $12.5 million in punitive damages, totaling $18.75 million; as of the case's tenth anniversary in August 2025, the city had not yet paid the judgment." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Ball-Bey pointed a weapon at officers before he was shot, as police maintained, or was unarmed at that moment, as his family long argued, was never resolved by any criminal proceeding; the swift, decisive federal civil verdict against the officers a decade later suggests a jury did not find the police account credible, though that verdict addressed civil liability, not criminal guilt.", "Whether the recovered pistol was in fact Ball-Bey's or was, as some attorneys and community members alleged based on the officers' prior history, planted evidence has never been independently established.", "Why federal records showed Ball-Bey had not been to his job in at least 24 hours before the shooting, contradicting an early account that he had just come from work, has not been explained." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did it take a federal civil jury just 90 minutes to reject the officers' account, when the criminal charging decision nearly a decade earlier concluded the same account could not be disproven beyond a reasonable doubt?", "Has the city of St. Louis paid the $18.75 million judgment, and if not, why not, as of the case's tenth anniversary?", "What became of a since-revealed city audit reportedly showing multiple errors across dozens of St. Louis police shooting investigations, and did Ball-Bey's case factor into that finding?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "St. Louis Public Radio \u2014 \u201cOfficers will not face charges in death of Mansur Ball-Bey\u201d", "url": "https://www.stlpr.org/government-politics-issues/2016-06-02/officers-will-not-face-charges-in-death-of-mansur-ball-bey", "verified": true }, { "name": "St. Louis Public Radio \u2014 \u201c10 years and $19M later, Mansur Ball-Bey's family is still fighting St. Louis for justice\u201d", "url": "https://www.stlpr.org/law-order/2025-08-19/10-years-mansur-ball-beys-family-fighting-st-louis-justice", "verified": true }, { "name": "KSDK \u2014 \u201cMansur Ball-Bey St. Louis police shooting lawsuit: jury awards $18M to family\u201d", "url": "https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/local/mansur-ball-bey-civil-lawsuit/63-aaeedb3a-ecb4-40cb-ba6f-c9e1cfd0b2d2", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "stephon-watts", "caseNumber": "144", "name": "Stephon Watts", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2012, "age": 15, "gender": "male", "city": "Calumet City", "county": "Cook", "state": "IL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Stephon Watts, 15, who was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome and ADHD, was shot and killed in his own basement by Calumet City, Illinois police officers on February 1, 2012, after his father called the department's non-emergency line for help during an argument over school \u2014 following prior advice from social workers to call police when Stephon became agitated. Police had responded to the home at least ten times over the previous two years, and the address was flagged as belonging to a person with a disability. Officers said Stephon lunged at them with a steak knife; his father maintained it was only a butter knife. Two officers fired, killing him within roughly two minutes of entering the home. Cook County's State's Attorney cleared both officers of any misconduct that April, and a decade-long civil suit ended in 2022 when an Illinois appellate court ruled the officers were legally immune from liability. No officer was ever criminally charged, disciplined, or fired.", "known": [ "The non-emergency call, the responding officers' prior familiarity with Stephon's autism diagnosis, and the shooting roughly two minutes after officers entered the home, per Cook County State's Attorney's Office records and the family's civil suit filings.", "Police had responded to the Watts home at least ten times in the two years before the shooting, and the address carried a code indicating a resident with a disability lived there.", "Officers said Stephon lunged at them twice with a knife, cutting one officer's forearm before a second officer fired; anonymous police sources described the weapon as a nine-inch steak knife, while Stephon's father maintained throughout that it was only a butter knife.", "The Cook County State's Attorney's Office cleared both officers of any criminal conduct in April 2012.", "Stephon's mother, Danelene Powell-Watts, filed a civil negligence suit against the city and the two officers; in 2022, the Illinois Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling that the officers were statutorily immune from liability, finding their conduct did not rise to \u201cwillful and wanton\u201d behavior.", "No officer involved was ever criminally charged, internally disciplined, or fired as a result of the shooting." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the knife Stephon held was in fact the nine-inch steak knife anonymous police sources described or the butter knife his father maintained was the only weapon in the house has never been independently and publicly resolved.", "Given ten prior police contacts at the home, including at least one where officers used a Taser to de-escalate without lethal force, why officers escalated to gunfire within roughly two minutes on this occasion has not been fully explained.", "What specific crisis-intervention or disability-awareness training, if any, the responding officers had received prior to this documented, coded address has not been made public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did officers who had responded to this specific, flagged address at least ten times before \u2014 and had used a Taser to de-escalate on a prior occasion \u2014 resort to lethal force within roughly two minutes on this call?", "What specifically justified the appellate court's finding that the officers' conduct did not rise to \u201cwillful and wanton\u201d behavior, given the family called specifically for help rather than enforcement?", "What changes, if any, has Calumet City made to how it dispatches officers to addresses flagged for a resident's disability since this case?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NWI Times \u2014 \u201cCourt rules in favor of Cal City cops in fatal shooting of autistic teen\u201d", "url": "https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/illinois/court-rules-in-favor-of-cal-city-cops-in-fatal/article_b6ccccb4-ec61-5f43-ab58-bd65750328d1.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Chicago Reader \u2014 \u201cFamily of autistic teen killed by Calumet City cops loses civil suit appeal\u201d", "url": "https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/stephon-watts-calumet-city-police-shooting-lawsuit-update/Content?oid=22902863", "verified": true }, { "name": "HuffPost Chicago \u2014 \u201cStephon Watts Lawsuit: Mother Of Autistic Teen Fatally Shot By Calumet City Cops Sues\u201d", "url": "https://www.huffpost.com/entry/stephon-watts-lawsuit-mot_n_1455643", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "dontre-hamilton", "caseNumber": "145", "name": "Dontre Hamilton", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2014, "age": 31, "gender": "male", "city": "Milwaukee", "county": "Milwaukee", "state": "WI", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Dontre Hamilton, 31, who had schizophrenia, was shot 13 or 14 times and killed by Milwaukee Police Officer Christopher Manney at Red Arrow Park on April 30, 2014, after Manney conducted a pat-down search while responding to a call about a man sleeping in the park. Manney said Hamilton grabbed his baton and attacked him, prompting him to open fire. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm declined to charge Manney in December 2014, finding the shooting was self-defense. The U.S. Department of Justice separately reviewed the case and declined federal charges in November 2015. Police Chief Edward Flynn fired Manney months before either declination \u2014 not for the shooting itself, but for conducting a pat-down that violated department policy and escalated the encounter; that firing was later upheld through two rounds of appeal. No one has ever been criminally charged in Hamilton's death.", "known": [ "The pat-down, the struggle over Manney's baton, and the shooting, per Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm's public report and an independent state investigation.", "Witnesses said Hamilton held the baton in an \u201caggressive posture\u201d before Manney fired; Chisholm's report noted witnesses said Manney stopped firing once Hamilton fell.", "District Attorney Chisholm announced in December 2014 that Manney was justified in using deadly force in self-defense, declining to bring charges.", "The U.S. Department of Justice, after conducting its own investigation with the FBI, announced in November 2015 that there was insufficient evidence to charge Manney with a federal civil rights violation.", "Police Chief Edward Flynn fired Manney in October 2014, before either charging decision, explicitly for violating department pat-down policy in a way that escalated what should have been a routine welfare check \u2014 not for the shooting itself.", "Manney's firing was upheld by Milwaukee's Fire and Police Commission, a circuit court judge, and the Wisconsin Court of Appeals across successive appeals.", "The shooting prompted the Milwaukee Police Department to equip officers with body cameras." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Hamilton's actions with the baton constituted the kind of \u201cdeadly attack\u201d Chisholm's report described, versus a reflexive reaction to an unnecessary pat-down while sleeping, was disputed by the family and has never been tested at any criminal trial.", "The specific number of shots fired \u2014 reported as either 13 or 14 depending on the source \u2014 reflects a minor but persistent discrepancy across official accounts.", "Why Hamilton, whom his family said was not violent and was experiencing a mental health episode, was patted down at all during what began as a welfare check has been disputed by the family even though the department itself found the pat-down improper." ], "unanswered": [ "If the department's own chief found the initial pat-down violated policy and directly caused the escalation that led to the shooting, why did both the county and federal reviews still conclude the shooting itself was legally justified self-defense?", "What specific de-escalation or mental-health-crisis training changes did the Milwaukee Police Department implement as a direct result of this case, beyond body cameras?", "What became of Manney professionally after his firing was fully upheld through the appeals process?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cNo Federal Charges for Milwaukee Cop Who Killed Mentally Ill Man\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/no-federal-charges-milwaukee-cop-who-killed-mentally-ill-man-n461101", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cDontre Hamilton Shooting: No Charges for Fired Milwaukee Cop\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/dontre-hamilton-shooting-no-charges-fired-milwaukee-cop-n273186", "verified": true }, { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 \u201cKilling of Dontre Hamilton\u201d (sourced case history)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Dontre_Hamilton", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "jerame-reid", "caseNumber": "146", "name": "Jerame Reid", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2014, "age": 36, "gender": "male", "city": "Bridgeton", "county": "Cumberland", "state": "NJ", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Jerame Reid, 36, was shot and killed by Bridgeton, New Jersey Police Officer Braheme Days on December 30, 2014, moments after Reid stepped out of a car with his hands raised during a traffic stop for running a stop sign. Dashcam video, released publicly in January 2015, showed Days and his partner Roger Worley ordering Reid to stay in the vehicle and not move; Reid exited anyway with his hands up, and Days opened fire, striking him fatally as Worley also fired but missed. A Cumberland County grand jury declined to indict either officer in May 2015. Federal prosecutors separately reviewed the case and announced in August 2016 that the evidence was insufficient to bring civil rights charges. No one has ever been charged in Reid's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop, Reid exiting the vehicle with his hands raised, and the shooting, captured in full on the patrol car's dashcam and released publicly in January 2015.", "Officer Braheme Days fired the fatal shot; Officer Roger Worley also fired but did not strike Reid.", "Days had arrested Reid months earlier, in August 2014, and recognized him during the stop; Reid had served roughly 13 years in prison as a teenager for shooting at state troopers.", "Nine prior municipal court complaints had been filed against Days between 2012 and the shooting alleging he stopped, searched, or charged people without cause; all were dismissed for lack of probable cause.", "A Cumberland County grand jury declined to indict either officer on May 1, 2015; the family's attorney publicly stated the prosecutor's press release on the decision omitted the officers' own statements, autopsy results, and their prior use-of-force complaint history.", "The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey announced on August 22, 2016 that federal civil rights charges were not warranted, finding insufficient evidence that Days acted with willful criminal intent.", "Cumberland County settled a federal wrongful death lawsuit with Reid's widow for $340,000." ], "unknown": [ "Why Days opened fire on Reid, who was visibly complying by raising his hands as he exited the vehicle \u2014 as opposed to the driver, who exited the same way without incident \u2014 has never been resolved beyond Days's own account that he feared for his life.", "The full autopsy results and officer statements that the family's attorney said were omitted from the prosecutor's public announcement of the grand jury's decision have not been comprehensively made public in the years since.", "Whether Days's prior use-of-force complaint history factored into either the grand jury's or federal prosecutors' review has not been detailed publicly." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was Reid shot for exiting the vehicle with his hands raised when the driver, doing the same thing, was taken into custody without incident?", "Why did the Cumberland County prosecutor's public release on the grand jury's decision omit the officers' statements, autopsy results, and Days's prior complaint history, as the family's attorney alleged?", "What became of the nine prior municipal complaints against Officer Days, and did any internal review connect that pattern to this shooting?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 \u201cNew Jersey U.S. Attorney's Office Closes Investigation Into The Death Of Jerame C. Reid\u201d", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/new-jersey-us-attorney-s-office-closes-investigation-death-jerame-c-reid", "verified": true }, { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 \u201cKilling of Jerame Reid\u201d (sourced case history)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Jerame_Reid", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC10 Philadelphia \u2014 \u201cNo Federal Charges Against Police Officer in Deadly New Jersey Traffic Stop Shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/new-jersey-police-shooting-jerame-reid-dashcam-bridgeton/145555/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "jamar-clark", "caseNumber": "147", "name": "Jamar Clark", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2015, "age": 24, "gender": "male", "city": "Minneapolis", "county": "Hennepin", "state": "MN", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Jamar Clark, 24, was shot in the head by Minneapolis Police Officer Dustin Schwarze on November 15, 2015, during a struggle after officers responded to a report that Clark had assaulted his girlfriend and interfered with paramedics. Witnesses at the scene told police and reporters Clark was handcuffed when he was shot; the shooting sparked an 18-day protest encampment outside the police department's Fourth Precinct. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman, bypassing the customary use of a grand jury, announced in March 2016 that DNA evidence and the absence of bruising on Clark's wrists showed he was not handcuffed and had grabbed at an officer's gun, and declined to bring charges. The U.S. Attorney's Office separately declined federal civil rights charges months later, and the police department cleared both officers of any policy violation. No one has ever been charged in Clark's death.", "known": [ "The struggle and the shooting, per the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's investigation and Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman's detailed public presentation of the evidence.", "Multiple eyewitnesses at the scene told police and media that Clark was handcuffed when he was shot; other witnesses gave conflicting accounts, some saying his hands were up or he was lying still.", "Freeman announced in March 2016 that DNA testing found no trace of Clark's DNA on the handcuffs and no bruising consistent with cuffing on his wrists, and that officer Ringgenberg reported feeling Clark's hand move his holstered gun during the struggle.", "Freeman broke from the county's prior practice of using a secret grand jury for police-shooting decisions, instead announcing the charging decision himself after a lengthy public presentation of evidence.", "The U.S. Attorney's Office for Minnesota announced in June 2016 that there was insufficient evidence to bring federal civil rights charges against officers Ringgenberg and Schwarze.", "Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau publicly stated she supported the officers' actions after an internal review found no policy violation, meaning neither officer faced any discipline." ], "unknown": [ "Why so many witnesses at the scene independently reported seeing Clark handcuffed, directly contradicting the forensic conclusions Freeman's office relied on, has never been reconciled.", "Whether Clark in fact reached for the officer's gun, as Ringgenberg reported feeling during the struggle, or whether the physical evidence supporting that account could be explained another way, was disputed by community members who reviewed the same presentation.", "No video captured the shooting itself with sufficient clarity to independently resolve either account, despite some cellphone footage of the aftermath." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did so many bystander witness accounts describing Clark as handcuffed conflict so starkly with the forensic evidence the county attorney's office presented?", "Why did the police department's own internal review clear both officers of any policy violation without any independent public accounting of its methodology?", "What specific reforms, if any, did Minneapolis implement regarding grand jury practices for police shootings following Freeman's decision to handle this case differently?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cNo Civil Rights Charges in Shooting of Jamar Clark\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/no-civil-rights-charges-shooting-jamar-clark-n584116", "verified": true }, { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cMinneapolis police clear officers in fatal shooting of Jamar Clark\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/21/us/jamar-clark-shooting", "verified": true }, { "name": "BlackPast.org \u2014 \u201cJamar O'Neal Clark (1991-2015)\u201d", "url": "https://blackpast.org/african-american-history/clark-jamar-oneal-1991-2015/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "jason-harrison", "caseNumber": "148", "name": "Jason Harrison", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2014, "age": 38, "gender": "male", "city": "Dallas", "county": "Dallas", "state": "TX", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Jason Harrison, 38, who had bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, was shot five times and killed by Dallas Police Officers John Rogers and Andrew Hutchins on June 14, 2014, within seconds of appearing in his own doorway holding a screwdriver. His mother, Shirley Harrison, had called 911 asking for trained officers to help take her son \u2014 off his medication and in crisis \u2014 to a hospital, and told the dispatcher he was bipolar and schizophrenic. Body camera footage, the first in Dallas to capture a fatal police shooting, showed officers ordering Harrison to drop the screwdriver before shooting him five times, twice in the back, as his mother screamed for them to stop. A Dallas County grand jury declined to indict either officer in April 2015, and a federal judge dismissed the family's civil rights lawsuit in 2016, ruling the shooting did not violate Harrison's constitutional rights. No one has ever been charged in Harrison's death.", "known": [ "The 911 call, Harrison's mental health history, and the shooting, per body camera footage released by the Dallas Police Department and the family's federal lawsuit.", "Harrison's mother told the 911 dispatcher he was bipolar and schizophrenic, off his medication, and asked specifically for trained officers to help take him to a hospital.", "Officers shot Harrison five times, including twice in the back, within roughly five to eight seconds of his appearance in the doorway holding a screwdriver.", "A Dallas County grand jury declined to indict Officers John Rogers and Andrew Hutchins on any charge in April 2015.", "Neither officer attempted to use a Taser or other non-lethal option before resorting to gunfire, per the family's lawsuit and body camera footage.", "U.S. District Judge David Godbey dismissed the family's federal civil rights lawsuit in March 2016, ruling the body camera video showed Harrison lunged at the officers and that the shooting did not violate his constitutional rights." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Harrison in fact lunged at officers in a threatening manner, as the officers' attorney maintained and the federal judge found supported by the video, or whether he was attempting to comply and simply startled, as the family's attorney argued watching the same footage, remains disputed \u2014 the case never reached a jury.", "Why officers did not attempt a Taser or other non-lethal method, despite dispatchers having relayed Harrison's specific mental health diagnoses in advance, has not been fully explained by the department.", "Whether Dallas Police Department crisis-intervention training in effect at the time addressed encounters with someone already known to be in a documented mental health crisis has not been comprehensively detailed publicly." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did officers who were told in advance that Harrison was bipolar and schizophrenic not attempt any non-lethal option before firing within seconds of his appearance?", "Why did being shot twice in the back factor into neither the grand jury's decision nor the federal judge's dismissal of the civil case?", "What specific changes to Dallas Police Department's mental-health-crisis response training, if any, followed this case, given the family's stated goal of reform?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "ABC News \u2014 \u201cThe Deadly Consequences When Police Lack Proper Training to Handle Mental Illness Calls\u201d", "url": "https://abcnews.com/US/deadly-consequences-police-lack-proper-training-handle-mental/story?id=33023577", "verified": true }, { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cVideo: Dallas cops kill mentally ill man\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2015/03/18/us/dallas-police-fatal-shooting-mentally-ill-man-video/index.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Dallas Morning News \u2014 \u201cFederal judge drops civil suit against police officers in shooting death of mentally ill man\u201d", "url": "https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2016/03/14/federal-judge-drops-civil-suit-against-police-officers-in-shooting-death-of-mentally-ill-man/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "alfred-olango", "caseNumber": "149", "name": "Alfred Olango", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2016, "age": 38, "gender": "male", "city": "El Cajon", "county": "San Diego", "state": "CA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Alfred Olango, 38, a Ugandan refugee who had lived in the U.S. since childhood, was shot and killed by El Cajon, California Police Officer Richard Gonsalves on September 27, 2016, within about two minutes of officers arriving in response to his sister's 911 call reporting he was mentally ill, unarmed, and having an emotional breakdown after a close friend's death. Officers said Olango pulled an object from his pocket, assumed \u201cwhat appeared to be a shooting stance,\u201d and pointed it at Gonsalves, who fired four times as a second officer simultaneously deployed a Taser; the object turned out to be a vape pen. San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis declined to charge Gonsalves in January 2017, finding the shooting legally justified. A 2019 civil jury also cleared Gonsalves of negligence. No one has ever been criminally charged in Olango's death.", "known": [ "The 911 call from Olango's sister, describing him as mentally ill and unarmed, and the shooting roughly two minutes after officers arrived, per the El Cajon Police Department and San Diego County District Attorney's public findings.", "The object Olango drew from his pocket was a vape smoking device (a Pioneer for You Vape), not a weapon, per the El Cajon Police Department's own evidence release.", "District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis announced in January 2017 that Gonsalves acted lawfully, concluding Olango's motion with the vape pen was a purposeful act intended to make the officer fear he was about to be shot.", "Officer Gonsalves had been demoted the year before the shooting following an unrelated sexual harassment lawsuit, and was never relieved of duty following Olango's death.", "A 2019 civil jury deliberated approximately one hour before unanimously finding Gonsalves not negligent in a wrongful death suit brought by Olango's sister, who witnessed the shooting.", "U.S. immigration authorities had twice attempted to deport Olango in the years before his death but were unable to, since Uganda would not accept him back." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Olango's exact hand movement with the vape pen was, as the district attorney concluded, a deliberate act meant to provoke fear of being shot, or an ambiguous gesture by a man in visible mental distress, was disputed by the family's attorney and never tested at a criminal trial.", "Full, unedited bystander video of the incident, which police said corroborated their account, was not made public in its entirety, per contemporaneous reporting.", "Whether officers' roughly hour-long response time to the initial 911 call, during which Olango continued walking in traffic and behaving erratically, affected the outcome once they finally arrived has not been directly addressed in any official finding." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did officers, informed in advance that Olango was mentally ill and unarmed, escalate to lethal force within two minutes of arriving rather than attempting sustained de-escalation?", "Why was Officer Gonsalves never relieved of duty following the shooting, despite a recent unrelated demotion for misconduct?", "What specific crisis-intervention training changes, if any, did the El Cajon Police Department implement as a result of this case?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 \u201cKilling of Alfred Olango\u201d (sourced case history)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Alfred_Olango", "verified": true }, { "name": "LAist \u2014 \u201cMan Fatally Shot By El Cajon Police Was Holding A Vape Pen\u201d", "url": "https://laist.com/news/vape-pen", "verified": true }, { "name": "10News San Diego \u2014 \u201cFamily marks 2 years since Olango shooting death\u201d", "url": "https://www.10news.com/news/alfred-olango-call-for-justice-continues-on-two-year-anniversary-of-deadly-el-cajon-police-shooting", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "india-kager", "caseNumber": "150", "name": "India Kager", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2015, "age": 27, "gender": "female", "city": "Virginia Beach", "county": null, "state": "VA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "India Kager, 27, a Navy veteran, mother, and U.S. Postal Service worker, was shot and killed by Virginia Beach SWAT officers on September 5, 2015, when they opened fire on her car in a 7-Eleven parking lot after her passenger, Angelo Perry \u2014 the father of her four-month-old son, who was in the backseat \u2014 fired at approaching officers. Police, who had been surveilling Perry as a homicide suspect, fired approximately 30 rounds into the vehicle within about nine seconds; Kager had no criminal history and no known involvement in Perry's activities. Her infant son survived uninjured. Virginia Beach's Commonwealth's Attorney declined to charge any of the four officers in March 2016, calling the shooting justified and confirming Kager herself was not engaged in any illegal activity. In 2018, a civil jury found two of the four officers liable for gross negligence, awarding her family $800,000. No one has ever been criminally charged in Kager's death.", "known": [ "The surveillance of Perry, the confrontation in the 7-Eleven parking lot, and the approximately 30 rounds fired into the vehicle, per Virginia Beach Commonwealth's Attorney Colin Stolle's public findings and subsequent civil trial testimony.", "Perry fired first at officers; four SWAT officers returned fire, and Kager was struck by an estimated seven or eight bullets, some of which may have passed through Perry's body first, per autopsy findings.", "Commonwealth's Attorney Stolle announced in March 2016 that no charges would be filed against any of the four officers, while separately confirming there was no information that Kager herself was involved in any illegal activity.", "Kager and Perry's four-month-old son, in the backseat throughout the shooting, was unharmed and briefly placed in the care of Child Protective Services.", "Kager's parents filed a $15 million wrongful death lawsuit against the officers in 2017; in August 2018 a civil jury found two of the four officers grossly negligent and awarded the family $800,000, while clearing the other two officers.", "Kager's case became part of the African American Policy Forum's #SayHerName campaign, which highlights Black women killed by police whose cases receive comparatively less public attention." ], "unknown": [ "Whether officers took adequate account of Kager's presence and her infant son's presence in the vehicle before opening fire with roughly 30 rounds has never been resolved beyond the split civil verdict finding two of four officers grossly negligent.", "The precise number of the 30 rounds fired that struck Kager directly, versus those that passed through Perry first, was estimated from autopsy evidence but not established with certainty.", "Why the criminal review concluded the shooting was fully justified while a later civil jury found half the officers involved grossly negligent over the same underlying conduct has not been reconciled in any single public accounting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did prosecutors conclude the shooting was justified while a civil jury later found two of the four officers grossly negligent for the same conduct?", "What specific tactical planning, if any, accounted for the possibility of bystanders \u2014 including a known infant \u2014 in the vehicle before officers opened fire?", "What changes, if any, did the Virginia Beach Police Department make to its SWAT engagement protocols as a result of this case?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Amnesty International USA \u2014 \u201cIndia Kager Case Raises Serious Concerns About Excessive Force by Police\u201d", "url": "https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/india-kager-case-raises-serious-concerns-about-excessive-force-by-police/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WTKR \u2014 \u201cCharges will not be filed in Virginia Beach officer-involved shooting\u201d", "url": "https://wtkr.com/2016/03/09/press-conference-on-virginia-beach-officer-involved-shooting-investigation-wednesday/", "verified": true }, { "name": "13News Now \u2014 \u201cJury awards India Kager's family $800K in wrongful death lawsuit\u201d", "url": "https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/mycity/virginia-beach/testimony-continues-in-india-kager-wrongful-death-lawsuit/291-587952997", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "jayland-walker", "caseNumber": "151", "name": "Jayland Walker", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2022, "age": 25, "gender": "male", "city": "Akron", "county": "Summit", "state": "OH", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Jayland Walker, 25, was shot and killed by eight Akron, Ohio police officers on June 27, 2022, after fleeing a traffic stop for a broken taillight, firing a single shot from his car during the pursuit, then exiting and running on foot. Police said Walker, who was unarmed when he was shot, made a motion officers interpreted as reaching for a weapon; a gun was later found in his abandoned vehicle. The eight officers fired 94 shots in 6.7 seconds, striking Walker with 46 entrance or graze wounds, including several in the back, according to the county medical examiner. A special grand jury seated by Ohio's attorney general declined to indict any of the officers in April 2023, finding their use of force legally justified. The city later paid Walker's family a $4.8 million settlement. No one has ever been criminally charged in Walker's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop, chase, and shooting, per Akron Police Department body camera footage released publicly and the Summit County Medical Examiner's autopsy findings.", "Walker fired one shot from his vehicle during the car chase, according to police; a gun was later recovered from his abandoned car, and shell casings recovered at the scene matched it.", "Walker was unarmed at the moment the eight officers opened fire on him after the foot chase.", "The Summit County Medical Examiner found Walker suffered 46 entrance or graze wounds from the 94 total shots fired, with no drugs or alcohol in his system.", "A special nine-member grand jury \u2014 three men, six women, two of them Black \u2014 reviewed more than 100 interviews and over 50 body-camera videos before declining to indict any of the eight officers on April 17, 2023, per Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.", "The City of Akron settled a federal wrongful death and civil rights lawsuit with Walker's family for $4.8 million, and changed its vehicle-pursuit policy to bar chases over equipment violations alone." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Walker's motion toward his waistband while running \u2014 the act officers cited as justifying deadly force \u2014 constituted an actual threat, given he was in fact unarmed at that moment, was never tested at any criminal trial.", "The specific vote count of the special grand jury has never been made public, as Ohio law precludes disclosure of grand jury deliberations.", "Why officers continued firing across the full 6.7-second span, including shots that struck Walker in the back, has not been individually addressed for each of the eight officers involved." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did 94 shots fired by eight officers in under seven seconds, striking an unarmed man 46 times, meet the legal standard for justified use of force?", "What specific evidence led the grand jury to its conclusion, given the proceedings themselves remain legally sealed?", "What further reforms, beyond the pursuit policy change, has Akron made to its use-of-force training as a direct result of this case?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NPR \u2014 \u201cA grand jury did not indict Akron police officers in the Jayland Walker shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2023/04/18/1170581196/a-grand-jury-did-not-indict-akron-police-officers-in-the-jayland-walker-shooting", "verified": true }, { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cJayland Walker case: Grand jury declines to indict Akron police officers\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/17/us/jayland-walker-police-shooting-grand-jury/index.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "PBS NewsHour \u2014 \u201cAkron will pay $4.8 million to relatives of Jayland Walker\u201d", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/nation/akron-will-pay-4-8-million-to-relatives-of-jayland-walker-black-man-shot-dead-by-police-in-2022", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "takiya-young", "caseNumber": "152", "name": "Ta'Kiya Young", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2023, "age": 21, "gender": "female", "city": "Blendon Township", "county": "Franklin", "state": "OH", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Ta'Kiya Young, 21, seven months pregnant with her third child, was shot and killed by Blendon Township, Ohio Police Officer Connor Grubb on August 24, 2023, in a Kroger parking lot after being accused of shoplifting alcohol. Body camera footage showed Grubb standing in front of Young's car as she slowly rolled it forward attempting to leave; he fired a single shot through the windshield, killing her and her unborn daughter. A Franklin County grand jury indicted Grubb on murder, felonious assault, and involuntary manslaughter charges in August 2024, a year after the shooting. On November 21, 2025, following a roughly two-week trial, a jury acquitted Grubb of all six charges after about 6.5 hours of deliberation, finding his use of force objectively reasonable given the moving vehicle. No one has ever been convicted in Young's death.", "known": [ "The shoplifting accusation, the parking lot confrontation, and the single fatal shot, per body camera footage played at trial and the Franklin County grand jury's charging documents.", "Grubb fired one shot through the windshield as Young's car rolled forward and made contact with him; the judge later dismissed four charges specifically tied to the death of Young's unborn daughter, ruling prosecutors had not proven Grubb knew she was pregnant.", "A Franklin County grand jury indicted Grubb in August 2024, a year after the shooting, on two counts each of murder, felonious assault, and involuntary manslaughter.", "At trial, the defense argued the slow-moving vehicle itself constituted deadly force, citing testimony from a use-of-force expert and an accident reconstructionist; prosecutors argued Young posed no threat justifying deadly force.", "A jury acquitted Grubb of all six charges on November 21, 2025, after about 6.5 hours of deliberation.", "Young's estate filed a civil lawsuit against Blendon Township and its police chief over department practices, which remains pending following the acquittal." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Young's slowly rolling vehicle in fact presented the kind of deadly threat that justified Grubb's single shot, as the jury ultimately concluded, or whether he had other options to avoid or step away from the vehicle, as prosecutors argued, was contested by dueling expert witnesses at trial and resolved only by the jury's verdict.", "Whether Grubb was aware of Young's pregnancy at the time he fired has never been established either way; the court found prosecutors did not prove that he was.", "The jury's specific reasoning across six separate charges and roughly 6.5 hours of deliberation is not public, as with all jury deliberations." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did it take a full year after the shooting for a grand jury to indict Grubb, and what specifically changed in that year?", "What became of Young's estate's civil lawsuit against Blendon Township and its police chief following the criminal acquittal?", "What department-wide policy changes, if any, has Blendon Township made regarding responses to suspected shoplifting since this case?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "AP News \u2014 \u201cOfficer acquitted in death of Ta'Kiya Young, a pregnant Black mother accused of shoplifting\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/officer-acquitted-death-takiya-young-pregnant-black-mother-accused-sho-rcna245149", "verified": true }, { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 \u201cKilling of Ta'Kiya Young\u201d (sourced case history)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Ta%27Kiya_Young", "verified": true }, { "name": "The 19th / Capital B \u2014 \u201cTa'Kiya Young verdict: Officer found not guilty in killing of pregnant Black mother\u201d", "url": "https://19thnews.org/2025/11/takiya-young-verdict-officer-not-guilty/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "patrick-lyoya", "caseNumber": "153", "name": "Patrick Lyoya", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2022, "age": 26, "gender": "male", "city": "Grand Rapids", "county": "Kent", "state": "MI", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Patrick Lyoya, 26, a Congolese refugee, was shot in the back of the head by Grand Rapids, Michigan Police Officer Christopher Schurr during a traffic stop on April 4, 2022. Lyoya ran after Schurr pulled him over for a mismatched license plate; Schurr caught him, and the two struggled over Schurr's Taser for roughly two and a half minutes before Schurr, straddling Lyoya face-down on the ground, fired a single shot into the back of his head. Schurr was fired and charged with second-degree murder in June 2022, becoming one of the few Michigan officers ever criminally charged for an on-duty killing. After a three-year legal battle, his trial began in April 2025; a jury deliberated over 20 hours across four days before deadlocking, and a mistrial was declared on May 8, 2025. Kent County's prosecutor announced on May 22, 2025 that he would not seek a retrial, concluding a second trial was unlikely to produce a different result. No one has ever been convicted in Lyoya's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop, the roughly two-and-a-half-minute struggle over the Taser, and the fatal shot, per body camera, dashcam, and bystander cellphone video released by the Grand Rapids Police Department.", "Schurr was on top of Lyoya, who was face-down on the ground, when he fired the single fatal shot to the back of Lyoya's head.", "Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker charged Schurr with second-degree murder in June 2022; Schurr was fired from the department the same month.", "Lyoya's autopsy showed a blood alcohol content more than three times the legal driving limit, and a witness testified he had been drinking the day before his death.", "The jury of 14 (12 regular jurors plus two alternates), predominantly white, deliberated more than 20 hours over four days before telling the court it was deadlocked; Judge Christina Mims declared a mistrial on May 8, 2025.", "Prosecutor Becker announced on May 22, 2025 that he would not seek a retrial, stating he did not believe a second trial would produce a different verdict.", "A separate federal civil rights lawsuit against Schurr and the city remains active; a judge denied Schurr's motion to dismiss it, and a jury trial was scheduled for October 2026." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Schurr reasonably believed his life was in danger at the moment he fired \u2014 the central question of the case \u2014 was contested by dueling use-of-force experts at trial and left unresolved by the hung jury.", "The specific numerical split of the deadlocked jury has not been made public.", "Whether Lyoya, face-down on the ground with Schurr on top of him, still posed the \"jeopardy\" to Schurr that the defense argued justified deadly force was disputed by the prosecution and never resolved by any verdict." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the criminal case take three years to reach trial, and did that delay affect witness availability or public attention to the case?", "Why did the prosecutor conclude a retrial was unlikely to produce a different result, and what specific factors from the first trial led to that assessment?", "What will the pending federal civil rights trial, scheduled for October 2026, add to the public record that the criminal trial did not resolve?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Michigan Advance \u2014 \u201cKent County Prosecutor declines to retry former Grand Rapids police officer in motorist's death\u201d", "url": "https://michiganadvance.com/2025/05/22/kent-county-prosecutor-declines-to-retry-former-grand-rapids-police-officer-in-motorists-death/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 \u201cKilling of Patrick Lyoya\u201d (sourced case history)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Patrick_Lyoya", "verified": true }, { "name": "WOOD TV8 \u2014 \u201cJudge won't throw out civil lawsuit against former officer in Patrick Lyoya's death\u201d", "url": "https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/judge-wont-throw-out-civil-lawsuit-against-former-officer-in-patrick-lyoyas-death/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "rayshard-brooks", "caseNumber": "154", "name": "Rayshard Brooks", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 27, "gender": "male", "city": "Atlanta", "county": "Fulton", "state": "GA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Rayshard Brooks, 27, was shot and killed by Atlanta Police Officer Garrett Rolfe outside a Wendy's restaurant on June 12, 2020, after a struggle that began when officers tried to arrest him for driving under the influence. Brooks resisted, grabbed a Taser from Officer Devin Brosnan, and ran; an autopsy found he was shot twice in the back. Then-Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard charged Rolfe with felony murder within days, less than three weeks after George Floyd's killing sparked nationwide protests. Howard lost his re-election bid months later, and the case was passed between three successive prosecutors before a special prosecutor appointed by Georgia's attorney general dismissed all charges against both officers in August 2022, finding the shooting objectively reasonable. Rolfe, initially fired, was reinstated with back pay by the city's Civil Service Board. No one has ever been convicted in Brooks's death.", "known": [ "The DUI stop, the struggle, and the shooting, per Atlanta Police Department body and dash camera footage released publicly.", "Brooks grabbed a Taser from Officer Brosnan during the struggle and fired it at Rolfe while fleeing; Rolfe fired three shots, striking Brooks twice in the back, per the autopsy.", "Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard charged Rolfe with felony murder and other counts, and Brosnan with aggravated assault, within five days of the shooting.", "The Atlanta Civil Service Board reinstated Rolfe with back pay in May 2021, finding the city had denied him due process in his firing.", "Special prosecutor Peter Skandalakis, appointed by the Georgia attorney general after Howard lost re-election, announced in August 2022 \u2014 more than two years after the shooting \u2014 that both officers \"committed no crimes\" and dismissed all charges, finding the use of force objectively reasonable given Brooks firing the Taser at Rolfe as he fled.", "Brooks's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Atlanta in September 2021, which remained active following the dismissal of criminal charges." ], "unknown": [ "Whether firing a Taser \u2014 a less-lethal weapon \u2014 while fleeing justified a fatal shooting that struck Brooks twice in the back has never been tested at any criminal trial, since the case never reached one.", "Whether the original charges were, as the officers' attorneys and some commentators argued, rushed for political reasons by a district attorney facing re-election, or were withdrawn for political reasons under a differently pressured process two years later, has been argued from both directions and never independently resolved.", "The specific evidentiary basis Skandalakis weighed differently from Howard's original charging decision, given both reviewed largely the same body camera footage, was not fully detailed in his public announcement." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the criminal case take more than two years and three different prosecutors to reach a final decision?", "What became of Brooks's family's wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Atlanta?", "What specific factors led the Atlanta Civil Service Board to find Rolfe's firing violated his due process rights, and did that finding affect the later charging decision?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NPR \u2014 \u201cAtlanta police officers won't face any charges in Rayshard Brooks shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2022/08/23/1119098497/rayshard-brooks-police-no-charges-atlanta", "verified": true }, { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cProsecutor to dismiss charges against Atlanta police officers involved in fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/23/us/rayshard-brooks-atlanta-police-charges/index.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 \u201cKilling of Rayshard Brooks\u201d (sourced case history)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Rayshard_Brooks", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "amir-locke", "caseNumber": "155", "name": "Amir Locke", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2022, "age": 22, "gender": "male", "city": "Minneapolis", "county": "Hennepin", "state": "MN", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Amir Locke, 22, an aspiring hip-hop artist, was shot and killed by Minneapolis Police SWAT Officer Mark Hanneman on February 2, 2022, within about ten seconds of officers using a key to enter his cousin's apartment on a no-knock warrant tied to a homicide investigation in neighboring St. Paul. Locke, asleep on the couch under a blanket, was not named in the warrant and was not a suspect in the investigation. Body camera video showed him stirring awake and rising with a handgun he was legally licensed to carry as officers shouted commands; Hanneman shot him three times, saying Locke had pointed the gun toward officers, a characterization Locke's family disputed. Minnesota's attorney general and the Hennepin County attorney jointly announced in April 2022 that there was insufficient evidence to charge Hanneman. No one has ever been charged in Locke's death.", "known": [ "The no-knock entry, the roughly ten-second span between entry and gunfire, and the shooting, per Minneapolis Police Department body camera footage released publicly.", "Locke was not named on the search warrant and was not a suspect in the St. Paul homicide investigation the warrant related to.", "Locke held a valid Minnesota permit to carry the handgun found in his hand.", "Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman jointly announced on April 6, 2022 that there was insufficient admissible evidence to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hanneman's use of force was legally authorized, and declined to charge him.", "Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey ordered an immediate moratorium on no-knock warrants days after the shooting and later formalized a policy requiring officers to knock and announce before entering in most circumstances.", "Locke's family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and Hanneman in February 2023, one year after his death." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Locke in fact pointed the handgun toward officers, as Hanneman's account maintained and prosecutors found sufficient to preclude charges, or whether he was simply startled awake and reaching for a legally owned weapon without directing it at anyone, as his family argued from the same body camera footage, was never resolved by any criminal trial.", "Why Locke, asleep and not named in the warrant, was in the apartment at the specific moment of the raid has been explained by the family as simply staying at his cousin's home, though this was not centrally addressed in the prosecutors' charging decision.", "The full internal SWAT team briefing materials for the raid, including what officers were told about who might be present in the apartment, have not been made comprehensively public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did officers have only about ten seconds between entry and the fatal shot to assess whether an unnamed, sleeping occupant posed a threat?", "What specifically distinguished this case from Breonna Taylor's, given both involved no-knock warrants and both resulted in no charges against the officer who fired the fatal shots?", "What became of the Locke family's federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and Officer Hanneman?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "CBS News \u2014 \u201cNo charges will be filed in no-knock warrant killing of Amir Locke, authorities say\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amir-locke-shooting-minnesota-no-charges-filed-minneapolis-police/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Al Jazeera \u2014 \u201cPolice will not be charged in \u2018no-knock\u2019 killing of Amir Locke\u201d", "url": "https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/6/police-will-not-be-charged-in-no-knock-killing-of-amir-locke", "verified": true }, { "name": "Al Jazeera \u2014 \u201cFamily of Amir Locke, shot in no-knock police raid, files lawsuit\u201d", "url": "https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/4/family-of-amir-locke-shot-in-no-knock-police-raid-files-lawsuit", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "andrew-brown-jr", "caseNumber": "156", "name": "Andrew Brown Jr.", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2021, "age": 42, "gender": "male", "city": "Elizabeth City", "county": "Pasquotank", "state": "NC", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Andrew Brown Jr., 42, a father of seven, was shot and killed by Pasquotank County, North Carolina sheriff's deputies on April 21, 2021, while sitting in his car as they attempted to serve felony drug arrest and search warrants at his home in Elizabeth City. Three of the seven deputies present fired 14 shots as Brown's car pulled away; he was killed by a shot to the back of the head. He was unarmed, and no weapon was found in his vehicle. District Attorney Andrew Womble announced on May 18, 2021 \u2014 the day after a jury convicted Derek Chauvin of murdering George Floyd \u2014 that the shooting was \"justified\" because Brown's car had made contact with a deputy, and declined to bring any charges. Brown's family, reviewing the same body camera footage, said he never posed a threat and was \"executed\" while trying to drive away. No one has ever been charged in Brown's death.", "known": [ "The warrant service, the shooting, and Brown's death from a shot to the back of the head, per the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation's inquiry and District Attorney Andrew Womble's public presentation of body camera footage.", "Deputies fired a total of 14 shots from two handguns and a rifle; three of the seven deputies present fired, while four did not.", "No weapon was found in Brown's vehicle.", "District Attorney Womble announced on May 18, 2021 that the shooting was justified because Brown's vehicle made contact with a deputy as he attempted to drive away, and that no charges would be filed against any of the deputies.", "Brown's family, after viewing body camera and dashcam footage, disputed Womble's account, saying deputies fired from a sidewalk at a car that was moving away from them and posed no threat.", "Brown's family filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit in July 2021; the killing also prompted the NAACP to request a Department of Justice pattern-or-practice investigation into the Pasquotank Sheriff's Office and Womble's office." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Brown's vehicle in fact struck a deputy in a manner presenting a deadly threat, as Womble concluded, or whether the car was simply moving away with no one in its path, as the family's review of the same footage maintained, was never tested at any criminal trial.", "Why four of the seven deputies present chose not to fire, if the threat was as immediate as Womble's justification implied, has not been addressed in any official public accounting.", "The full, unredacted body camera footage was only released to the public in edited form with faces obscured, per a court order, limiting independent public review of the moments immediately following the shooting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did four of the seven deputies present not fire their weapons if Brown's vehicle posed the deadly threat that justified deadly force?", "Did the Department of Justice ever open the pattern-or-practice investigation the NAACP and other advocates requested into the Pasquotank Sheriff's Office?", "What became of Brown's family's federal wrongful death lawsuit?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NPR \u2014 \u201cProsecutor Says Deputies Were Justified In The Fatal Shooting Of Andrew Brown Jr.\u201d", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2021/05/18/997859806/elizabeth-city-state-finds-deputies-shooting-of-andrew-brown-justified", "verified": true }, { "name": "ABC News \u2014 \u201cNo charges for deputies in Andrew Brown Jr. shooting, district attorney says\u201d", "url": "https://abcnews.com/US/charges-deputies-andrew-brown-jr-shooting-district-attorney/story?id=77753720", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Washington Post \u2014 \u201cFederal probe into Andrew Brown Jr.'s shooting by deputies complicated by N.C. prosecutor's decision not to bring charges\u201d", "url": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/andrew-brown-elizabeth-city-justice-department/2021/05/19/95e367da-b8c6-11eb-a6b1-81296da0339b_story.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "aiyana-stanley-jones", "caseNumber": "157", "name": "Aiyana Stanley-Jones", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2010, "age": 7, "gender": "female", "city": "Detroit", "county": "Wayne", "state": "MI", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Aiyana Stanley-Jones, 7, was shot in the head and killed by Detroit Police Special Response Team Officer Joseph Weekley just after midnight on May 16, 2010, as she slept on a couch next to her grandmother during a raid on their home in search of a murder suspect who did not live there. The raid, being filmed for the A&E reality show \"The First 48,\" began with another officer throwing a flash-bang grenade through the window; Weekley, first through the door, said his gun fired when the girl's grandmother, Mertilla Jones, struck it during a struggle, which she denied under oath. Weekley was charged with involuntary manslaughter and careless discharge of a firearm. His first trial ended in a hung jury in 2013; a judge later dismissed the manslaughter charge outright during his second trial in 2014, and that jury deadlocked on the remaining misdemeanor count as well, resulting in a second mistrial. Prosecutors declined to pursue a third trial, and all charges were formally dropped in January 2015. No one has ever been convicted in Aiyana's death.", "known": [ "The raid, the flash-bang grenade, and the shooting, per Detroit Police Department records and trial testimony from both of Weekley's criminal trials.", "The raid was being filmed for the A&E reality television series \"The First 48\"; Aiyana's family has said they believe officers' conduct that night was influenced by the presence of cameras.", "Weekley testified his gun discharged when Mertilla Jones, Aiyana's grandmother, struck it during a struggle; Jones testified under oath that she never touched the weapon, and another officer present testified there was no struggle.", "Weekley's first trial in 2013 ended in a hung jury; in his 2014 retrial, the judge dismissed the involuntary manslaughter charge for insufficient evidence, and the remaining jury deadlocked on the misdemeanor careless-discharge charge, resulting in a second mistrial.", "Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced in January 2015 that her office would not seek a third trial, and all charges against Weekley were formally dismissed.", "The actual murder suspect police were searching for did not live at the address raided and was apprehended elsewhere; Aiyana's father was separately convicted of providing that suspect with the murder weapon in an unrelated case." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Weekley's gun discharged because Jones struck it, as he maintained, or accidentally for another reason, as Jones and a fellow officer's testimony suggested, was never resolved \u2014 two separate juries could not agree.", "Why officers conducted the raid on the wrong address for the suspect they sought has not been fully explained in public reporting beyond acknowledgment that the raid targeted the wrong home.", "The extent to which the presence of reality television cameras affected officers' tactical decisions that night, as the family has alleged, has never been independently investigated or resolved." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did police raid a home where the actual suspect did not live, and what accountability existed for that underlying error separate from the shooting itself?", "Did the presence of \"The First 48\" film crew affect how the raid was planned or executed, and has any police department policy changed regarding embedded media on tactical raids as a result of this case?", "What became of Aiyana's family's civil lawsuit against the city of Detroit following the criminal charges being dropped?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Detroit News \u2014 \u201cJudge cites 'justice' in dropping charge against cop\u201d", "url": "https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2015/01/30/justice-aiyana-rally-detroit-case-dropped/22570257/", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News \u2014 \u201cSecond mistrial in Detroit cop's fatal shooting of girl, 7\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/second-mistrial-in-detroit-cops-fatal-shooting-of-girl-7", "verified": true }, { "name": "Reuters, via Yahoo News \u2014 \u201cCase against Detroit policeman who shot child ends in second mistrial\u201d", "url": "https://news.yahoo.com/mistrial-declared-detroit-cops-trial-over-shooting-child-182816777.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "aura-rosser", "caseNumber": "158", "name": "Aura Rosser", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2014, "age": 40, "gender": "female", "city": "Ann Arbor", "county": "Washtenaw", "state": "MI", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Aura Rosser, 40, an artist and mother of three who was living with addiction, was shot and killed by Ann Arbor, Michigan Police Officer David Ried in her home in the early morning hours of November 10, 2014, within five to ten seconds of officers entering the house. Her boyfriend, Victor Stephens, had called police to report a domestic dispute and asked them to remove Rosser from the home, but said afterward that lethal force was not justified. Police said Rosser approached officers with a knife; Officer Mark Raab fired a Taser at the same moment Ried fired his handgun, striking her once in the chest. The Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office declined to charge Ried in January 2015, finding the shooting lawful self-defense. No one has ever been charged in Rosser's death.", "known": [ "The domestic violence call, the officers' entry, and the shooting within five to ten seconds of entry, per the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's report following a two-month Michigan State Police investigation.", "Officer Raab discharged his Taser at the same moment Officer Ried fired his handgun; Rosser was struck once in the chest and pronounced dead at the scene.", "Rosser's boyfriend, Victor Stephens, who made the 911 call, said afterward that he wanted police to remove Rosser from the house but did not believe lethal force was justified.", "Washtenaw County Prosecutor Brian Mackie announced on January 30, 2015 that Ried would not be charged, concluding he acted in lawful self-defense.", "Ann Arbor Police Chief John Baird later wrote in an internal memo that the shooting was \"justified by any legal, policy or reasonable moral standard,\" while also calling it \"incredibly tragic.\"", "In response to Rosser's death, Ann Arbor's City Council passed a resolution in December 2014 to implement body cameras for the police department, and the shooting prompted years of sustained local organizing under the name \"Ann Arbor to Ferguson.\"" ], "unknown": [ "Whether Rosser's approach with the knife, in the five to ten seconds after officers entered an unfamiliar situation at night, presented the kind of imminent threat that justified lethal force was never tested at any criminal trial.", "Full, unedited body camera or dashcam footage of the shooting itself was not available at the time, since the department had not yet adopted body cameras \u2014 a gap the shooting itself prompted the city to address going forward.", "Whether responding officers had any advance information about Rosser's mental health or substance use history, and whether that would have changed their approach, has not been detailed in public reporting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did officers not attempt a non-lethal option exclusively, given a Taser was already being deployed by a second officer at the same moment the fatal shot was fired?", "What specific training in de-escalating domestic violence and mental health crisis calls did the responding officers have at the time, and did that training change afterward?", "What tangible outcomes did the sustained \"Ann Arbor to Ferguson\" organizing effort achieve in the years following Rosser's death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "ACLU of Michigan \u2014 \u201cFatal Police Shooting in Ann Arbor\u201d", "url": "https://www.aclumich.org/cases/fatal-police-shooting-ann-arbor/", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Michigan Daily \u2014 \u201cProsecutor will not press charges against officer who shot Ann Arbor resident\u201d", "url": "https://www.michigandaily.com/news/prosecutor-will-not-press-charges-shooting-death-ann-arbor-resident/", "verified": true }, { "name": "AAIHS (African American Intellectual History Society) \u2014 \u201cGender and the Politics of Anti-Black State Violence\u201d", "url": "https://www.aaihs.org/gender-and-the-politics-of-anti-black-state-violence/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "terrance-kellom", "caseNumber": "159", "name": "Terrance Kellom", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2015, "age": 20, "gender": "male", "city": "Detroit", "county": "Wayne", "state": "MI", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Terrance Kellom, 20, was shot and killed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officer Mitchell Quinn on April 27, 2015, at his father's Detroit home, in front of his family, as a multi-agency federal fugitive task force served an arrest warrant on an armed-robbery charge. Quinn said Kellom, who had hidden in an attic, dropped down and lunged at him with a hammer, forcing him to fire; Kellom's father maintained his son died with clenched fists and no hammer. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy declined to charge Quinn in August 2015, citing blood-spatter evidence she said supported his account. Nearly four years later, during sworn deposition testimony in the family's federal lawsuit, a Detroit police officer who had witnessed the shooting and originally corroborated the hammer account testified he could no longer recall seeing a hammer at all. No one has ever been charged in Kellom's death.", "known": [ "The federal task force raid, the shooting inside the home, and Kellom's death in front of family members, per the Wayne County Prosecutor's public findings and subsequent federal civil litigation.", "Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced on August 19, 2015 that the shooting was justified by self-defense and the defense of others, citing blood-spatter patterns she said showed Kellom continued advancing after being shot.", "In a November 2018 deposition connected to the family's federal wrongful death lawsuit, Detroit Police Officer Darrel Fitzgerald \u2014 who had written two days after the shooting that he saw Kellom raise a hammer above his shoulder \u2014 testified he could not recall seeing any hammer and instead recalled Kellom on his knees rather than advancing.", "The family's attorney also cited the absence of Kellom's fingerprints on the recovered hammer, inconsistent shell casing evidence he said could indicate more than one shooter, and a lack of evidence photographs.", "Following the deposition, civil rights attorneys and Kellom's family publicly called for Michigan's attorney general to reopen the case; the federal government disputed that Fitzgerald's testimony constituted a genuine recantation.", "Quinn had a documented prior history, including a 2000 lawsuit settled by the city over an earlier false arrest allegation and 2008 domestic violence-related charges against him that were later dropped for insufficient evidence; he joined ICE months after those charges were dropped." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Kellom in fact held and raised a hammer, as Quinn maintained and the original prosecutorial review found supported by the evidence, or whether he was unarmed and on his knees, as a witnessing officer's later sworn testimony suggested, has never been resolved in any criminal proceeding.", "Why fingerprint evidence did not connect Kellom to the hammer despite blood matching him being found on it has not been fully explained in public reporting.", "Whether Michigan's attorney general's office, which said in 2019 it would review the case following the deposition, reached any further conclusion has not been consistently reported in available public sources." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did a key witnessing officer's sworn account of the central physical evidence \u2014 whether Kellom held a hammer at all \u2014 change so significantly between his original written report and his later deposition testimony?", "Why were no fingerprints from Kellom found on the hammer despite it reportedly bearing his blood?", "Did Michigan's attorney general's office ever complete and publicly release the findings of the review it agreed to conduct following the 2019 deposition revelations?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "CBS News \u2014 \u201cNo charges against officers in Terrance Kellom shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/no-charges-against-officers-in-terrance-kellom-shooting/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WXYZ Detroit \u2014 \u201cDPD officer's testimony contradicts previous account of deadly police raid with feds\u201d", "url": "https://www.wxyz.com/news/local-news/investigations/dpd-officers-testimony-contradicts-previous-account-of-deadly-police-raid-with-feds", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Detroit News \u2014 \u201cFeds: Detroit cop didn't recant story about hammer in ICE shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2019/04/23/feds-say-detroit-cop-didnt-recant-story-hammer-ice-shooting/3549552002/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "kendrec-mcdade", "caseNumber": "160", "name": "Kendrec McDade", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2012, "age": 19, "gender": "male", "city": "Pasadena", "county": "Los Angeles", "state": "CA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Kendrec McDade, 19, a college student, was shot seven times and killed by Pasadena, California Police Officers Jeffrey Newlen and Matthew Griffin on March 24, 2012, after they chased him down a residential street responding to a 911 call describing an armed robbery. The caller, Oscar Carrillo, had lied about the robbers being armed and mentioned a gun eight times to get a faster police response; his backpack had in fact been stolen from his car in an unarmed burglary. McDade, who was unarmed, was shot while reportedly reaching toward his waistband as he ran. He was left handcuffed on the ground for roughly eight minutes before paramedics arrived, his last words reportedly \"Why did they shoot me?\" The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office cleared both officers of criminal wrongdoing in December 2012, finding they acted in lawful self-defense. Carrillo separately pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of filing a false police report, receiving 90 days in jail \u2014 the only criminal conviction connected to the case. No officer has ever been charged in McDade's death.", "known": [ "The false 911 call, the chase, and the shooting, per the Pasadena Police Department, the LA County District Attorney's charge evaluation, and Carrillo's own admissions.", "Carrillo admitted he lied about the robbers being armed, mentioning a gun eight times during the 911 call, to get police to respond faster; no gun or stolen merchandise was ever found on McDade.", "McDade was shot seven times, per the autopsy, and was left handcuffed on the ground for roughly eight minutes before receiving medical attention, according to his family's attorney.", "The LA County District Attorney's Office announced in December 2012, after an eight-month investigation, that officers Newlen and Griffin acted in lawful self-defense and would not be charged, concluding McDade's motion toward his waistband was consistent with reaching for a firearm.", "Oscar Carrillo pleaded guilty in 2013 to two misdemeanor counts of filing a false police report, receiving a 90-day jail sentence, 90 days of community service, and a $3,000 fine payable to the Pasadena Police Department; prosecutors had declined to charge him with involuntary manslaughter.", "McDade's parents separately settled federal civil rights lawsuits against the City of Pasadena in 2014, with settlement amounts not publicly disclosed." ], "unknown": [ "Whether McDade's motion toward his waistband while running away actually resembled reaching for a weapon, as officers maintained, or was an ambiguous gesture given he had no weapon at all, was disputed by the family's attorney, who characterized \"waistband shootings\" as a recurring pattern in the region, and was never tested at a criminal trial.", "Why officers did not provide first aid during the roughly eight minutes McDade was handcuffed and reportedly still speaking has not been fully addressed in any official public accounting.", "The scene was in a dark, mixed-use area with no independent civilian witnesses, per police, meaning the officers' own accounts formed the primary basis for the self-defense finding." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was the only criminal conviction in this case a misdemeanor false-report charge against the 911 caller, while the officers who fired the fatal shots faced no charges at all?", "What specifically occurred in the roughly eight minutes between the shooting and paramedics' arrival, and why was no first aid provided during that window?", "What became of the broader pattern the family's attorney alleged regarding other \"waistband shooting\" cases in the Los Angeles area?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cCops' fatal shooting of unarmed Calif. man was 'lawful,' DA rules\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cops-fatal-shooting-unarmed-calif-man-was-lawful-da-rules-flna1c7656648", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS Los Angeles \u2014 \u201c911 Caller Pleads Guilty To False Report That Led To Teen's Killing By Pasadena Police\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/911-caller-admits-to-false-report-that-led-to-teens-killing-by-pasadena-police/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Law Offices of Caree Harper \u2014 \u201cKendrec McDade Case\u201d (family attorney case summary)", "url": "https://www.careeharper.com/kendrec-mcdade-case", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "miles-hall", "caseNumber": "161", "name": "Miles Hall", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2019, "age": 23, "gender": "male", "city": "Walnut Creek", "county": "Contra Costa", "state": "CA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Miles Hall, 23, who had schizophrenia, was shot four times and killed by Walnut Creek, California Police Officers KC Hsiao and Melissa Murphy on June 2, 2019, during a mental health crisis near his home. His mother, Taun Hall, had called and left a voicemail with a Walnut Creek officer the day before, warning that her son was having \"another episode\" and asking them to be prepared. When officers responded to reports Hall was carrying a nearly 5-foot steel digging tool and had chased a vehicle on foot, they deployed a beanbag shotgun first; when that failed to stop him, Hsiao and Murphy shot him. The Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office announced in May 2021, nearly two years later, that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute either officer. No one has ever been charged in Hall's death.", "known": [ "Taun Hall's voicemail to a Walnut Creek police officer the day before the shooting, warning that her son was experiencing another mental health episode, per a transcript reported by local media.", "Witnesses reported Hall was carrying a nearly 5-foot-long steel digging tool and had chased at least one vehicle on foot before officers arrived and staged roughly ten minutes later.", "Officers first deployed a beanbag shotgun, which did not stop Hall; Officers Hsiao and Murphy then shot him a combined four times.", "Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton's office announced on May 7, 2021 that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute either officer, citing the officers' self-defense claim and danger to the surrounding neighborhood.", "In September 2021, the City of Walnut Creek approved a $4 million settlement with Hall's family in a related civil rights lawsuit; the family used part of the settlement to establish the Miles Hall Foundation, focused on reforming law enforcement responses to mental health crises.", "Following the shooting, Walnut Creek expanded funding for mobile mental health crisis units as an alternative to police response for such calls." ], "unknown": [ "Whether officers had, as Hall's mother stated, arrived with an established plan for de-escalating a mental health crisis specific to her son, and whether that plan was followed, was disputed by the family's attorney and never resolved by any criminal proceeding.", "Whether nonlethal options beyond the single beanbag shotgun deployment were reasonably available before officers resorted to gunfire has been disputed by the family but was not independently tested at trial.", "Why the district attorney's charging decision took nearly two years to reach has not been fully explained in public reporting." ], "unanswered": [ "Given that Hall's own mother had proactively warned police the day before about his mental health crisis, why did the department's response still end in a fatal shooting?", "Why did the district attorney's charging review take nearly two years, and what specifically was under investigation for that length of time?", "What measurable outcomes has the Miles Hall Foundation's advocacy work achieved in changing how other departments respond to mental health crisis calls?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cNo charges in fatal police shooting of mentally ill Black man, district attorney says\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/07/us/miles-hall-police-no-charges/index.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "KTVU FOX 2 \u2014 \u201cDA won't charge Walnut Creek officers in fatal shooting of Miles Hall; civil rights attorneys ask AG for help\u201d", "url": "https://www.ktvu.com/news/da-wont-charge-walnut-creek-officers-in-fatal-shooting-of-miles-hall-civil-rights-attorneys-ask-ag-for-help", "verified": true }, { "name": "SFBay \u2014 \u201cWalnut Creek officers will not be charged in death of Miles Hall\u201d", "url": "https://sfbayca.com/2021/05/07/walnut-creek-officers-will-not-be-charged-in-death-of-miles-hall/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "jonathan-sanders", "caseNumber": "162", "name": "Jonathan Sanders", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2015, "age": 39, "gender": "male", "city": "Stonewall", "county": "Clarke", "state": "MS", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Jonathan Sanders, 39, a horse trainer, died on July 8, 2015 in Stonewall, Mississippi after an encounter with police officer Kevin Herrington that witnesses said involved a chokehold lasting as long as 20 to 30 minutes. Sanders had been riding a horse-drawn buggy near a gas station when he intervened in an argument between Herrington and another man he knew; witnesses said Herrington's patrol lights startled Sanders's horse, throwing him to the ground, after which Herrington grabbed him and restrained him on the ground. Multiple witnesses told the family's attorneys Herrington said he was \"going to get that [racial slur]\" before the confrontation and that Sanders repeatedly said \"I can't breathe\" before he died at the scene. A grand jury declined to indict Herrington in January 2016, and a second grand jury concluded in March 2016 that Sanders had choked to death after swallowing cocaine he was trying to hide, finding no excessive force was used. No one has ever been charged in Sanders's death.", "known": [ "The confrontation, the restraint, and Sanders's death at the scene, per the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation's inquiry and multiple witness accounts relayed by the family's attorneys.", "Multiple witnesses told the family's attorneys, Chokwe Antar Lumumba and C.J. Lawrence, that Herrington restrained Sanders on the ground for an extended period, with estimates from witnesses ranging up to 20 to 30 minutes; the attorneys themselves noted witness time estimates under stress are often inflated.", "At least one witness reported hearing Herrington say he was \"going to get that [racial slur]\" in reference to Sanders before the physical confrontation began.", "A witness who offered to retrieve a breathing mask to help Sanders said Herrington refused the offer; witnesses also reported hearing Sanders repeat \"I can't breathe.\"", "A grand jury declined to indict Herrington on any charge in January 2016; a second grand jury review in March 2016 concluded Sanders died of asphyxiation from \"acute cocaine toxicity\" after swallowing cocaine, and found police had not used excessive force in restraining him.", "Herrington claimed Sanders reached for his service weapon during the struggle, a claim witnesses disputed." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Sanders's death was caused primarily by asphyxiation from restraint, as multiple eyewitnesses' accounts suggested, or from cocaine toxicity as the grand jury concluded, was disputed by the family's attorneys, who said a preliminary autopsy review pointed to manual strangulation, and has never been resolved by any criminal trial.", "Whether Herrington in fact used a racial slur before the encounter, as multiple witnesses told the family's attorneys, was never independently adjudicated.", "The exact duration Sanders was restrained \u2014 estimated by different witnesses from several minutes up to 30 \u2014 was never precisely established." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the second grand jury's cocaine-toxicity finding differ so sharply from multiple eyewitness accounts describing a prolonged chokehold and Sanders saying he could not breathe?", "Was the witness account describing Herrington's use of a racial slur before the encounter ever formally investigated as evidence of intent?", "Why was a witness's offer to provide a breathing mask allegedly refused, and was that refusal examined in either grand jury proceeding?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 \u201cDeath of Jonathan Sanders\u201d (sourced case history)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Jonathan_Sanders", "verified": true }, { "name": "Southern Poverty Law Center \u2014 \u201cQuestions Linger over the Death of Jonathan Sanders at the Hands of a Mississippi Policeman\u201d", "url": "https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/questions-linger-over-death-jonathan-sanders-hands-mississippi-policeman/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Fox News / AP \u2014 \u201cGrand jury: no indictment of Mississippi police officer\u201d", "url": "https://www.foxnews.com/us/grand-jury-no-indictment-of-mississippi-police-officer", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "tyre-king", "caseNumber": "163", "name": "Tyre King", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2016, "age": 13, "gender": "male", "city": "Columbus", "county": "Franklin", "state": "OH", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Tyre King, 13, was shot and killed by Columbus, Ohio Police Officer Bryan Mason on September 14, 2016, during a foot chase after officers responded to a report of an armed $10 robbery. Mason said King pulled a BB gun with an attached laser sight from his waistband during the chase, prompting him to fire; an older teenager who had been with King, Demetrious Braxton, later told the Columbus Dispatch that King was running away, not reaching for anything, when he was shot. A Franklin County grand jury declined to indict Mason \u2014 who had been involved in three prior fatal or use-of-force shootings before this one \u2014 in May 2017. A federal jury separately cleared Mason of civil liability in 2023, after the judge excluded testimony about Mason's history of 47 use-of-force reports in the seven years preceding King's death. No one has ever been charged in King's death.", "known": [ "The robbery report, the foot chase, and the shooting, per the Columbus Division of Police and Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien's public account following the grand jury proceedings.", "A BB gun with an attached laser sight, with the orange safety tip that typically distinguishes replica firearms not visible or removed, was recovered at the scene.", "Demetrious Braxton, the 19-year-old who had been with King and later pleaded guilty to the underlying robbery charge, told reporters King was running, not pulling out the BB gun, when he was shot.", "Officer Mason had been involved in three previous police shootings before King's death, including a 2012 fatal shooting for which he was cleared, and had accumulated 47 use-of-force reports in the seven years prior, per Columbus Dispatch reporting.", "A Franklin County grand jury, after a two-day proceeding involving 15 to 17 witnesses, declined to indict Mason on May 19, 2017.", "King's grandmother filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in 2018; a federal jury found in January 2023 that Mason did not violate King's constitutional rights, after the judge excluded testimony from a police practices expert about Mason's use-of-force history from being presented to that jury." ], "unknown": [ "Whether King was in fact reaching for the BB gun, as Mason maintained, or was simply running away, as a fellow teenager present that night stated, was disputed and never resolved by either the grand jury or the later federal civil trial.", "The full extent of what Mason's 47 prior use-of-force reports and three earlier shootings might have shown about a pattern in his conduct was not presented to the federal civil jury, since the judge excluded that evidence.", "Whether cover and concealment were reasonably available to Mason before he resorted to deadly force, as the family's use-of-force expert argued in written testimony the court did not allow him to deliver live, was never weighed by any jury." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was expert testimony about Mason's extensive prior use-of-force history excluded from the federal civil trial, and how might its inclusion have changed the outcome?", "Why did Mason remain an active-duty officer, later moved only to narcotics duty, despite three previous shootings before King's death?", "What specific parallels and differences exist between this case and Tamir Rice's, given how frequently the two were compared in contemporaneous coverage?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cTyre King shooting: Ohio officer kills robbery suspect, 13, who had BB gun\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/15/us/ohio-columbus-police-kill-teen/index.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Colorlines \u2014 \u201cGrand Jury: No Charges For Cop Who Killed Tyre King\u201d", "url": "https://colorlines.com/article/grand-jury-no-charges-cop-who-killed-tyre-king/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WOSU Public Media \u2014 \u201cFederal jury finds Columbus officer didn't violate rights in shooting death of 13-year-old Tyre King\u201d", "url": "https://www.wosu.org/news/2023-01-26/federal-jury-finds-columbus-officer-didnt-violate-rights-in-shooting-death-of-13-year-old-tyre-king", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "john-neville", "caseNumber": "164", "name": "John Neville", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2019, "age": 56, "gender": "male", "city": "Winston-Salem", "county": "Forsyth", "state": "NC", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "John Neville, 56, died on December 4, 2019, three days after Forsyth County, North Carolina jail detention officers restrained him face-down on the floor of his cell in a \"bent-leg prone restraint\" for nearly an hour. Body camera video showed Neville, who had fallen from his top bunk during an apparent seizure, saying \"I can't breathe\" and calling out for his deceased mother more than 25 times while restrained; officers responded at least twice with \"if you can talk, you can breathe.\" A medical examiner ruled the death a homicide from positional and compressional asphyxia. Five detention officers and a jail nurse were charged with involuntary manslaughter in 2020; a grand jury declined to indict any of the five officers in April 2022, indicting only the nurse, Michelle Heughins \u2014 whose attorney argued she was the only person present who tried to save Neville's life. In 2023, at the Neville family's own request, prosecutors dropped the remaining charge against Heughins as well. No one has ever been convicted in Neville's death.", "known": [ "The restraint, the nearly hour-long prone position, and Neville's death three days later, per body camera video released by court order and the county medical examiner's autopsy finding of homicide by positional and compressional asphyxia.", "Neville said \"I can't breathe\" and called out for his mother repeatedly \u2014 accounts range from at least 10 to more than 25 times across different reporting \u2014 while restrained; officers are recorded responding that if he could talk, he could breathe.", "Five detention officers and jail nurse Michelle Heughins were charged with involuntary manslaughter in July 2020, following a seven-month investigation.", "A Forsyth County grand jury declined in April 2022 to indict any of the five officers, indicting only Heughins on the involuntary manslaughter charge.", "In September 2023, prosecutors dropped the remaining charge against Heughins specifically at the request of Neville's family, who by then had expressed disappointment that the sole person charged was the nurse rather than any of the restraining officers.", "The Forsyth County Sheriff's Office banned the \"bent-leg prone restraint\" technique used on Neville in August 2020, and the county settled a related civil claim with Neville's family for $3 million.", "The sheriff's office did not publicly acknowledge Neville's death for roughly six to seven months, only providing information after inquiries from the Winston-Salem Journal." ], "unknown": [ "Why the grand jury indicted only the nurse \u2014 whose attorney and Neville's own son both publicly said the evidence showed responsibility was shared far more broadly \u2014 while clearing all five officers who physically restrained him, has never been explained in any public grand jury record, which remains sealed by law.", "The full extent of what jail policy, cited by Heughins's defense as limiting her ability to intervene, actually constrained her actions in the room has been disputed between her attorney's account and the family's.", "Why the sheriff's office waited six to seven months to publicly acknowledge Neville's death has not been fully resolved beyond the sheriff's stated reliance on the family's initial wishes." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the grand jury single out the jail nurse for indictment while clearing all five officers who physically restrained Neville for nearly an hour?", "What jail policies, if any, genuinely limited Nurse Heughins's ability to intervene sooner, and were those policies themselves ever examined for liability?", "What became of the Neville family's pending federal civil lawsuit against Forsyth County, the sheriff, and Wellpath, the jail's former medical provider?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cNorth Carolina inmate who died following restraint repeatedly said 'I can't breathe'\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/north-carolina-inmate-who-died-following-restraint-repeatedly-said-i-n1236022", "verified": true }, { "name": "WFDD (88.5) \u2014 \u201cGrand Jury declines to indict five former jail officers charged in John Neville's death\u201d", "url": "https://www.wfdd.org/story/grand-jury-declines-indict-five-former-jail-officers-charged-john-nevilles-death", "verified": true }, { "name": "WFMY News 2 \u2014 \u201cCharges dropped against nurse in John Neville's death, at family's request, Forsyth County DA office says\u201d", "url": "https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/local/charges-against-michelle-heughins-dropped-family-of-john-neville-wishes/83-55a0cc59-4ef7-4ac0-8968-08c81f1162d1", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "ronald-greene", "caseNumber": "165", "name": "Ronald Greene", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2019, "age": 49, "gender": "male", "city": "Monroe", "county": "Union", "state": "LA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Ronald Greene, 49, died on May 10, 2019, following a high-speed chase and arrest by Louisiana State Police troopers outside Monroe, Louisiana. Authorities initially told his family he died from injuries sustained when his car crashed at the end of the chase. Body camera video, suppressed for two years until an Associated Press investigation obtained and published it in 2021, instead showed troopers stunning Greene with Tasers, punching him, and dragging him by his ankle shackles face-down on the ground while he pleaded, \"I'm scared! I'm your brother!\" Five officers were eventually indicted in 2022 on charges ranging from negligent homicide to malfeasance. By 2024, prosecutors had dropped the most serious charges against every defendant; the lead trooper avoided trial entirely by pleading no contest to a single misdemeanor battery charge in exchange for probation. The Department of Justice separately declined to bring federal charges. No one has ever been convicted of a felony in Greene's death.", "known": [ "The high-speed chase, the arrest, and Greene's death, per body camera video an Associated Press investigation obtained and published in 2021, two years after Louisiana State Police initially attributed his death to the car crash alone.", "The video showed troopers using stun guns on Greene, punching him, and dragging him face-down by his ankle shackles while he begged for mercy; a state police force instructor who reviewed the footage described the troopers' conduct as \"torture and murder,\" per multiple news reports.", "State police records showed a coroner's report listed the cause of death as a motor vehicle accident, a state crash report omitted any mention of troopers using force, and 462 days passed before state police even opened an internal investigation.", "Five Louisiana officers, including four state troopers and one Union Parish sheriff's deputy, were indicted in December 2022 on charges ranging from negligent homicide to malfeasance in office.", "By September 2024, prosecutors had dismissed the negligent homicide charge against the trooper most directly implicated in Greene's death, Kory York, leaving only lesser malfeasance counts against two remaining defendants.", "In October 2024, York avoided trial entirely by pleading no contest to a single misdemeanor battery charge, receiving one year of probation and no jail time, in exchange for agreeing to testify against the one officer still facing charges; Greene's mother said the family had refused to sign the plea deal and were not consulted on its final terms.", "The U.S. Department of Justice, after opening a broader civil rights investigation into Louisiana State Police, told Greene's family in 2024 that it would not bring federal criminal charges in his death specifically.", "One indicted trooper, Chris Hollingsworth, died in a single-vehicle crash in September 2020, hours after learning he would be fired for his role in Greene's death." ], "unknown": [ "The precise physical cause of Greene's death was never conclusively established by prosecutors despite years of investigation, which CBS News reported was itself cited as a weakness that discouraged more serious charges.", "Why state police and the coroner's office initially attributed Greene's death solely to the car crash, despite injuries an emergency room doctor reportedly questioned at the time, has never been fully accounted for by any single official investigation.", "The full extent of what Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards knew about the case and when, which a state legislative inquiry examined, was not conclusively resolved in public reporting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did it take 462 days for Louisiana State Police to open even an internal investigation into a death captured on body camera video?", "Why was the case's most serious charge, negligent homicide, ultimately reduced to a single misdemeanor with no jail time for the trooper most directly involved?", "What specific findings, if any, has the Department of Justice's broader pattern-or-practice investigation into Louisiana State Police produced regarding the treatment of Black motorists?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cLouisiana prosecutors drop most serious charge in deadly arrest of Black motorist Ronald Greene\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/26/us/kory-york-ronald-green-death-louisiana/index.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News \u2014 \u201cLouisiana prosecutors drop most serious charge in fatal arrest of Black motorist Ronald Greene\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/louisiana-ronald-greene-death-arrest-prosecutors-drop-charge/", "verified": true }, { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cRonald Greene: Louisiana trooper avoids jail time in deadly arrest of Black motorist\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/28/us/ronald-greene-louisiana-trooper-avoids-jail-time", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "alonzo-smith", "caseNumber": "166", "name": "Alonzo Smith", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2015, "age": 27, "gender": "male", "city": "Washington", "county": null, "state": "DC", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Alonzo Smith, 27, died on November 1, 2015 after being restrained and handcuffed by two privately employed \"special police officers\" at Marbury Plaza apartments in Southeast Washington, D.C. Neighbors reported hearing Smith, who was shirtless and barefoot, running and screaming that someone was trying to kill him before the special officers caught him, put him in a bear hug, and held him face-down on the ground. When Metropolitan Police arrived, Smith was found handcuffed, unconscious, and not breathing; he died at a hospital soon after. The D.C. medical examiner classified his death a homicide. Nearly a year later, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced there was insufficient evidence to charge either special officer, attributing Smith's death to a cocaine-related cardiac event that restraint may have contributed to, rather than to excessive force. No one has ever been charged in Smith's death, and the special officers involved have never been publicly identified.", "known": [ "The restraint, the discovery of Smith handcuffed and not breathing, and his death, per the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Attorney's Office's public findings.", "The two men who restrained Smith were \"special police officers\" \u2014 privately employed, armed security personnel licensed by the District with limited arrest powers, distinct from sworn Metropolitan Police officers.", "The D.C. Chief Medical Examiner classified Smith's manner of death as homicide, while also finding cocaine intoxication and cardiac arrest were contributing factors.", "The U.S. Attorney's Office announced in October 2016, after a review including body camera footage, autopsy and toxicology reports, and interviews with more than two dozen witnesses, that there was insufficient evidence to prove the officers used excessive force or possessed criminal intent.", "An initial police report characterized the incident as a \"justifiable homicide\" before D.C. police said that classification was an error and changed it to a standard death investigation.", "The identities of the two special police officers involved have never been publicly released, and the private security company that employed them has not been named in most public reporting." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the level of force used to restrain Smith \u2014 including what witnesses described as an officer's knee on his back \u2014 independently caused or substantially contributed to his death, versus the cocaine intoxication prosecutors emphasized, was never resolved by any criminal proceeding.", "Why the two special police officers involved have never been publicly named, even after the U.S. Attorney's Office concluded its investigation, has not been explained in available public reporting.", "The full body camera footage capturing the incident was only partially released to the public, limiting independent review of the restraint itself." ], "unanswered": [ "Why have the special police officers involved in Smith's death never been publicly identified, even after the criminal investigation concluded?", "What oversight, if any, exists for the roughly 7,000-plus privately employed special police officers operating with arrest powers across Washington, D.C.?", "Why did the original police report classify the incident as a \"justifiable homicide\" before that classification was retracted as an error?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office for D.C. \u2014 official statement on the Alonzo Smith investigation", "url": "https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/us-attorneys-office-concludes-investigation-death-alonzo-smith-southeast-washington", "verified": true }, { "name": "FOX 5 DC \u2014 \u201cSecurity guards will not be charged in death of Alonzo Smith\u201d", "url": "https://www.fox5dc.com/news/security-guards-will-not-be-charged-in-death-of-alonzo-smith", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Washington Post \u2014 \u201cFamily demands to know why D.C. man was in custody of 'special police,' and how he died\u201d", "url": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/12/01/friends-and-family-demand-to-know-why-d-c-man-was-in-the-custody-of-special-police-and-how-he-died/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "darius-tarver", "caseNumber": "167", "name": "Darius Tarver", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 23, "gender": "male", "city": "Denton", "county": "Denton", "state": "TX", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Darius Tarver, 23, a University of North Texas criminal justice student and member of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement, was shot and killed by a Denton, Texas police officer on January 21, 2020, outside his apartment. Just a week earlier, Tarver had suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car crash and been released from the ICU; his family said he began exhibiting significant mental impairment afterward. His roommate called police for help after Tarver barricaded himself in his room, muttering about God and light. Body camera video showed him holding a frying pan and a large knife when four officers arrived; after he was Tased twice without effect and continued to advance, one officer opened fire. A Denton County grand jury declined to indict the officer, whose name was never publicly released, in March 2021. An internal department review separately found no policy violations. No one has ever been charged in Tarver's death.", "known": [ "Tarver's traumatic brain injury the week before, his roommate's 911 call for help, and the shooting itself, per Denton Police Department body camera footage and public statements.", "Four officers responded to the scene; Tarver was Tased twice without apparent effect before an officer fired the fatal shots as he advanced holding a frying pan and knife, per police accounts of the body camera footage.", "Denton Police Chief Frank Dixon stated at a March 2020 news conference that officers were \"clearly under threat\" and suggested Tarver may have been under the influence of drugs; Tarver's family disputed that account, attributing his behavior to the brain injury.", "A Denton County grand jury declined to indict the involved officer, whose identity police never publicly released, on March 18, 2021 \u2014 14 months after the shooting.", "Denton's internal affairs investigation concluded the officers followed department training, procedures, and policy given the totality of the circumstances, and no officer faced any disciplinary action.", "Following Tarver's death, the Denton Police Department created a dedicated mental health response division, which his father, a police chaplain in a neighboring city, said was a positive but insufficient outcome.", "A petition organized by Tarver's father calling for criminal charges, an independent special prosecutor, and a Department of Justice investigation gathered nearly 200,000 signatures." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Tarver's continued advance after being Tased twice reflected the imminent threat the department maintained, or a disoriented reaction consistent with a recent traumatic brain injury, as his family argued, was never tested at any criminal trial.", "Why the involved officer's identity has never been publicly released, even after the grand jury and internal investigation both concluded, is not explained in available public reporting.", "Whether responding officers had specific crisis-intervention training for encounters involving a recent traumatic brain injury, as opposed to general mental health crisis training, has not been detailed publicly." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did four responding officers, aware they were facing someone in an active mental health crisis, not attempt additional de-escalation before the situation reached lethal force?", "Why has the involved officer's identity never been publicly disclosed, even after both the grand jury and internal review concluded?", "What specific outcomes has Denton's newly created mental health response division achieved in the years since Tarver's death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Dallas Morning News \u2014 \u201cDenton officer won't face charges in fatal shooting of UNT student Darius Tarver\u201d", "url": "https://www.dallasnews.com/news/courts/2021/03/18/denton-officer-wont-face-charges-in-fatal-shooting-of-unt-student-darius-tarver/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Dallas Observer \u2014 \u201cDenton Police Who Killed Darius Tarver Won't be Charged, Sparking Outrage\u201d", "url": "https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/denton-county-grand-jury-declines-to-indict-officer-who-killed-darius-tarver-11996863/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WFAA \u2014 \u201cDenton officer who fatally shot Darius Tarver won't face disciplinary action, department says\u201d", "url": "https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/denton-police-officer-fatally-shot-darius-tarver-student-no-disciplinary-action-department-says/287-1a2ac3f2-6c22-48f7-ac62-33c2ceab1314", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "chinedu-okobi", "caseNumber": "168", "name": "Chinedu Okobi", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2018, "age": 36, "gender": "male", "city": "Millbrae", "county": "San Mateo", "state": "CA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Chinedu Okobi, 36, a Morehouse College graduate and father, died on October 3, 2018 after San Mateo County, California sheriff's deputies Tased him repeatedly, struck him with a baton, and pepper-sprayed him during a confrontation that began when a deputy approached him for jaywalking on El Camino Real in Millbrae. Okobi crossed the street to get away from the deputy; when more deputies arrived, a violent struggle followed in which he was shocked with a Taser seven times. He went into cardiac arrest and died; an autopsy attributed his death to cardiac arrest linked to an undiagnosed enlarged heart, physical exertion, restraint, and the repeated Taser shocks. San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe announced in March 2019 that none of the five deputies and sergeant involved would face criminal charges. Okobi was the third person with mental illness to die after being Tased by law enforcement in San Mateo County within that same year. No one has ever been charged in Okobi's death.", "known": [ "The jaywalking stop, the struggle, and the repeated Taser deployments, per video released by the San Mateo County District Attorney's office and Wagstaffe's own public findings.", "Deputy Joshua Wang initially approached Okobi for jaywalking; when Okobi crossed the street away from him, additional deputies were called and a struggle followed involving batons, pepper spray, and multiple Taser deployments \u2014 seven by most reporting, though the exact count varies slightly across sources.", "An autopsy found Okobi died of cardiac arrest, with an undiagnosed enlarged heart identified as a contributing risk factor for sudden death following Taser shocks, a risk a UCSF cardiac researcher testified applies broadly to repeated Taser use.", "District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe announced on March 1, 2019 that none of the four deputies or the sergeant present would face criminal charges, calling the death a \"horrible tragedy\" while declining to fault Okobi.", "None of the deputies present turned Okobi onto his side, as department policy required after restraint, and none administered CPR before paramedics arrived, according to a local news account of the incident.", "San Mateo County's own internal affairs investigation later cleared the deputies of policy violations as well.", "In 2023, San Mateo County agreed to pay Okobi's family $4.5 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the level of force used \u2014 seven Taser deployments combined with baton strikes and pepper spray against a man who deputies acknowledged never displayed a weapon \u2014 was proportionate to the threat he posed was disputed by the family's attorney, who called it \"over-aggressiveness,\" and was never tested at any criminal trial.", "Why none of the deputies present repositioned Okobi onto his side or began CPR before paramedics arrived, despite department policy, was not directly addressed in the district attorney's public charging decision.", "The precise sequence connecting the initial jaywalking stop to the level of force ultimately used has been described somewhat differently across the district attorney's account and the family's characterization of the video." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did an initial jaywalking stop escalate to seven Taser deployments, baton strikes, and pepper spray against a man deputies never described as armed?", "Why did none of the deputies present provide CPR or reposition Okobi as department policy required once he became unresponsive?", "What connects this case to the two other Taser-related deaths of people with mental illness in San Mateo County that same year, and what departmental review, if any, addressed that pattern?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "KQED \u2014 \u201cSan Mateo County Sheriff's Officers Won't Face Charges for Fatal Arrest of Unarmed Man\u201d", "url": "https://www.kqed.org/news/11729800/san-mateo-county-sheriffs-sergeant-deputies-wont-face-charges-for-fatal-arrest-of-unarmed-man", "verified": true }, { "name": "San Francisco Chronicle \u2014 \u201cChinedu Okobi case: San Mateo sheriff's deputies cleared in Taser death of unarmed black man\u201d", "url": "https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/San-Mateo-sheriff-s-deputies-cleared-in-tasing-13655747.php", "verified": true }, { "name": "Marin Independent Journal, via Press Reader \u2014 \u201cCounty agrees to pay $4.5M in deadly Taser deployment\u201d", "url": "https://www.pressreader.com/usa/marin-independent-journal/20230213/281642489340372", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "osaze-osagie", "caseNumber": "169", "name": "Osaze Osagie", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2019, "age": 29, "gender": "male", "city": "State College", "county": "Centre", "state": "PA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Osaze Osagie, 29, who had schizophrenia and Asperger's syndrome, was shot and killed by a State College, Pennsylvania police officer on March 20, 2019, at his apartment while three officers attempted to serve a mental health warrant his own father had requested. Sylvester Osagie, worried about his son's deteriorating condition, had asked police for an involuntary commitment warrant after his son sent a text threatening self-harm. When officers arrived, Osagie reportedly ran at them holding a steak knife; one officer fired three shots, striking him once in the shoulder and twice in the back as he turned. It was the first fatal police shooting in the department's 103-year history. Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna announced in May 2019, after a six-week investigation, that the officer would face no charges, finding the shooting justified. A federal judge dismissed the family's civil lawsuit in 2023. No one has ever been charged in Osagie's death.", "known": [ "Sylvester Osagie's request for a mental health warrant, the officers' response, and the shooting, per the Pennsylvania State Police investigative report and the Centre County District Attorney's public findings.", "All three responding officers had completed 40-hour Crisis Intervention Team training, described by the borough as the \"gold standard\" for police response to mental health situations; one officer was additionally trained by the FBI as a crisis negotiator.", "The officers were given a copy of Osagie's text message threatening self-harm before responding, but the DA's report noted no other information about his prior legal or health history was made available to them, and they did not develop a specific joint plan before engaging him.", "District Attorney Bernie Cantorna announced on May 8, 2019 that the shooting was legally justified and that the officer, whose identity was never publicly released per standard department and state police practice for uncharged shootings, acted in defense of himself and a fellow officer.", "U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew Brann dismissed the family's federal lawsuit in November 2023 on summary judgment, ruling the officers, who were not mental health professionals, could not be held liable \"for failing to be something they are not, and a death they did not cause.\"", "The shooting prompted the formation of a local mental health task force, which issued 21 recommendations in November 2020; as of four years after Osagie's death, only seven had been implemented, and advocates said removing firearms from officers serving mental health warrants was never seriously considered." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Osagie's advance with the knife presented the imminent threat that justified deadly force, given he was fatally struck twice in the back \u2014 suggesting he may have been turning away at the moment of at least some shots \u2014 was disputed by community members reviewing the same investigative findings and was never resolved at any criminal trial.", "Why officers with specialized crisis intervention and hostage-negotiation training did not develop a specific de-escalation plan before engaging Osagie has not been fully explained beyond the DA's report noting that gap occurred.", "Whether Pennsylvania's mental health warrant process, which the DA himself said should change, has been meaningfully reformed regarding whether armed police officers must be the ones serving such warrants remains disputed by local advocates." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did specially trained crisis-intervention and hostage-negotiation officers not develop a coordinated de-escalation plan before approaching a man they knew to be suicidal?", "Why were two of the three fatal shots to Osagie's back, and how does that square with the DA's finding that the officer faced an ongoing frontal threat?", "Why has implementation of the local mental health task force's 21 recommendations remained slow years after Osagie's death, and why was removing firearms from the 302 warrant process never seriously considered?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Spotlight PA \u2014 \u201cState College officer killed Osaze Osagie 4 years ago\u201d", "url": "https://www.spotlightpa.org/statecollege/2023/03/state-college-police-osaze-osagie-mental-health-racial-bias/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WITF \u2014 \u201cDA: No Charges for police shooting in State College\u201d", "url": "https://www.witf.org/news/2019/05/da-no-charges-for-police-shooting-in-state-college.php", "verified": true }, { "name": "StateCollege.com \u2014 \u201cFederal Judge Dismisses Osagie Family Lawsuit Against State College, Police Officers\u201d", "url": "https://www.statecollege.com/articles/state-college/federal-judge-dismisses-osagie-family-lawsuit-against-state-college-police-officers/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "julian-lewis", "caseNumber": "170", "name": "Julian Lewis", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 60, "gender": "male", "city": "Sylvania", "county": "Screven", "state": "GA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Julian Edward Roosevelt Lewis, 60, a semi-retired carpenter, was shot in the face and killed by Georgia State Patrol Trooper Jacob Thompson on a rural road in Screven County, Georgia, on August 7, 2020, after Thompson tried to stop him over a broken taillight. When Lewis did not immediately stop, Thompson performed a PIT maneuver that forced his car into a ditch, then shot him once, unarmed, within about two seconds of getting out of his own patrol car. Thompson wrote in his report that Lewis had been revving his engine and turning the wheel as if trying to ram him \u2014 a claim a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent later testified was physically impossible, since the crash had disconnected Lewis's car battery, leaving the vehicle inoperable. Thompson was fired and charged with felony murder days later, but a Screven County grand jury declined to indict him in June 2021. No one has ever been convicted in Lewis's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop for a broken taillight, the PIT maneuver, and the shooting, per the Georgia State Patrol's own incident report and subsequent Georgia Bureau of Investigation findings.", "A GBI agent testified that Thompson fired his weapon approximately two seconds after exiting his patrol car.", "Thompson's written account stated Lewis revved his engine and turned his wheel as if attempting to ram him; a GBI agent testified in court that this was impossible, since Lewis's car battery had disconnected when his vehicle hit the ditch, rendering it inoperable.", "Thompson, a 27-year-old white trooper who had joined the Georgia State Patrol in 2013, was fired and arrested on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault on August 14, 2020, one week after the shooting.", "A Screven County judge initially denied Thompson bail given \"the factual circumstances of the case,\" though he was later released on $100,000 bond in December 2020.", "A 22-person Screven County grand jury declined to indict Thompson in June 2021, after hearing his own testimony \u2014 a practice Georgia law permits for current or former law enforcement \u2014 and considering Georgia's self-defense statutes.", "Following the grand jury's decision, Lewis's family and attorneys led a 63-mile march to Savannah, after which federal prosecutors announced they were examining the case \"in consultation with the FBI\"; no subsequent public announcement of federal charges has been reported." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Thompson perceived a genuine threat at the moment he fired, despite the GBI's finding that Lewis's account of the car's condition was physically impossible, was the central issue for the grand jury and was never resolved by any conviction.", "Why the grand jury declined to indict despite the GBI's own contradiction of Thompson's central justification has never been explained, since grand jury deliberations are sealed under Georgia law.", "Whether the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit District Attorney's office ever attempted to present the case to a second grand jury, and the ultimate outcome of the federal review opened after the family's march to Savannah, have not been consistently reported in later public sources." ], "unanswered": [ "How did a grand jury decline to indict when the state's own investigative agency had already contradicted the trooper's central account of the shooting?", "What became of the federal investigation opened by the U.S. Attorney's office following the Lewis family's 63-mile march to Savannah?", "Why was Thompson permitted to testify directly to the grand jury under Georgia's law allowing law enforcement that privilege, and how did his testimony affect the outcome?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 \u201cKilling of Julian Lewis\u201d (sourced case history)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Julian_Lewis", "verified": true }, { "name": "WSAV-TV \u2014 \u201cNo indictment for former Georgia trooper in death of Julian Lewis\u201d", "url": "https://www.wsav.com/news/local-news/grand-jury-decides-no-charges-for-former-georgia-state-trooper/", "verified": true }, { "name": "AP, via Yahoo News \u2014 \u201cFeds 'examining' shooting of Black man by Georgia trooper\u201d", "url": "https://news.yahoo.com/feds-examining-shooting-black-man-210023796.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "ej-bradford-jr", "caseNumber": "171", "name": "Emantic \u201cE.J.\u201d Bradford Jr.", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2018, "age": 21, "gender": "male", "city": "Hoover", "county": "Jefferson", "state": "AL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Emantic \u201cE.J.\u201d Bradford Jr., 21, was shot three times from behind and killed by Hoover, Alabama Police Officer David Alexander at the Riverchase Galleria mall on Thanksgiving night, November 22, 2018, moments after another man opened fire during an altercation, wounding an 18-year-old and a 12-year-old bystander. Bradford, who held a valid permit to carry, was seen on surveillance video running toward the wounded with his gun drawn; witnesses and his family's attorney said he was trying to help, not attack anyone. Hoover police initially publicly identified Bradford himself as the shooter, then retracted that within a day. Alabama's attorney general took over the case from the local district attorney, citing conflicts of interest, and announced in February 2019 that the officer had mistakenly believed Bradford fired the earlier shots but was still legally justified in killing him regardless. The FBI separately found no basis for federal civil rights charges. No one has ever been charged in Bradford's death.", "known": [ "The mall altercation, the earlier gunfire that wounded two bystanders, and Bradford's shooting, per Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall's public report and released surveillance video.", "Bradford held a valid Alabama permit to carry the firearm found on him.", "An independent autopsy commissioned by Bradford's family found he was struck three times from behind, in the head, neck, and back.", "Hoover police publicly identified Bradford as the shooter the night of the incident, then retracted that identification, then retracted a follow-up claim that he had brandished a weapon at officers, before the actual gunman, Erron Brown, was later arrested and charged separately.", "Attorney General Marshall's February 2019 report concluded the officer mistakenly believed Bradford was the shooter but was nonetheless legally justified, since Bradford was armed and the officer's duty was to \u201celiminate the threat\u201d he perceived.", "The FBI reviewed the matter and found no evidence to support federal civil rights charges against the officer, per the Attorney General's office.", "The shooting prompted weeks of sustained protests in Hoover, including demonstrations outside City Hall demanding release of body camera and surveillance footage." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the officer had a reasonable opportunity to identify Bradford as someone helping the wounded, rather than the shooter, before firing has been disputed by the family's attorney, Ben Crump, who called the investigation a \u201ccover-up,\u201d and was never tested at any criminal trial.", "The involved officer's identity, later reported as David Alexander per Wikipedia's sourced case history, was not initially released by Hoover police or the Attorney General's office in their own public statements.", "The full, unedited body camera footage from the officer who fired was not among the surveillance video the Attorney General's office released publicly." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did Hoover police publicly identify Bradford as the shooter, then retract that claim, then retract a second claim that he brandished a weapon at officers, all within days of the shooting?", "Why has the officer's body camera footage, as opposed to mall surveillance video, never been made public?", "What accountability, if any, exists when an officer's mistaken belief about who fired the initial shots is treated as sufficient justification for killing an unrelated armed bystander?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Alabama Attorney General's Office \u2014 official report on the Bradford investigation", "url": "https://www.alabamaag.gov/attorney-general-marshall-releases-report-on-officer-involved-shooting-death-of-emantic-bradford-jr-to-hoover-police-dept-and-alabama-sbi/", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cAlabama officer's fatal shooting of 21-year-old at mall was 'justified,' state says\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alabama-officer-fatal-mall-shooting-21-year-old-won-t-n967311", "verified": true }, { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cAlabama attorney general takes over mall shooting cases, citing conflicts of interest\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/13/us/alabama-mall-shooting-attorney-general-emantic-bradford/index.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "kayla-moore", "caseNumber": "172", "name": "Kayla Moore", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2013, "age": 41, "gender": "female", "city": "Berkeley", "county": "Alameda", "state": "CA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Kayla Moore, 41, a Black transgender woman living with schizophrenia, died in Berkeley, California police custody on February 12, 2013, after up to six officers restrained her face-down on a futon in her own apartment. Her roommate had called police asking for a mental health welfare check, not an arrest; officers instead learned of an outstanding warrant \u2014 later found to have actually been issued for a different person who shared her legal name \u2014 and moved to take her into custody. During the struggle to restrain her, Moore stopped breathing and could not be revived. A Berkeley police sergeant's internal report ruled the death accidental and the force used reasonable within three months. No criminal charges were ever sought against any officer. A federal judge dismissed the family's civil rights lawsuit in 2016, and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that dismissal in 2020, finding the officers had not used excessive force. No one has ever been held accountable in Moore's death.", "known": [ "The welfare-check call, the restraint, and Moore's death, per the Berkeley Police Department's own internal report and the Alameda County coroner's findings.", "Moore's roommate called police specifically requesting a mental health evaluation, not an arrest, after she became agitated during a psychotic episode.", "The warrant officers used to justify arresting Moore was later determined to have been issued for a different person who happened to share her legal first name, per the family's civil complaint.", "Up to six officers restrained Moore face-down, applying body weight to her limbs and back; a spit hood was readied but never used before she stopped breathing.", "Berkeley Police Sergeant Peter Hong's internal report, released about three months later, ruled Moore's death accidental and the force used by officers reasonable.", "The Alameda County coroner found potentially toxic levels of methamphetamine and codeine in Moore's system, along with obesity and an enlarged heart, as contributing factors.", "U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer granted summary judgment for the officers in 2016, finding their use of force reasonable; a separate Americans with Disabilities Act claim was dismissed in 2018 for insufficient evidence.", "The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal in January 2020, ruling that while Moore's death was a tragedy, the officers had not acted unlawfully based on the evidence presented." ], "unknown": [ "Whether officers reasonably should have recognized that restraining Moore face-down under the combined weight of up to six people risked impairing her breathing was central to the family's claims and was addressed differently by the internal police review versus the family's own expert accounts, but was never resolved by any criminal proceeding since none was brought.", "The family separately alleged officers made discriminatory remarks about Moore's gender identity and declined to promptly administer CPR because of it; this claim was not specifically resolved in the courts' published rulings on the excessive-force and ADA claims.", "Why the arrest proceeded on a warrant later found to belong to a different person, before that discrepancy was caught, has not been fully explained in public reporting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was Moore arrested on a warrant that was later found to belong to someone else entirely, and what verification steps, if any, failed?", "Did the responding officers' handling of Moore's care immediately after she stopped breathing meet department protocol, and was that specifically reviewed apart from the broader excessive-force finding?", "What has become of Berkeley's policies for responding to mental-health-crisis calls involving transgender residents since Moore's death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "KQED \u2014 \u201cBerkeley Death in Police Custody Was Accidental, Probe Concludes\u201d", "url": "https://www.kqed.org/news/96309/berkeley-death-in-police-custody-was-accidental-probe-concludes", "verified": true }, { "name": "San Francisco Chronicle \u2014 \u201cBerkeley officers didn't use excessive force against transgender woman, appeals court rules\u201d", "url": "https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Berkeley-officers-didn-t-use-excessive-force-15018287.php", "verified": true }, { "name": "Courthouse News Service \u2014 \u201cJudge Clears Berkeley Police in Woman's Death\u201d", "url": "https://www.courthousenews.com/judge-clears-berkeley-police-in-womans-death/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "steven-taylor", "caseNumber": "173", "name": "Steven Taylor", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 33, "gender": "male", "city": "San Leandro", "county": "Alameda", "state": "CA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Steven Taylor, 33, was shot and killed by San Leandro, California Police Officer Jason Fletcher inside a Walmart on April 18, 2020, after being reported for shoplifting while holding an aluminum baseball bat. Body camera video showed that within about 40 seconds of Fletcher's arrival, he Tased Taylor twice and then fired a single fatal round into his chest; Taylor's family said he was suffering a mental health crisis, not posing a deadly threat. Fletcher was charged with voluntary manslaughter in 2021, becoming a rare case of an officer criminally charged in California for an on-duty shooting. After more than five years of delays, prosecutorial turnover, and disputes over withheld evidence, Alameda County's district attorney moved to drop the charges in December 2025, and a judge dismissed the case just weeks before it was finally set to go to trial. No one has ever been convicted in Taylor's death.", "known": [ "The shoplifting report, the confrontation, and the shooting, per San Leandro Police Department body camera footage and the Alameda County District Attorney's charging and dismissal filings.", "Fletcher deployed his Taser twice against Taylor before firing a single round into his chest, all within roughly 40 seconds of arriving on scene.", "Then-District Attorney Nancy O'Malley charged Fletcher with voluntary manslaughter in June 2021.", "The case was delayed for years amid multiple changes in Alameda County's district attorney's office, including recalled DA Pamela Price's tenure, during which Fletcher's attorney alleged use-of-force expert opinions favorable to the defense were withheld from the case record.", "A judge denied an earlier defense motion to dismiss the case in November 2025, ruling a jury should weigh the disputed evidence and allowing the case to proceed toward trial.", "Weeks later, in December 2025, District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson's office filed its own motion to drop the charges, stating prosecutors could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Fletcher had committed a crime or that he had not acted in lawful self-defense; a judge granted that dismissal on December 12, 2025.", "Taylor's family and community advocates, including his grandmother Addie Kitchen and the Anti-Police Terror Project's Cat Brooks, publicly said Fletcher had other options, including de-escalating or waiting for personnel trained in mental health crisis response." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Taylor's continued movement with the bat after being Tased twice constituted the kind of imminent deadly threat that legally justified Fletcher's shot, or whether de-escalation and additional time remained available, was the central dispute of the case and was never resolved by a jury, since it never reached trial.", "The specific use-of-force expert opinions that Fletcher's attorney alleged were withheld from the defense during a prior district attorney's tenure, and how directly they shaped the final dismissal, have been described by competing parties but not independently verified in a public record.", "Whether Taylor's documented mental health history was known to responding officers before or during the encounter has not been detailed in the available public charging and dismissal filings." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did it take more than five years, and multiple changes in district attorneys, for this case to be resolved without ever reaching a jury?", "What specific use-of-force expert opinions were allegedly withheld from Fletcher's defense, and by whom, during the case's years-long delay?", "What has the San Leandro Police Department changed, if anything, about how officers respond to reported mental health crises since Taylor's death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "ABC7 San Francisco \u2014 \u201cJudge dismisses case against ex-police officer Jason Fletcher accused of killing man at San Leandro Walmart in 2020\u201d", "url": "https://abc7news.com/post/steven-taylor-judge-dismisses-case-ex-police-officer-jason-fletcher-accused-killing-man-san-leandro-walmart-2020/18281069/", "verified": true }, { "name": "San Francisco Chronicle \u2014 \u201cEx-San Leandro officer's case dismissed in fatal 2020 Walmart shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/steven-taylor-shooting-jason-fletcher-21240763.php", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News San Francisco \u2014 \u201cJudge dismisses charges against former San Leandro police officer in 2020 killing of Steven Taylor\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/steven-taylor-killing-manslaughter-charges-dismissed-san-leandro-jason-fletcher-2020/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "devon-bailey", "caseNumber": "174", "name": "De'Von Bailey", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2019, "age": 19, "gender": "male", "city": "Colorado Springs", "county": "El Paso", "state": "CO", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "De'Von Bailey, 19, was shot and killed by Colorado Springs Police Officers Blake Evenson and Sgt. Alan Van't Land on August 3, 2019, while running away from officers investigating a report of an armed robbery. Body camera video, later released publicly, showed officers firing eight shots total, striking Bailey three times in the back and once in the arm as he fled; officers said he had reached for a firearm, but the released footage does not clearly show him pulling a weapon from his pocket before the shooting began. A gun was recovered at the scene. Fourth Judicial District Attorney Dan May referred the case to a grand jury rather than deciding himself, and in November 2019 the grand jury found the officers' use of force justified, declining to indict either of them. The city later paid Bailey's family nearly $3 million to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging racial profiling, without admitting wrongdoing. No one has ever been charged in Bailey's death.", "known": [ "The robbery investigation, the foot pursuit, and the shooting, per Colorado Springs Police Department body camera footage released to the public in August 2019.", "Officers fired eight shots total, striking Bailey three times in the back and once in the arm as he ran; a firearm was recovered at the scene.", "District Attorney Dan May referred the case to a grand jury rather than making a charging decision himself, a choice Bailey family attorney Mari Newman publicly said was designed to avoid a prosecutorial indictment.", "The grand jury, whose members' identities were not disclosed, heard from the two officers and a use-of-force expert before declining to indict either officer in November 2019, releasing a public report stating Bailey's own actions led the officers to use deadly force.", "Bailey's parents filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging officers racially profiled their son and assumed, partly because of his race, that he presented an enhanced threat.", "The City of Colorado Springs settled that lawsuit for nearly $3 million in 2022, explicitly stating the settlement was not an admission of wrongdoing and noting the grand jury's earlier finding." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Bailey in fact reached for or pulled the recovered firearm before officers opened fire, as they maintained, has been disputed by the family's attorneys, who say the released video does not clearly show that action occurring before the shots were fired, and was never resolved at any criminal trial.", "The specific reasoning behind the grand jury's finding, beyond its public report's general conclusion, has not been made available given Colorado's grand jury secrecy rules.", "The extent to which race played a role in officers' split-second assessment of Bailey as an enhanced threat, as the family's federal complaint alleged, was never adjudicated on the merits since the case settled before trial." ], "unanswered": [ "Why does the body camera footage not clearly show Bailey drawing a weapon before officers opened fire, despite that being the central justification given for the shooting?", "Why did the district attorney choose to refer the case to a grand jury rather than make an independent charging decision, and did that choice affect the outcome, as the family's attorney alleged?", "What did the city's nearly $3 million settlement reflect about the racial profiling allegations in the family's lawsuit, given it explicitly disclaimed any admission of wrongdoing?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cFatal shooting of black man by Colorado police was justified, grand jury finds\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fatal-shooting-black-man-colorado-police-was-justified-grand-jury-n1081956", "verified": true }, { "name": "Colorado Public Radio \u2014 \u201cEl Paso County Grand Jury Heard From Officers, Expert, Before Calling De'Von Bailey Shooting Justified\u201d", "url": "https://www.cpr.org/2019/11/14/el-paso-grand-jury-heard-from-officers-expert-before-calling-devon-bailey-shooting-justified/", "verified": true }, { "name": "9NEWS (Denver) \u2014 \u201cCity of Colorado Springs settles lawsuit in fatal 2019 shooting for nearly $3M\u201d", "url": "https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/colorado-springs-devon-bailey-setttlement/73-5831ac8d-b9fa-452e-97ca-8d2730144f7a", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "antwon-rose-ii", "caseNumber": "175", "name": "Antwon Rose II", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2018, "age": 17, "gender": "male", "city": "East Pittsburgh", "county": "Allegheny", "state": "PA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Antwon Rose II, 17, was shot three times \u2014 in the back, arm, and side of the face \u2014 and killed by East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Police Officer Michael Rosfeld on June 19, 2018, as he ran from a car that had been pulled over minutes after a drive-by shooting elsewhere. Rose, unarmed, fled along with another passenger while the driver was being arrested; bystander cellphone video captured the shooting. Rosfeld was charged with criminal homicide \u2014 he had been sworn in as an East Pittsburgh officer only hours before the shooting, following prior stints at other departments. At trial in March 2019, a jury that included three Black jurors deliberated fewer than four hours before acquitting Rosfeld of all charges, including first-degree murder, third-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, and involuntary manslaughter. No one has ever been convicted in Rose's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop, the flight, and the shooting, per Allegheny County court records and bystander cellphone video played at trial.", "Rosfeld had been sworn in as an East Pittsburgh police officer only hours before the shooting; he had previously worked at other area police departments and as a University of Pittsburgh officer.", "Rose was unarmed; police reported an empty ammunition magazine was found in his pocket and gunshot residue on his hand, consistent with the earlier drive-by shooting he was suspected of being involved in, though he himself fired no weapon during the traffic stop.", "Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala charged Rosfeld with criminal homicide shortly after the shooting.", "A jury of seven men and five women, including three Black jurors, deliberated fewer than four hours on March 22, 2019 before acquitting Rosfeld of all four possible charges.", "Gunshots were fired into the office of Rosfeld's defense attorney the night after the acquittal; no one was injured.", "East Pittsburgh's borough council voted to disband its police department entirely months after the shooting, citing cost and other factors; the department's contract with a regional force took effect in late 2018.", "Allegheny County later paid an $8 million settlement to Rose's family in a related civil lawsuit." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Rosfeld reasonably believed Rose posed a deadly threat as he fled unarmed was the central dispute at trial; the jury's acquittal reflects that it was not persuaded beyond a reasonable doubt of homicide, but the underlying factual dispute about what justified the shooting was never independently resolved beyond that verdict.", "The specific reasoning behind the jury's under-four-hour deliberation, given the gravity of the charges, is not public, as with all jury deliberations.", "Rose's own writing, including a poem publicly read by supporters after the verdict expressing his fears about how he might be perceived and treated by police, has been widely cited in public discussion of the case but is separate from the trial record itself." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was Rosfeld sworn in as an East Pittsburgh officer only hours before the shooting, and what vetting, if any, preceded that appointment given his history at multiple prior departments?", "Why did the jury acquit on all four possible charges, including involuntary manslaughter, after less than four hours of deliberation?", "What became of East Pittsburgh's own police department following its dissolution months after the shooting, and did that decision reflect any accountability for how the department was run?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 \u201cKilling of Antwon Rose Jr.\u201d (sourced case history)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Antwon_Rose_Jr.", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News Pittsburgh \u2014 \u201cFormer East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld Found Not Guilty In Antwon Rose Shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/michael-rosfeld-trial-antwon-rose-shooting-not-guilty/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Pittsburgh's Public Source \u2014 \u201cRosfeld found not guilty on all counts of criminal homicide in Antwon Rose's death\u201d", "url": "https://www.publicsource.org/rosfeld-found-not-guilty-on-all-counts-of-criminal-homicide-in-antwon-roses-death/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "crooms-and-pierce", "caseNumber": "176", "name": "Angelo Crooms & Sincere Pierce", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": null, "gender": "male", "city": "Cocoa", "county": "Brevard", "state": "FL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Angelo \u201cAJ\u201d Crooms, 16, and Sincere Pierce, 18, were shot and killed by Brevard County, Florida Sheriff's Deputy Jafet Santiago-Miranda on November 13, 2020, in a Cocoa driveway during an attempted stop of a car deputies believed, based on a report that later proved incorrect, had been stolen. Dashcam video showed the deputy approaching with his gun drawn, repeatedly yelling for the car to stop; Crooms, who was driving, backed up slightly then drove forward, and the deputy opened fire, killing both teens. A third occupant survived uninjured. The family's attorneys said the video showed the car moving away from the deputy, not toward him, and that deputies never confirmed the car was actually stolen before drawing weapons. Brevard County State Attorney Phil Archer announced in April 2021 \u2014 the day after Derek Chauvin's murder conviction \u2014 that no charges would be filed. No one has ever been charged in either teen's death.", "known": [ "The attempted stop, the deputy's drawn weapon and verbal commands, and the shooting, per Brevard County Sheriff's Office dashcam video released publicly.", "The car deputies pursued had been reported as possibly stolen; it was later established that report was incorrect, and the vehicle had been loaned to the teens by a family friend, per the family's attorneys.", "Deputy Santiago-Miranda had previously been placed on administrative leave months earlier after allegedly threatening a person his wife was reportedly having an affair with, telling them they needed to \u201cwear a bulletproof vest,\u201d per records reviewed by Florida Today.", "The Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigated and presented findings to the State Attorney's Office; State Attorney Phil Archer announced on April 21, 2021 that no criminal charges would be filed against the deputy.", "Two guns were found in the car; the sheriff's office said it could not confirm who they belonged to or whether they were stolen, and the surviving third occupant was interviewed and released without charges.", "Sincere Pierce's mother was accidentally shot and wounded by a 16-year-old attendee's discharging firearm during Pierce's own burial service on November 28, 2020, an unrelated tragedy that compounded the family's grief; his gravesite was separately vandalized months later." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Crooms's car was in fact accelerating toward the deputy in a manner presenting a deadly threat, as the sheriff's office maintained, or moving away as the family's attorneys argued from the same dashcam footage, was never resolved at any criminal trial.", "Why deputies approached the vehicle with weapons already drawn before confirming whether it was in fact stolen has not been fully explained in any official public accounting.", "The full extent of Deputy Santiago-Miranda's prior disciplinary history beyond the reported administrative leave incident has not been made comprehensively public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did deputies approach the vehicle with guns already drawn before verifying the stolen-vehicle report that turned out to be incorrect?", "Why did the State Attorney's announcement of no charges come specifically the day after a high-profile police murder conviction elsewhere, and did that timing reflect any broader pattern in how such decisions are announced?", "What became of the investigation into who fired the gun that wounded Sincere Pierce's mother at his own burial?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Fox 35 Orlando \u2014 \u201cState Attorney: Criminal charges won't be filed against Brevard County deputy who fatally shot two teens\u201d", "url": "https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/state-attorney-criminal-charges-wont-be-filed-against-brevard-county-deputy-who-fatally-shot-two-teens", "verified": true }, { "name": "Click Orlando (WKMG) \u2014 \u201cSheriff: Brevard deputy 'forced to fire,' fatally shooting 2 teens in car\u201d", "url": "https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/11/18/sheriff-brevard-deputy-forced-to-fire-fatally-shooting-2-teens-in-car/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Yahoo News / AP \u2014 \u201cBenjamin Crump demands justice after a Florida deputy shot two Black teens\u201d", "url": "https://news.yahoo.com/hundreds-protest-florida-deputy-shot-175215301.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "terrence-sterling", "caseNumber": "177", "name": "Terrence Sterling", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2016, "age": 31, "gender": "male", "city": "Washington", "county": null, "state": "DC", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Terrence Sterling, 31, was shot and killed by Metropolitan Police Department Officer Brian Trainer in Washington, D.C. in the early morning hours of September 11, 2016, after officers blocked his motorcycle with their cruiser following a high-speed chase. Trainer said Sterling revved his motorcycle and rammed it into the cruiser's door, pinning his leg, forcing him to fire twice through the window; an internal MPD investigator later testified he doubted Trainer's account, and the department's own review board found Trainer was not in danger and had no reason to draw his weapon at all. Trainer had not activated his body camera until one to three minutes after the shooting, violating department policy. Federal prosecutors declined to bring charges in August 2017. D.C.'s MPD trial board recommended firing Trainer months later for the unjustified shooting, and the police chief fired him in 2018 after his appeal was denied \u2014 an administrative outcome, not a criminal one. No one has ever been criminally charged in Sterling's death.", "known": [ "The chase, the cruiser blocking Sterling's path, and the shooting, per the U.S. Attorney's Office's public statement and subsequent MPD internal review findings.", "Sterling had been driving erratically and at high speed, reaching over 100 mph at times and running red lights, before officers caught up to him; his autopsy found a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit and marijuana in his system.", "Trainer did not activate his body camera until one to three minutes after the shooting, in violation of department policy.", "An MPD internal affairs investigator testified to the department's trial board that he did not believe Trainer sustained the leg injury he described from the motorcycle striking the cruiser door, instead believing it occurred while Trainer was attempting to render aid to Sterling afterward.", "The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia announced in August 2017 that there was insufficient evidence to prove Trainer had violated Sterling's civil rights with the necessary criminal intent, declining federal or D.C. charges; per a 2016 study cited by The Washington Post, no D.C. police officer had ever been criminally indicted for a fatal on-duty shooting.", "MPD's own internal review, obtained by The Washington Post in December 2017, found Trainer had no reason to pull his gun and was not in danger when he fired, directly contradicting his account; a department trial board recommended his firing, and Police Chief Peter Newsham terminated him in June 2018 after denying his appeal.", "The District of Columbia settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Sterling's family for $3.5 million, described at the time as the largest such payout in the city's history." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Sterling intentionally rammed the cruiser door, as Trainer maintained, or whether the collision occurred differently, was disputed by the department's own internal investigator and trial board, and was never resolved by any criminal proceeding since none was brought.", "Why federal prosecutors concluded the evidence was insufficient for criminal charges when the department's own internal review reached the opposite conclusion about whether the shooting was justified has not been reconciled in any single public accounting.", "The specific content of witness Howard Dorsey's account, which Trainer's attorneys and prosecutors weighed differently in reaching their respective conclusions, has been described inconsistently across public reporting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did federal prosecutors decline charges when the police department's own internal review found the shooting unjustified and contradicted the officer's account?", "What changes, if any, did MPD make to its body-camera activation enforcement following this case's documented policy violation?", "Why has no D.C. police officer ever been criminally indicted for a fatal on-duty shooting, according to the city's own cited study, and has that pattern held since Sterling's case?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Washington Post \u2014 \u201cD.C. officer who fatally shot unarmed motorcyclist was not in danger when he pulled his gun, internal review finds\u201d", "url": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/dc-officer-who-fatally-shot-unarmed-motorcyclist-was-not-in-danger-when-he-pulled-his-gun-internal-review-finds/2017/12/28/e038ff7a-e589-11e7-833f-155031558ff4_story.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Washington Post \u2014 \u201cD.C. police officer will not face criminal charges in 2016 fatal shooting of motorcyclist\u201d", "url": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/dc-police-officer-will-not-face-charges-in-2016-fatal-shooting-of-motorcyclist/2017/08/09/23ea7424-05de-11e7-b1e9-a05d3c21f7cf_story.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "WTOP News \u2014 \u201cDC Police Department terminates officer who shot and killed motorcyclist in 2016\u201d", "url": "https://wtop.com/dc/2018/06/dc-police-department-terminates-officer-who-shot-and-killed-motorcyclist-in-2016/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "jamee-johnson", "caseNumber": "178", "name": "Jamee Johnson", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2019, "age": 22, "gender": "male", "city": "Jacksonville", "county": "Duval", "state": "FL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Jamee Johnson, 22, a Florida A&M University student, was shot and killed by Jacksonville Sheriff's Officer Josue Garriga during a traffic stop for a seatbelt violation on December 14, 2019. Body camera footage showed Johnson telling Garriga he had a legally owned handgun in the car; after Garriga asked him to step out, Johnson dove back into the vehicle, a struggle followed, and Garriga shot him four times, with video capturing Johnson begging for his life. Garriga said Johnson was reaching for the gun; the family's attorney argued the autopsy's bullet trajectories contradicted that account. Florida's State Attorney's Office concluded in July 2020 that the shooting was justified, declining to bring charges. The city later settled a federal civil lawsuit with Johnson's family for $200,000, without admitting wrongdoing. In 2024, Garriga was separately arrested and charged with child sex crimes unrelated to the shooting. No one has ever been charged in Johnson's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop, the struggle, and the shooting, per State Attorney's Office body camera footage and its published investigation report.", "Johnson told Garriga at the start of the stop that he had a firearm in the car; he did not have a concealed carry permit.", "Garriga stated Johnson dove back into the car, then began lifting the firearm toward his face during the struggle, and that he fired after freeing himself from the vehicle, fearing Johnson still had the gun.", "The State Attorney's Office released its investigation report and the body camera footage publicly in July 2020, concluding the shooting was justified and declining to file charges.", "The family's attorney, Harry Daniels, argued that autopsy findings showing Johnson was struck left-to-right contradicted Garriga's account of the shooting's sequence and positioning, and that video showed Johnson exiting the car with his hands raised before the fatal shots.", "The City of Jacksonville settled the family's federal civil rights lawsuit for $200,000 in 2023, without admitting Garriga did anything wrong, citing the uncertainty of a trial; the family had originally sought $5 million.", "In 2024, Garriga, who had since left the department, was arrested on unrelated charges of child sex crimes in Clay County, Florida \u2014 a case entirely separate from the Johnson shooting." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Johnson was in fact reaching for or holding the firearm at the moment Garriga fired, as Garriga maintained, or whether physical evidence contradicts that account, as the family's attorney argued based on the autopsy's bullet trajectories, was never tested at any criminal trial.", "The specific reasoning behind the State Attorney's Office's justified-shooting finding, beyond its published report, has been publicly disputed by the family's attorney but not independently re-examined by any other authority.", "Whether Garriga's later, unrelated arrest reflects anything about his conduct or character at the time of the 2019 shooting has not been established and is a separate matter the State Attorney's investigation did not address." ], "unanswered": [ "Why does the family's attorney say the autopsy's bullet trajectories contradict Garriga's account of how the shooting unfolded?", "Why did the City of Jacksonville settle the family's lawsuit for a fraction of what was sought, and did that reflect any assessment of the underlying facts?", "What connection, if any, exists between this case and the pattern the family and local commentators have pointed to regarding Jacksonville's use-of-force review process more broadly?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "News4Jax (WJXT) \u2014 \u201cProsecutor: Jacksonville officer justified in 2019 deadly shooting of 22-year-old\u201d", "url": "https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2020/07/06/jacksonville-officer-justified-in-2019-deadly-shooting-of-22-year-old/", "verified": true }, { "name": "First Coast News \u2014 \u201cFamily of Jamee Johnson files lawsuit disputing official account of 2019 police shooting death\u201d", "url": "https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/live_breaking/family-jamee-johnson-lawsuit-florida-famu-police-shooting-officer-death/77-3b9a7d26-dc2c-43e3-9664-ebaf3c108bee", "verified": true }, { "name": "First Coast News \u2014 \u201cCity of Jacksonville to pay $200,000 to Jamee Johnson's family\u201d", "url": "https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/crime/city-of-jacksonville-to-pay-200000-family-of-famu-student-shot-by-police/77-c74c39aa-56a5-4927-b018-0e840de1314d", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "dreasjon-reed", "caseNumber": "179", "name": "Dreasjon \u201cSean\u201d Reed", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 21, "gender": "male", "city": "Indianapolis", "county": "Marion", "state": "IN", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Dreasjon \u201cSean\u201d Reed, 21, a former U.S. Air Force airman and legal gun owner, was shot and killed by Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Officer Dejoure Mercer on May 6, 2020, at the end of a high-speed chase Reed livestreamed on Facebook to thousands of viewers in real time. The chase itself had been called off by IMPD's own chief for being too dangerous; Mercer, on foot, caught up to Reed after he parked and ran. The livestream's shaky camera captured the sound of a Taser and then gunshots, but never showed the shooting itself clearly, and no body camera or dashcam footage of the moment existed. Police said Reed fired at Mercer first; his family's attorney said he never had a gun in his hand at all. A detective who later walked past Reed's body was recorded joking it would be a \u201cclosed casket\u201d and was internally disciplined for it. A special grand jury declined to indict Mercer in November 2020, six months after the shooting. No one has ever been charged in Reed's death.", "known": [ "The chase, the foot pursuit, and the shooting, per IMPD statements and Reed's own Facebook Live video, which was watched by thousands as it happened.", "IMPD Deputy Chief Kendale Adams's pursuit of Reed on the interstate was called off by supervisors roughly 10 minutes in for being too dangerous; Officer Mercer separately spotted Reed's parked car and continued the pursuit on foot alone.", "No body camera or dashcam footage of the shooting itself exists; the only contemporaneous recording is Reed's own Facebook Live stream, whose camera did not capture the shooting clearly.", "Police said Reed and Mercer exchanged gunfire and that a gun found near Reed had likely been fired twice; the family's attorney stated at a press conference that Reed \u201cdid not shoot a gun, did not point a gun, did not brandish a gun at an officer.\u201d", "A separate officer at the scene was recorded on another device joking that Reed's death would require a \u201cclosed casket\u201d; IMPD disciplined that officer following public backlash.", "Special Prosecutor Rosemary Khoury convened a six-person special grand jury, which returned a \u201cno bill\u201d on November 10, 2020, finding insufficient probable cause to indict Mercer.", "Reed's death was the first of three separate fatal police encounters in Indianapolis within roughly 24 hours that month, prompting sustained protests across the city.", "Reed's family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city, IMPD, the police chief, and the involved officers." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Reed in fact fired at or pointed a weapon toward Mercer, as police maintained, or never held a gun during the confrontation, as the family's attorney stated, was never resolved by any criminal trial, and the shooting itself was not captured on any camera.", "Surveillance footage later obtained by local reporters reportedly showed Reed running with a t-shirt in one hand and cell phones in the other in the moments before the confrontation, which the family's attorney cited as inconsistent with him also holding and firing a weapon; how that footage was weighed by the grand jury is not public.", "The full reasoning behind the grand jury's no-bill decision has not been made public, as Indiana grand jury proceedings are sealed." ], "unanswered": [ "Given that no body camera or dashcam footage captured the shooting itself, what specific evidence did the grand jury rely on to conclude there was insufficient probable cause to indict?", "Why did an officer feel comfortable making a \u201cclosed casket\u201d joke at the scene of a shooting his own department was actively investigating, and what discipline resulted beyond an internal reprimand?", "What became of the Reed family's federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and IMPD?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NPR \u2014 \u201cIndianapolis Grand Jury Declines To Indict Officer Who Killed Dreasjon Reed\u201d", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2020/11/10/933684216/indianapolis-grand-jury-declines-to-indict-officer-who-killed-dreasjon-reed", "verified": true }, { "name": "Indianapolis Recorder \u2014 \u201c2020 Year in Review: Police shooting of Dreasjon Reed brought protests, but no charges\u201d", "url": "https://indianapolisrecorder.com/2020-year-in-review-police-shooting-of-dreasjon-reed-brought-protests-but-no-charges/", "verified": true }, { "name": "TheGrio \u2014 \u201cIndiana grand jury decides no charges in fatal shooting of Sean Reed\u201d", "url": "https://thegrio.com/2020/11/10/indiana-grand-jury-no-charges-shooting-of-sean-reed/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "kajuan-raye", "caseNumber": "180", "name": "Kajuan Raye", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2016, "age": 19, "gender": "male", "city": "Chicago", "county": "Cook", "state": "IL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Kajuan Raye, 19, was shot in the back and killed by Chicago Police Sergeant John Poulos during a foot chase in the Englewood neighborhood on November 23, 2016, after Poulos believed Raye matched the description of a battery suspect. Poulos said Raye twice pointed a gun at him during the chase; no weapon was found at the scene despite an extensive search, and released surveillance video does not show Raye turning toward Poulos with anything in his hand. Three months later, a resident reported finding a handgun in the bushes near where Raye was shot. Chicago's Civilian Office of Police Accountability ruled the shooting justified in 2019, concluding circumstantial and social media evidence made it \u201clikely and reasonable\u201d the gun was Raye's. No criminal charges were ever filed. It was the second time Poulos had fatally shot someone; he had also killed an unarmed man in 2013 and was cleared both times. No one has ever been criminally charged in Raye's death.", "known": [ "The foot chase, the shooting, and Raye's death from a gunshot wound to the back, per the Independent Police Review Authority's released surveillance video and the Cook County Medical Examiner's findings.", "No gun was found at the scene despite an extensive search on the night of the shooting; a resident reported finding a handgun in bushes near the location roughly three months later.", "The released surveillance footage does not show Poulos firing or show Raye turning toward him with a weapon, per CBS Chicago's reporting on the video.", "The Civilian Office of Police Accountability concluded in a report made public in 2019 that a combination of circumstantial, physical, testimonial, and social media evidence made it \u201clikely and reasonable\u201d the recovered gun was in Raye's possession at the time of the shooting, and ruled the shooting justified; no criminal charges were ever filed against Poulos.", "Poulos had fatally shot another man, 28-year-old Rickey Rozelle, in 2013 while off-duty; that shooting was also ruled justified despite no weapon being found on or near Rozelle.", "Raye's mother, Karonisha Ramsey, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit; in March 2020 a federal jury found Poulos liable for battery and awarded the family just over $1 million, while separately finding he had not used excessive force \u2014 a split verdict that resulted in financial liability without a finding of excessive force.", "Poulos was later promoted and, as of 2023 reporting, was running for Cook County judge." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the gun found three months later in the bushes was in fact Raye's, and whether he pointed it at Poulos as claimed, was disputed by the family's attorney, who called the circumstances \u201cbeyond shady,\u201d and was never resolved by any criminal proceeding since none was brought.", "How a federal civil jury could find Poulos liable for battery while simultaneously finding he had not used excessive force has not been fully reconciled in public reporting on the verdict.", "The specific internal review, if any, given to the pattern of Poulos's two fatal shootings and their identical no-weapon-found circumstances has not been made comprehensively public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did it take three months for a gun linked to Raye to surface, and why does the released video not show him turning toward Poulos with anything in his hand?", "How should the public understand a jury verdict that found an officer liable for battery but not excessive force in the same shooting?", "Why was a pattern of two fatal shootings with no weapon initially found not sufficient to trigger a deeper departmental review of Poulos's conduct?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Chicago Sun-Times \u2014 \u201cLawyer rejects COPA finding that 2016 fatal shooting of Kajuan Raye was justified\u201d", "url": "https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/8/1/20750553/attorney-kajuan-raye-rejects-copa-finding-2016-shooting-justified", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News Chicago \u2014 \u201cJury Awards Family Of Kajuan Raye $1 Million; Teen Was Fatally Shot By Chicago Police Sgt. John Poulos\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/kajuan-raye-john-poulos-verdict-shooting/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Chicago Sun-Times \u2014 \u201cJohn Poulos, Chicago cop whose fatal shootings of 2 men led to City Hall payouts, now running for Cook County judge\u201d", "url": "https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/12/8/23992013/john-poulos-judge-rickey-rozelle-kajuan-raye-payouts-chicago-police-department", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "walter-wallace-jr", "caseNumber": "181", "name": "Walter Wallace Jr.", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 27, "gender": "male", "city": "Philadelphia", "county": "Philadelphia", "state": "PA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Walter Wallace Jr., 27, a father with bipolar disorder, was shot 14 times and killed by Philadelphia Police Officers Sean Matarazzo and Thomas Munz outside his family's Cobbs Creek home on October 26, 2020, less than a minute after they arrived. His family had called 911 seeking an ambulance during a mental health crisis; officers instead confronted him with guns drawn as he held a knife, and one was heard on body camera telling the other \u201cshoot him\u201d roughly six seconds before both fired. His mother tried to position herself between her son and the officers while pleading with them not to shoot. District Attorney Larry Krasner personally led the investigation but never filed criminal charges against either officer. The city settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the family for $2.5 million in 2021. Wallace's own family did not call for murder charges, saying instead that officers lacked the training and less-lethal tools \u2014 neither carried a Taser \u2014 to handle a mental health crisis without killing him. No one has ever been charged in Wallace's death.", "known": [ "The 911 calls, the confrontation, and the shooting, per body-worn camera footage and 911 recordings the city released publicly, and District Attorney Larry Krasner's own public statements.", "Officers fired a total of 14 rounds after telling Wallace to drop the knife 23 times, per Krasner's account; body camera audio captured one officer saying \u201cshoot him\u201d roughly six seconds before both opened fire.", "Neither Matarazzo nor Munz carried a Taser; Philadelphia had roughly 2,300 Tasers for about 4,500 patrol officers at the time, department officials said.", "Krasner announced he was personally leading the investigation rather than relying solely on the police department's own review, and apologized publicly, saying \u201cgovernment failed\u201d when Wallace was killed within a minute of officers' arrival.", "No criminal charges were ever filed against either officer; both were placed on restricted or inactive duty pending the investigation.", "The Wallace family's civil attorney explicitly stated the family was not seeking murder charges, instead calling for better crisis-intervention training and less-lethal equipment for Philadelphia police.", "The City of Philadelphia settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Wallace's family for $2.5 million in October 2021.", "Officer Thomas Munz died in an unrelated off-duty motorcycle crash in May 2022; a department spokesperson confirmed at the time that he had never been charged in the shooting." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the officers had any less-lethal alternative genuinely available to them in the roughly one minute between arrival and the shooting, given neither carried a Taser, was raised by the family's attorney but never tested at any criminal trial.", "The specific reasoning behind Krasner's ultimate decision not to file charges, despite his own public apology characterizing the outcome as a government failure, was not detailed in a formal public charging memo comparable to those issued in some other cities' declined prosecutions.", "Whether Wallace's documented bipolar disorder and prior mental health treatment history was communicated to the responding officers before they arrived has been disputed in various accounts of the 911 call content." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the district attorney publicly apologize for a \u201cgovernment failure\u201d in Wallace's death while ultimately declining to file any criminal charges?", "Why were the responding officers not equipped with Tasers, given the department had committed years earlier to equipping all patrol officers with them?", "What specific mental-health-response reforms has the Philadelphia Police Department implemented since Wallace's death, and how have they been evaluated for effectiveness?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Philadelphia Inquirer \u2014 \u201cWalter Wallace Jr., 27, a \u2018family man\u2019 with many mental health crises and encounters with police\u201d", "url": "https://www.inquirer.com/news/walter-wallace-jr-philadelphia-mental-health-20201027.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Philadelphia Inquirer \u2014 \u201cPhilly to pay $2.5 million to Walter Wallace Jr.'s family to settle claims over his killing by police\u201d", "url": "https://www.inquirer.com/news/walter-wallace-death-police-shooting-philadelphia-lawsuit-settlement-20211028.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "WHYY \u2014 \u201c4 Black men killed by Philly police and the officers who haven't yet faced a jury\u201d", "url": "https://whyy.org/articles/4-black-men-killed-by-philly-police-and-the-officers-who-havent-yet-faced-a-jury/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "byron-williams", "caseNumber": "182", "name": "Byron Williams", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2019, "age": 50, "gender": "male", "city": "Las Vegas", "county": "Clark", "state": "NV", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Byron Williams, 50, died on September 5, 2019, after Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Officers Patrick Campbell and Benjamin Vasquez stopped him for riding his bicycle without a safety light near Martin Luther King Boulevard, chased him after he fled, and restrained him face-down on the ground with a knee on his back. Body camera footage showed Williams saying \u201cI can't breathe\u201d 24 times while handcuffed; when he told officers he couldn't breathe, one replied, \u201cbecause you're f---ing tired from running.\u201d He went limp and died after being transported. The Clark County Coroner's Office ruled his death a homicide, citing prone restraint as a contributing condition alongside methamphetamine use and pre-existing heart and lung disease. District Attorney Steve Wolfson declined to file charges against any officer in 2020. Two officers were disciplined internally, and both later returned to active duty. No one has ever been criminally charged in Williams's death.", "known": [ "The bicycle stop, the chase, and the restraint, per Las Vegas Metropolitan Police body camera footage released publicly and the Clark County Coroner's Office ruling.", "Williams said \u201cI can't breathe\u201d 24 times while handcuffed face-down under an officer's knee, per body camera audio; an officer responded that he was tired from running rather than summoning medical help at that point.", "The Clark County Coroner's Office ruled the death a homicide on June 18, 2020, citing methamphetamine overdose as the primary cause with prone restraint, hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, pulmonary fibrosis, and granulomatous lung disease as contributing conditions.", "District Attorney Steve Wolfson's office declined to file criminal charges against any officer in 2020, a decision the family's attorneys criticized as lacking transparency.", "Officers Campbell and Vasquez were placed on administrative leave immediately after the incident but returned to active duty by November 2019; a Las Vegas Review-Journal investigation later confirmed some internal discipline was issued, though the department did not disclose its specifics.", "Williams's family, represented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in July 2021 against the officers, the sheriff, and Clark County; a federal judge in 2024 allowed excessive force and battery claims to proceed to trial, rejecting qualified immunity for the officers' handcuffing conduct specifically, while ruling in the officers' favor on the claim that they disregarded his medical needs." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the officers' restraint was itself a substantial cause of Williams's death, as the coroner's contributing-conditions finding suggested, or whether his underlying health conditions and drug use were the dominant cause, as the officers argued, was never resolved at any criminal trial since none was brought.", "The specific internal discipline given to the officers involved has not been fully disclosed by the department, beyond confirmation that some form of discipline occurred.", "Why officers did not immediately summon medical assistance when Williams first said he couldn't breathe, rather than after he went limp, has not been fully addressed in any official public accounting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the district attorney decline to file charges given the coroner's own homicide ruling and body camera audio capturing Williams's repeated distress?", "What specific internal discipline did the involved officers receive, and why has the department not disclosed those details publicly?", "What became of the federal civil rights lawsuit's excessive force and battery claims after they were allowed to proceed to trial in 2024?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Las Vegas Review-Journal \u2014 \u201cByron Williams' death in Las Vegas police custody ruled homicide\u201d", "url": "https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/homicides/mans-death-in-las-vegas-police-custody-ruled-homicide-1872404/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Nevada Current \u2014 \u201cMetro sued in federal court over death of Byron Williams\u201d", "url": "https://nevadacurrent.com/2021/07/16/metro-sued-in-federal-court-over-death-of-byron-williams/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Courthouse News Service \u2014 \u201cExcessive force claims survive in case of unarmed Black man killed by Las Vegas cops\u201d", "url": "https://www.courthousenews.com/excessive-force-claims-survive-in-case-of-unarmed-black-man-killed-by-las-vegas-cops/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "michael-dean", "caseNumber": "183", "name": "Michael Dean", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2019, "age": 32, "gender": "male", "city": "Temple", "county": "Bell", "state": "TX", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Michael Dean, 32, a father of three, was shot in the head and killed by Temple, Texas Police Officer Carmen DeCruz during a traffic stop on December 2, 2019, after DeCruz pursued him for speeding. According to the arrest affidavit, Dean eventually stopped his car; DeCruz approached with his gun drawn and, reaching into the vehicle to grab the keys from the ignition, pulled the trigger. Dean was unarmed. DeCruz was charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. After a roughly two-week trial in February 2023, a Bell County jury deliberated about two hours before acquitting DeCruz of both charges; his attorney argued Dean, who was legally intoxicated at .2 blood alcohol content, \u201ccaused his own death\u201d by resisting and touching the gun. Dean's family disputes that account. No one has ever been convicted in Dean's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop, the pursuit, and the shooting, per the arrest affidavit and body camera footage played at DeCruz's 2023 trial.", "DeCruz reached into Dean's vehicle from the passenger side with his gun drawn and his finger on the trigger to remove the keys from the ignition, and fired while doing so, per the arrest affidavit.", "Dean's blood alcohol content was .2 \u2014 double the legal limit \u2014 at the time of the stop, per Dallas County Medical Examiner testimony at trial.", "A Temple Police commander testified at trial that reaching into a vehicle with a weapon drawn is not a technique the department recommends, because it endangers both the officer and the person inside.", "DeCruz did not testify in his own defense; the defense rested its case after the prosecution's presentation.", "A Bell County jury acquitted DeCruz of both second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide on February 7, 2023, after roughly two hours of deliberation.", "Dean's family filed a $10 million federal civil rights lawsuit against DeCruz and the City of Temple in November 2021, alleging inadequate training and a pattern of excessive force against Black residents; the city moved to dismiss that suit in September 2024.", "The city has withheld release of DeCruz's body camera footage, citing ongoing civil litigation and Texas Occupations Code provisions on peace officer records." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Dean in fact touched or grabbed DeCruz's weapon, as the defense argued caused the gun to discharge, or whether DeCruz's own act of reaching in with his finger on the trigger was the cause, was the central dispute at trial and was resolved only by the jury's acquittal, not by any independent finding of fact.", "The full contents of DeCruz's body camera footage, which the defense itself called \u201cthe most important part of the evidence\u201d during closing arguments, have never been publicly released.", "The specific reasoning behind the jury's roughly two-hour deliberation on two separate charges is not public, as with all jury deliberations." ], "unanswered": [ "Why has the City of Temple never publicly released DeCruz's body camera footage, given the defense itself pointed to it as the most important evidence in the case?", "Why did Temple police policy explicitly discourage the tactic DeCruz used \u2014 reaching into a vehicle with a weapon drawn \u2014 and was that policy violation ever separately addressed outside the criminal trial?", "What became of the Dean family's $10 million federal civil rights lawsuit against DeCruz and the City of Temple?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "KWTX \u2014 \u201c'We can begin moving forward together': City of Temple reacts to not guilty verdict in trial of ex-cop charged in shooting death of Michael Dean\u201d", "url": "https://www.kwtx.com/2023/02/08/city-temple-releases-statement-following-not-guilty-verdict-ex-temple-officer/", "verified": true }, { "name": "6 News (KCEN) \u2014 \u201cFormer Temple officer found not guilty in 2019 shooting death\u201d", "url": "https://www.kcentv.com/article/news/crime/closing-arguments-begin-trial-former-temple-cop-charged-death-michael-dean/500-4617463a-9ab3-4b7a-91ee-eb05cbab335a", "verified": true }, { "name": "KWTX \u2014 \u201cCity of Temple files motion to dismiss civil lawsuit in Michael Dean case\u201d", "url": "https://www.kwtx.com/2024/09/13/city-temple-files-motion-dismiss-civil-lawsuit-michael-dean-case/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "marvin-scott-iii", "caseNumber": "184", "name": "Marvin Scott III", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2021, "age": 26, "gender": "male", "city": "McKinney", "county": "Collin", "state": "TX", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Marvin Scott III, 26, who had schizophrenia, died in custody at the Collin County, Texas jail on March 14, 2021, nine months after George Floyd's murder, after detention officers strapped him to a restraint bed, pepper-sprayed him, and covered his face with a spit hood. He had been arrested that afternoon for possessing less than two ounces of marijuana and was medically cleared at a hospital before being taken to jail, where he began exhibiting what the sheriff called \u201cstrange behavior.\u201d Security video released by the county showed him struggling for roughly 17 minutes while restrained before going unresponsive; officers then removed the hood and began CPR. The county medical examiner ruled his death a homicide, citing \u201ca fatal acute stress response\u201d during the restraint struggle. A Collin County grand jury declined to indict any of the eight jailers involved in June 2021. No one has ever been charged in Scott's death.", "known": [ "The arrest, the restraint, and the in-custody death, per Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner's public statements and 41 minutes of jail security video the county released.", "Scott was medically cleared by a physician roughly three hours before being taken to the jail, where he began exhibiting erratic behavior; his family said he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia but had not had an episode in over a year.", "Officers strapped Scott to a restraint bed, pepper-sprayed him once, and placed a spit hood over his face; released video showed him struggling for roughly 17 minutes before going unresponsive, after which officers removed the hood and began CPR.", "Collin County Medical Examiner Dr. William Rohr ruled the death a homicide in a preliminary autopsy report, attributing it to \u201ca fatal acute stress response in an individual with previously diagnosed schizophrenia during restraint struggle with law enforcement.\u201d", "Seven of the eight involved detention officers were fired and an eighth resigned following an internal investigation; at least one was later reinstated through the civil service process.", "A Collin County grand jury, after reviewing witness testimony, video evidence, and applicable law over several days, declined to indict any of the eight jailers \u2014 Andres Cardenas, Alec Difatta, Blaise Mikulewicz, Rafael Paradez, Justin Patrick, James Schoelen, Christopher Windsor, and Austin Wong \u2014 on June 22, 2021, finding no probable cause for a crime.", "The grand jury separately recommended forming a group to study Scott's death and prevent similar incidents, and District Attorney Greg Willis said he shared its concern about how people with mental illness are treated in custody." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the combined restraint, pepper spray, and spit hood constituted excessive force given Scott's documented mental illness, as his family's attorney argued citing the medical examiner's own homicide ruling, was never tested at any criminal trial.", "The specific evidence and legal reasoning behind the grand jury's no-probable-cause finding has not been made public, as grand jury proceedings are sealed under Texas law.", "Whether jail staff followed Collin County's own use-of-restraint policy during the 17-minute struggle has been disputed between the sheriff's public characterization and the family attorney's review of the same released video." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did a grand jury find no probable cause for any charge against any of the eight jailers, despite the county's own medical examiner ruling the death a homicide?", "What became of the study group the grand jury recommended forming to examine how people with mental illness are treated in Collin County's jail custody?", "Why was at least one of the fired officers reinstated through the civil service process despite the internal investigation's findings?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Texas Tribune \u2014 \u201cCollin County officers won't face charges in Marvin Scott III's death\u201d", "url": "https://www.texastribune.org/2021/06/22/marvin-scott-jail-officers/", "verified": true }, { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cMarvin Scott death: Grand jury declines to charge former jailers\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/22/us/marvin-scott-death-jailers-no-charges/index.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News Texas \u2014 \u201cCollin County Authorities Release Security Video Related To In-Custody Death Of Marvin Scott III\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/jail-security-video-in-custody-death-marvin-scott-iii/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "jamycheal-mitchell", "caseNumber": "185", "name": "Jamycheal Mitchell", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2015, "age": 24, "gender": "male", "city": "Portsmouth", "county": null, "state": "VA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Jamycheal Mitchell, 24, who had schizoaffective disorder, died on August 19, 2015 in his cell at the Hampton Roads Regional Jail in Portsmouth, Virginia, roughly four months after his arrest for allegedly stealing about $5 worth of snacks \u2014 a Mountain Dew, a Snickers bar, and a Zebra Cake \u2014 from a 7-Eleven. A judge twice ordered him transferred to a state mental hospital for competency restoration treatment; clerical errors meant his name was never placed on the hospital's waiting list, and the transfer never happened. He spent 100 days in restrictive housing, was allegedly struck on the knuckles with a flashlight and mocked by correctional officers, and lost 46 pounds before he was found dead, in a cell smeared with feces, of heart failure accompanied by \u201cwasting syndrome.\u201d After a years-long investigation, the Portsmouth Commonwealth's Attorney's Office released a 166-page report in 2019 calling his death \u201ctragic and likely avoidable\u201d but concluded no charges could be sought due to missing information. No one has ever been charged in Mitchell's death.", "known": [ "The shoplifting arrest, the competency-restoration orders, and Mitchell's death, per the Portsmouth Commonwealth's Attorney's 166-page investigative report and a Department of Justice civil rights investigation.", "A Portsmouth General District Court judge found Mitchell incompetent to stand trial on May 21, 2015 and ordered his transfer to Eastern State Hospital for treatment; that transfer never occurred because a clerical error left him off the hospital's waiting list.", "Mitchell spent 100 days in restrictive housing after refusing a tuberculosis test, classified as \u201cadministrative restriction \u2014 unable to adapt\u201d; a fellow incarcerated person told investigators his speech deteriorated into \u201cgibberish\u201d over his months there.", "The state medical examiner ruled Mitchell died of heart failure accompanied by wasting syndrome, having lost 46 pounds; he was found in a cell described as smeared with feces and soaked in urine.", "The jail's own internal investigation cleared employees of wrongdoing; two separate state agency investigations were unable to determine exactly what happened.", "The Portsmouth Commonwealth's Attorney's Office released a 166-page report in February 2019 calling Mitchell's death \u201ctragic and likely avoidable\u201d but stated \u201cno charges can be sought at this time,\u201d citing missing information needed to establish probable cause against specific individuals.", "The U.S. Department of Justice completed a civil rights investigation into the Hampton Roads Regional Jail in December 2016, finding reasonable cause to believe it failed to provide constitutionally adequate medical and mental health care to prisoners; the jail later operated under a federal consent decree.", "A federal judge approved a $3 million settlement for Mitchell's family in 2019, writing the case involved \u201csome of the most appalling and inhumane allegations\u201d she had encountered in over 30 years on the federal bench, while noting the settlement \u201cdoes not determine any ultimate liability.\u201d" ], "unknown": [ "Which specific individuals bore responsibility for the clerical error that left Mitchell off the state hospital's waiting list, and why that error was never corrected over four months, has never been publicly identified.", "The full extent of the alleged physical abuse and mockery by correctional officers, described by a fellow incarcerated witness, was investigated but the prosecutor's office said it lacked sufficient information to establish probable cause against specific people.", "Why two separate state investigations were each unable to determine exactly what happened inside the jail has not been fully explained in public reporting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did it take nearly four years for prosecutors to conclude their investigation, only to determine that no charges could be sought due to missing information?", "What specific missing information would have allowed prosecutors to establish probable cause, and why was that information never obtained or preserved?", "What has become of the federal consent decree governing Hampton Roads Regional Jail, and has it produced measurable improvements in mental health care for people held there?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "ACLU \u2014 \u201cOur Criminal Justice System Failed Jamycheal Mitchell\u201d", "url": "https://www.aclu.org/news/prisoners-rights/our-criminal-justice-system-failed-jamycheal-mitchell", "verified": true }, { "name": "WAVY \u2014 \u201cProsecutors: No charges sought in death of Jamycheal Mitchell\u201d", "url": "https://www.wavy.com/news/prosecutors-no-charges-sought-in-death-of-jamycheal-mitchell/", "verified": true }, { "name": "13News Now (WVEC) \u2014 \u201cJudge signs off on $3 million settlement for Jamycheal Mitchell's jail death\u201d", "url": "https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/judge-signs-off-on-3-million-settlement-for-jamycheal-mitchell-wrongful-death-lawsuit/291-f71ccb68-2349-4e0f-8775-e2e0e20f7514", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "natasha-mckenna", "caseNumber": "186", "name": "Natasha McKenna", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2015, "age": 37, "gender": "female", "city": "Fairfax", "county": "Fairfax", "state": "VA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Natasha McKenna, 37, a mother diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, died on February 8, 2015, five days after six Fairfax County, Virginia sheriff's deputies in biohazard suits and riot gear shocked her with a Taser four times while extracting her, naked and shackled, from her cell at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. She had been held for over a week awaiting transfer on an outstanding warrant; video of the extraction captured her saying, \u201cYou promised you wouldn't kill me.\u201d She went into cardiac arrest during the struggle and never regained consciousness. Fairfax County's top prosecutor announced in September 2015 that no deputy would be charged, calling her death a \u201ctragic accident,\u201d and the state medical examiner ruled it accidental, attributing it to excited delirium linked to the restraints and stun gun. No one has ever been criminally charged in McKenna's death.", "known": [ "The extraction, the four Taser shocks while McKenna was shackled, and her subsequent cardiac arrest, per a 45-minute video the Fairfax County Sheriff's Office released publicly and the state medical examiner's report.", "McKenna had been held at the jail for over a week, in solitary confinement for part of that time, awaiting transfer to Alexandria on an outstanding warrant for assaulting an officer weeks earlier; her mental health deteriorated during the delay.", "The state medical examiner's office ruled the death accidental, attributing it to excited delirium associated with the use of restraints and a stun gun, with her schizophrenia listed as a contributing factor.", "Commonwealth's Attorney Raymond Morrogh announced on September 2, 2015 that no deputy would face charges, calling the death a \u201ctragic accident\u201d following a months-long criminal investigation.", "The case became the subject of a separate U.S. Department of Justice civil rights investigation.", "McKenna's family filed a $15 million federal lawsuit against Fairfax County, alleging gross negligence and that deputies and the jail were not properly trained to handle someone in a mental health crisis.", "McKenna's death, and the video's public release, helped galvanize the early Black Lives Matter movement's focus on deaths of Black women in police and jail custody, and led Fairfax County to establish its Diversion First program, which redirects some people with mental illness away from jail toward treatment." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the use of a stun gun four times against a shackled, restrained woman already in obvious mental distress was a reasonable response, as the prosecutor's office concluded, or excessive force, as her family and counsel argued, was never tested at any criminal trial.", "Why McKenna's transfer to Alexandria was delayed for over a week, during which her mental condition deteriorated, has not been fully explained in available public reporting.", "The full findings of the Department of Justice's separate civil rights investigation into the case have not been comprehensively made public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did it take a week-long delay in transferring McKenna before her mental health crisis reached the point that six deputies in biohazard suits were called to extract her by force?", "What specific findings, if any, did the Department of Justice's civil rights investigation into the case produce?", "What measurable outcomes has Fairfax County's Diversion First program achieved in reducing jail deaths and encounters involving people in mental health crisis since McKenna's death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 \u201cDeath of Natasha McKenna\u201d (sourced case history)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Natasha_McKenna", "verified": true }, { "name": "WAMU \u2014 \u201cNo Charges Filed Following Police Probe Of Taser Death In Fairfax County Jail\u201d", "url": "https://wamu.org/story/15/07/22/no_charges_filed_following_taser_death_of_natasha_mckenna_in_fairfax_county_jail/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WTOP News \u2014 \u201cFamily sues sheriff's office for in-custody death of Natasha McKenna\u201d", "url": "https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2016/06/family-sues-sheriffs-office-for-in-custody-death-of-natasha-mckenna/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "deon-kay", "caseNumber": "187", "name": "Deon Kay", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 18, "gender": "male", "city": "Washington", "county": null, "state": "DC", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Deon Kay, 18, was shot and killed by Metropolitan Police Department Officer Alexander Alvarez in Southeast Washington, D.C. on September 2, 2020, roughly six seconds after Alvarez got out of his squad car pursuing a group of men reported to be brandishing guns. Body camera footage showed Kay running, then turning toward Alvarez with a gun in his hand a moment before Alvarez fired once, striking him in the chest; the gun was later found roughly 98 feet away, and it remains disputed whether Kay tossed it or the bullet's impact knocked it from his hand. Federal prosecutors declined criminal civil rights charges in November 2020, and the D.C. Auditor's office separately found the shooting legally justified as self-defense while concluding officers had \u201csquandered\u201d chances to de-escalate. Nearly five years later, in July 2025, a civil jury found Alvarez liable for wrongful death, negligence, and battery, awarding Kay's mother $655,000; the city fought to overturn or reduce that verdict before settling for a lesser amount in 2026. No one has ever been criminally charged in Kay's death.", "known": [ "The pursuit, the six-second span between Alvarez exiting his vehicle and firing, and the shooting, per Metropolitan Police Department body camera footage released publicly.", "A gun was recovered approximately 98 feet from where Kay fell; police and prosecutors said the footage showed a gun in Kay's hand about a second before he was shot, though whether he threw it or the bullet's impact caused it to fly from his hand remains disputed.", "The U.S. Attorney's Office announced in November 2020 that it would not bring federal criminal civil rights charges, unable to determine beyond a reasonable doubt that Alvarez willfully violated Kay's civil rights.", "A 2021 report by the Office of the D.C. Auditor concluded the shooting was legally justified as self-defense, but that the officers involved had \u201csquandered\u201d opportunities to de-escalate and that Alvarez had unnecessarily placed himself in the situation that led to Kay's death.", "Kay's mother, Natasha Kay, filed a wrongful death lawsuit; in July 2025, a District of Columbia Superior Court jury found Alvarez liable on all counts \u2014 wrongful death, negligence, and battery \u2014 and awarded $655,000 in damages.", "The D.C. Attorney General's Office, representing Alvarez, moved to overturn the verdict or reduce the damages, arguing the award exceeded typical amounts in police shooting cases; the presiding judge expressed skepticism of that argument.", "In early 2026, the city and Kay's family reached a settlement for an amount less than the jury's $655,000 award but more than the attorney general could approve unilaterally, with Mayor Muriel Bowser's approval, resolving the case without a further appeal." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Kay threw the recovered handgun toward Alvarez before being shot, as police maintained, or whether the bullet's impact caused it to leave his hand, was disputed at both the federal review stage and in the 2025 civil trial, and was never resolved by any criminal proceeding since none was brought.", "The specific findings behind the D.C. Auditor's conclusion that officers squandered de-escalation opportunities, beyond the report's public summary, have not been fully detailed.", "Why the city's attorney general pursued a reduction of the civil jury's verdict rather than accepting it, given the judge's own stated skepticism of that position, was disputed by the family's attorney as an effort to avoid accountability." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did federal prosecutors and a civil jury five years later reach such different conclusions about the same body camera footage \u2014 one finding no willful civil rights violation, the other finding Alvarez liable for wrongful death, negligence, and battery on all counts?", "What specific de-escalation opportunities did the D.C. Auditor's report identify as squandered, and has MPD implemented changes addressing them?", "Why did the city's attorney general pursue reducing the jury's award rather than accepting the verdict, and what final amount was ultimately paid in the 2026 settlement?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Washington Post \u2014 \u201cDeon Kay's mother wins $655,000 verdict over son's death by police\u201d", "url": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/08/01/deon-kay-verdict-fatally-shot-dc-police-alexander-alvarez-lawsuit/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WUSA9 \u2014 \u201cJury reaches verdict in civil suit against DC Police for deadly 2020 shooting of Deon Kay\u201d", "url": "https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/legal/deon-kay-police-shooting-civil-suit-verdict/65-d43a05fa-9a71-4000-a5e1-a13b1a7c71b2", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Washington Informer \u2014 \u201cD.C. reaches settlement in Deon Kay wrongful death case\u201d", "url": "https://www.washingtoninformer.com/deon-kay-settlement-finalized/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "mickel-lewis-sr", "caseNumber": "188", "name": "Mickel Lewis Sr.", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 39, "gender": "male", "city": "Mojave", "county": "Kern", "state": "CA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Mickel Lewis Sr., 39, a father of seven, was shot and killed by Kern County, California Sheriff's Deputy Jason Ayala during a traffic stop in Mojave on October 2, 2020. Ayala had been surveilling Lewis based on a confidential informant's tip that he possessed a gun while on probation; a pat-down found no weapon. The sheriff's office said Lewis then ran to his car, reached under the seat, and charged at Ayala with his hand in his waistband, prompting Ayala to fire five shots, two striking Lewis in the back. No gun was found on or near Lewis; a handgun was later recovered behind a utility pole where a passenger from his car had been seen. An internal sheriff's review board found Ayala acted within department policy and returned him to duty within weeks. No criminal charges were ever filed. In March 2025, a federal jury in Fresno unanimously awarded Lewis's family $30.5 million, finding Ayala used excessive and unreasonable force and was negligent \u2014 the second-largest jury verdict for a police shooting in California history. No one has ever been criminally charged in Lewis's death.", "known": [ "The surveillance, the traffic stop, and the shooting, per Kern County Sheriff's Office surveillance footage released publicly and testimony at the 2025 federal civil trial.", "A pat-down search of Lewis, conducted because he was on probation, found no weapon before the shooting occurred.", "Ayala fired five shots, two of which struck Lewis in the back; no gun was found on or near Lewis's body, though a handgun was later recovered behind a utility pole near where one of his passengers had been seen after the shooting.", "A sheriff's office review board found in November 2020 that Ayala acted within departmental policy, and he was returned to active duty; the board's findings were submitted to the Kern County District Attorney's office for review, but no criminal charges were ever filed.", "The family's lawsuit disputed the sheriff department's account, citing an independent autopsy showing none of the shots struck Lewis's front, which the family's attorney said contradicted the claim that he was charging forward when shot.", "A federal jury in the Eastern District of California unanimously found on March 19, 2025 that Ayala used excessive and unreasonable force and was negligent, awarding $5 million for Lewis's loss of life, $1 million for pre-death pain and suffering, and $24.5 million in wrongful death damages to his seven children \u2014 a total of $30.5 million, reported as the second-largest jury award for a police shooting in California history.", "Lewis had a lengthy prior criminal record and multiple pending cases at the time of his death; his family's attorneys argued this was used by the sheriff's department to unfairly characterize him rather than address the specific circumstances of the shooting itself." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Lewis charged at Ayala with his hand in his waistband, as the sheriff's department maintained, or was shot while unarmed and not charging, as the family's independent autopsy evidence suggested, was contested at the civil trial and never resolved by any criminal proceeding since none was brought.", "Whose handgun was recovered behind the utility pole, and how it related to Lewis or his passengers, has not been definitively established in public reporting.", "Why Ayala was returned to duty within weeks based on an internal review, before any independent investigation of the conflicting forensic evidence was complete, has not been fully explained." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did a federal civil jury unanimously find excessive force and negligence when the department's own internal review had already cleared Ayala and returned him to duty?", "Why were less-lethal options, such as a Taser, not used given Lewis was reported to be unarmed based on the earlier pat-down?", "Why was this case never referred for criminal charges despite forensic evidence the family's attorneys said directly contradicted the deputy's account?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "KGET 17 News \u2014 \u201cJury awards $30.5M to family of man killed by Kern County deputy: attorneys\u201d", "url": "https://www.kget.com/news/local-news/jury-awards-30-5-million-to-family-of-man-killed-by-kern-county-deputy-attorneys/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Davis Vanguard \u2014 \u201c$30.5 Million Verdict Brings Justice for Family of Mickel Lewis, Sr., in Kern County Police Shooting\u201d", "url": "https://davisvanguard.org/2025/03/30-5-million-verdict-brings-justice-for-family-of-mickel-lewis-sr-in-kern-county-police-shooting/", "verified": true }, { "name": "KGET 17 News \u2014 \u201cDeputy who fatally shot man who charged at him in Mojave acted within departmental policy, review board finds\u201d", "url": "https://www.kget.com/news/crime-watch/man-shot-and-killed-by-deputy-in-mojave-had-lengthy-criminal-record-including-resisting-officers-and-failing-to-register-as-a-sex-offender/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "alteria-woods", "caseNumber": "189", "name": "Alteria Woods", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2017, "age": 21, "gender": "female", "city": "Gifford", "county": "Indian River", "state": "FL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Alteria Woods, 21, a pharmacy technician, was shot 10 times and killed while lying in bed when three Indian River County, Florida SWAT officers fired into the bedroom during a pre-dawn drug raid on March 19, 2017. The raid targeted her boyfriend's father; a gunfight broke out between her boyfriend, Andrew Coffee IV, and the officers after Coffee said he did not know they were law enforcement. A grand jury exonerated all three officers who fired \u2014 finding no probable cause to indict any of them \u2014 and instead indicted Coffee himself for Woods's murder, under a legal theory that his actions had caused the deadly police response. A jury acquitted Coffee of murder and every violent charge against him in 2021, convicting him only of a firearm-possession charge unrelated to the shooting itself. No one has ever been convicted of killing Alteria Woods.", "known": [ "The raid, the gunfight, and the shooting of Woods while she lay in bed, per Indian River County Sheriff's Office statements and subsequent criminal and civil proceedings.", "The three officers who fired \u2014 Sergeant Patrick White, Detective Christopher Reeve, and Officer Richard Sarcinello \u2014 were identified publicly, placed on brief administrative leave, and returned to duty before the grand jury even convened.", "A grand jury in July 2017 found no probable cause to indict any of the three officers, while separately indicting Coffee for second-degree murder of Woods, three counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, and other charges, on the theory that his gunfire caused the deputies' fatal response.", "A jury acquitted Coffee of murder and all violent charges in November 2021 after roughly 11 hours of deliberation, finding he acted in self-defense; the same jury convicted him only of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, for which he was later sentenced to 10 years.", "Woods's mother, Yolanda Woods, has said she still wants law enforcement held accountable for her daughter's death and has pursued a separate federal civil lawsuit against the sheriff's office alleging the raid was botched.", "The Indian River County Sheriff's Office maintained after Coffee's acquittal that Woods's death was a direct result of his actions, not the officers'." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the deputies fired first, as Coffee and his family maintained, or whether Coffee fired first, as the sheriff's office maintained, was disputed at trial and left unresolved even after Coffee's acquittal, since the jury's self-defense finding did not require it to determine who fired first.", "Whether any of the three officers' specific shots were the ones that struck Woods, as opposed to a specific accounting of each officer's individual fire, has not been made public in available reporting.", "Why the grand jury found no probable cause to indict any of the three officers who fired into an occupied bedroom has not been explained beyond the prosecutor's brief public summary, since grand jury proceedings are sealed." ], "unanswered": [ "Why were the three officers who fired the shots that killed Woods never indicted, while her own boyfriend was charged with her murder under a theory that he caused their response?", "What became of the Woods family's federal civil lawsuit alleging the raid itself was botched?", "Why did the sheriff's office return all three officers to duty before the grand jury had even reviewed the case?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "CBS12 \u2014 \u201cGrand jury exonerates law enforcement in Alteria Woods shooting; charge boyfriend\u201d", "url": "https://cbs12.com/news/local/grand-jury-exonerates-law-enforcement-in-alteria-woods-shooting-charge-boyfriend", "verified": true }, { "name": "WPTV \u2014 \u201cAlteria Woods: Man charged for murder of woman during SWAT raid found not guilty; mother supports jury's decision\u201d", "url": "https://www.wptv.com/news/region-indian-river-county/alteria-woods-man-charged-for-murder-of-woman-during-swat-raid-found-not-guilty-mother-supports-jurys-decision", "verified": true }, { "name": "Vero News \u2014 \u201cGrand jury exonerates officers in drug raid, charges Andrew Coffee IV with murder\u201d", "url": "http://veronews.com/2017/07/19/grand-jury-exonerates-officers-drug-raid-charges-andrew-coffee-iv-murder/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "dejuan-guillory", "caseNumber": "190", "name": "DeJuan Guillory", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2017, "age": 27, "gender": "male", "city": "Mamou", "county": "Evangeline Parish", "state": "LA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "DeJuan Guillory, 27, was shot three times and killed by Evangeline Parish, Louisiana Sheriff's Deputy Paul \u2014 also reported as Holden \u2014 Lafleur on a rural road near Mamou on July 6, 2017, after the deputy stopped the ATV Guillory was riding with his girlfriend. A struggle followed the stop; the deputy said Guillory struck him and knocked him briefly unconscious before Guillory's girlfriend, DeQuince Brown, jumped on his back trying to grab his gun. Brown's attorney said Guillory was already lying face-down, being handcuffed with one hand behind his back, when the deputy fired the first of six shots; witnesses agree only two people were present to see exactly what happened. Brown was initially charged with attempted first-degree murder of a police officer, later reduced to lesser charges. A grand jury declined to indict Lafleur in December 2017. No one has ever been charged in Guillory's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop, the struggle, and the shooting, per Louisiana State Police's investigative report and contemporaneous news accounts.", "The deputy fired six shots, three of which struck Guillory; the deputy said Guillory punched him in the head, dazing him and possibly causing a brief loss of consciousness, before he drew his weapon.", "Guillory's girlfriend, DeQuince Brown, acknowledged jumping on the deputy's back and biting him, but her attorney said this occurred only after the deputy had already shot Guillory once while he was face-down and being handcuffed.", "Brown was arrested on a charge of attempted first-degree murder of a police officer, later reduced to battery of a police officer, aggravated assault against a peace officer, and attempted disarming of a peace officer.", "A grand jury declined to indict Deputy Lafleur on December 14, 2017, the same week it considered charges against Brown separately.", "Guillory's family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the sheriff's office alleging the deputy shot him while he was already restrained and posed no threat." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Guillory was already face-down and partially handcuffed at the moment the first shot was fired, as Brown's attorney maintained, or whether the struggle was still actively underway, as the deputy's account described, was disputed and never resolved by any criminal trial of the deputy since none occurred.", "The specific sequence connecting the initial punch, the deputy's account of losing consciousness, and the six shots fired has been described somewhat differently across the state police report and the family's civil complaint.", "The full reasoning behind the grand jury's decision not to indict Lafleur has not been made public, as grand jury proceedings are sealed under Louisiana law." ], "unanswered": [ "Why does the family's account \u2014 that Guillory was already being handcuffed face-down when the first shot was fired \u2014 conflict so directly with the deputy's account of an ongoing struggle, and how did the grand jury resolve that conflict?", "What became of DeQuince Brown's reduced charges, and were they ultimately dismissed, tried, or resolved by plea?", "What became of the Guillory family's federal civil rights lawsuit against the Evangeline Parish Sheriff's Office?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cShooting by deputy leaves man dead, girlfriend charged, questions unanswered\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2017/07/14/us/louisiana-fatal-police-shooting/index.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "KLFY \u2014 \u201cEvangeline Parish deputy not indicted in the shooting death of Dejuan Guillory\u201d", "url": "https://www.klfy.com/local/evangeline-parish-deputy-not-indicted-in-the-shooting-death-of-dejuan-guillory/", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Advocate \u2014 \u201cGirlfriend of man slain by Evangeline deputy pleads not guilty to reduced charges\u201d", "url": "https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/news/crime_police/article_9c6afa0c-f16c-11e7-8b45-c707dedcb652.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "tommie-mcglothen-jr", "caseNumber": "191", "name": "Tommie McGlothen Jr.", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 44, "gender": "male", "city": "Shreveport", "county": "Caddo Parish", "state": "LA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Tommie McGlothen Jr., 44, who had a documented mental health condition, died in the backseat of a Shreveport, Louisiana police vehicle on April 5, 2020, following the third of three encounters with officers that day. Cellphone and body camera video showed officers striking McGlothen, including an elbow blow to his neck, and using a Taser and pepper spray on him before forcing him, limp, into the back of a patrol car; witnesses said he then sat unattended for roughly 40 to 48 minutes before paramedics checked on him. The Caddo Parish coroner ruled the death natural but \u201cpossibly preventable\u201d due to the delay in medical attention. Four officers were indicted on negligent homicide and malfeasance charges; all four waived a jury and were acquitted by a judge in June 2022 after the defense's motion for a directed verdict was granted when the prosecution rested its case. No one has ever been convicted in McGlothen's death.", "known": [ "The three encounters with police, the force used during the final one, and McGlothen's death in the patrol car, per cellphone video, body camera footage, and trial testimony.", "Video showed an officer striking McGlothen twice after he spat on her, and another officer following with an elbow strike to his neck; witnesses said officers used a Taser and pepper spray on him as well.", "Multiple witnesses testified McGlothen was left in the back of the patrol car for approximately 40 to 45 minutes before an ambulance arrived, and that arriving EMS personnel did not immediately check on him.", "The Caddo Parish Coroner's Office ruled the death was from natural causes but described it as \u201cpossibly preventable,\u201d citing the delay in providing medical attention.", "A Caddo Parish grand jury indicted four officers \u2014 Brian Ross, James LeClare, Treona McCarter, and D'Marea Johnson \u2014 on charges of negligent homicide and malfeasance in office in September 2020.", "All four officers waived their right to a jury trial; a Caddo Parish District Court judge granted a directed verdict of acquittal for all four in June 2022, after defense attorneys argued the prosecution had not proven its case once the state rested.", "A separate federal wrongful death lawsuit filed by McGlothen's family, alleging officers failed to account for signs of excited delirium syndrome, continued in civil court after the criminal acquittals." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the combined force used \u2014 strikes, a neck elbow blow, Tasing, and pepper spray \u2014 caused or substantially contributed to McGlothen's death, as the family's civil suit argued, or whether his death was purely from natural causes unrelated to the encounter, as the coroner's ruling and the officers' defense maintained, was never resolved by the criminal case since it ended in a directed acquittal before a full verdict on the merits.", "Why arriving EMS personnel did not immediately check on McGlothen despite witness accounts of a prolonged delay has not been fully explained in available public reporting.", "The specific legal reasoning behind the judge's directed verdict, beyond finding the prosecution had not met its burden, has not been detailed in a public written opinion reviewed for this summary." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the coroner call McGlothen's death \u201cpossibly preventable\u201d due to a delay in medical care, and why did that delay reportedly last as long as it did?", "Why did the judge grant a directed verdict for all four officers before the defense presented any evidence of its own?", "What became of the McGlothen family's federal civil lawsuit alleging the officers disregarded signs of a mental health crisis?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "KSLA \u2014 \u201cTrial for 4 officers accused in violent death of Tommie McGlothen Jr. begins June 13\u201d", "url": "https://www.ksla.com/2022/06/12/trial-4-officers-accused-violent-death-tommie-mcglothen-jr-begins-june-13/", "verified": true }, { "name": "KTBS \u2014 \u201cSPD officers acquitted in McGlothen death\u201d", "url": "https://www.ktbs.com/news/spd-officers-acquitted-in-mcglothen-death/article_92775204-ee3b-11ec-9b70-b7d56b8a73ca.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Yahoo News / AP \u2014 \u201cJudge to rule on dismissing charges against Shreveport officers indicted for in-custody death\u201d", "url": "https://news.yahoo.com/shreveport-police-officers-charged-tommie-224730058.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "willie-tillman", "caseNumber": "192", "name": "Willie Tillman", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2016, "age": 33, "gender": "male", "city": "Fayetteville", "county": "Washington", "state": "AR", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Willie Sherman Tillman, 33, a father of three, died on May 9, 2016, eighteen days after being shot four times by Fayetteville, Arkansas Police Officer Brandon Jones during a traffic stop that turned into a struggle inside Tillman's moving vehicle. Police said Tillman re-entered his car after being asked to step out, and that officers used Tasers on him without effect before the car began moving with Officer Jones still inside; police characterized Tillman's driving as having dragged the two officers, justifying the shooting. Both the Fayetteville Police Department's internal investigation and the Washington County prosecutor concluded the shooting was justified, lawful, and within department policy. Jones returned to duty after three weeks of paid leave. Tillman was the second Black man in recent memory shot and killed by Fayetteville police, following the earlier fatal shooting of a white man in an unrelated incident that the department also ruled justified. No one has ever been charged in Tillman's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop, the struggle inside the vehicle, and the shooting, per Fayetteville Police Department and Washington County Prosecutor Matthew Durrett's investigative findings.", "Officers Brandon Jones and Cpl. Patrick Hanby used Tasers on Tillman without effect before his car began moving with Jones inside it; police said this constituted Tillman using the vehicle as a deadly weapon against the officers.", "The Fayetteville Police Department's internal investigation, completed May 11, 2016, found both officers' actions justified, lawful, and within department policy.", "Washington County Prosecutor Matthew Durrett separately reviewed the case and reached the same conclusion, declining to bring any charges.", "Officer Jones returned to work after roughly three weeks of paid administrative leave; Corporal Hanby was never placed on leave at all.", "Tillman's death prompted community protests and a petition calling for an independent, external investigation, given both reviewing bodies (the department and the county prosecutor who works closely with it) were seen by some community members as insufficiently independent." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Tillman's movement of the vehicle was a deliberate attempt to harm the officers, as police characterized it, or a panicked reaction while an officer was still partially inside the car, as his family's advocates suggested, was never tested in any criminal or civil trial that reached a public resolution.", "The specific reasoning behind both the department's and the prosecutor's parallel conclusions, beyond their public statements that the shooting was \u201cjustified, lawful and proper,\u201d has not been made available in a detailed public report.", "Why Corporal Hanby was never placed on administrative leave at all, unlike Officer Jones, has not been explained in available public reporting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the county prosecutor's independent review reach the identical conclusion as the police department's own internal investigation, given community concerns about institutional closeness between the two offices?", "Why was Corporal Hanby never placed on administrative leave, unlike Officer Jones, despite both being involved in the same struggle?", "What became of community calls for an independent, external review of Fayetteville Police Department's use-of-force pattern following this and a prior fatal shooting?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Arkansas Democrat-Gazette \u2014 \u201cPolice clear officers involved in Tillman shooting, residents protest\u201d", "url": "https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2016/may/12/police-clear-officers-involved-in-tillm/", "verified": true }, { "name": "KNWA/FOX24 \u2014 \u201cOfficer-Involved Shooting of Willie Tillman Justified\u201d", "url": "https://www.nwahomepage.com/news/officer-involved-shooting-of-willie-tillman-justified/", "verified": true }, { "name": "KNWA/FOX24 \u2014 \u201cWillie Tillman's Family Speaks\u201d", "url": "https://www.nwahomepage.com/news/willie-tillmans-family-speaks/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "christopher-whitfield", "caseNumber": "193", "name": "Christopher Whitfield", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2019, "age": 31, "gender": "male", "city": "Ethel", "county": "East Feliciana Parish", "state": "LA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Christopher Lee Whitfield, 31, who had schizophrenia, was shot and killed by East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana Deputy Glenn Sims Sr. outside a gas station in Ethel on October 14, 2019, after Whitfield allegedly took raw chicken and a carton of eggs from an outdoor cooler and fled on foot. Sims fired a warning shot into the ground during the chase, then caught Whitfield and scuffled with him on the ground; the sheriff's office said Sims's gun discharged accidentally during the struggle, striking Whitfield in the lower back and killing him. Days later, Sheriff Jeff Travis publicly acknowledged Sims had a prior criminal record including illegal discharge of a firearm, simple battery, and resisting an officer, none of which had been known to him. A grand jury twice considered the case and, on its second sitting in March 2020, declined to indict Sims on second-degree murder. Sims remained a commissioned deputy years afterward despite not returning to active duty. No one has ever been charged in Whitfield's death.", "known": [ "The theft report, the foot chase, and the shooting, per the East Feliciana Parish Sheriff's Office's own public statements and subsequent grand jury proceedings.", "Sims fired a warning shot into the ground before catching Whitfield; the sheriff's office said Sims's weapon discharged accidentally as the two struggled on the ground, striking Whitfield in the lower back.", "Sheriff Jeff Travis publicly disclosed days after the shooting that Sims had at least three prior criminal convictions, including illegal discharge of a firearm, simple battery, and resisting an officer, and said he had been unaware of this history because it predated his own tenure as sheriff.", "The East Feliciana Parish Sheriff's Office led the investigation into its own deputy's shooting, rather than referring it to Louisiana State Police, a decision an attorney consulted by local media said was legally permissible but that the community could perceive as a conflict of interest.", "A first grand jury proceeding was delayed because some jurors were related to either Sims or Whitfield; a second 12-person grand jury returned a \u201cno true bill\u201d in March 2020, declining to indict Sims on second-degree murder.", "The NAACP called for the U.S. Department of Justice to independently investigate the sheriff's office following the shooting.", "As of at least May 2025 reporting, more than five years after the shooting, Sims remained a commissioned East Feliciana Parish deputy despite not having returned to active patrol duty." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the discharge that killed Whitfield was in fact accidental, as the sheriff's office maintained from the outset, or resulted from Sims's own handling of the weapon during the struggle, was never independently tested at a criminal trial since the grand jury declined to indict.", "Why the sheriff's office chose to lead the investigation into its own deputy rather than refer it to Louisiana State Police has not been fully explained beyond the sheriff's stated confidence in his own department's ability to handle it fairly.", "Why Sims's extensive prior criminal history was not known to the sheriff or apparently considered before his continued employment as a deputy has not been fully addressed in public reporting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the East Feliciana Parish Sheriff's Office investigate its own deputy rather than referring the case to an outside agency, given the obvious conflict of interest?", "Why was Deputy Sims's criminal history, including a prior conviction for illegal discharge of a firearm, seemingly not considered before he continued in his role?", "Why has Sims remained a commissioned deputy years after the shooting despite not returning to active duty, and what is his final employment status?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Advocate \u2014 \u201cGrand jury declines to charge East Feliciana deputy who fatally shot man stealing chicken, family heartbroken\u201d", "url": "https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/communities/east_feliciana/article_4a614f6e-f9b6-11e9-b097-5f5251659c80.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Washington Times / AP \u2014 \u201cJury declines charge against deputy for fatal shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/mar/10/jury-declines-charge-against-deputy-for-fatal-shoo/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WBRZ \u2014 \u201cDeputy cleared by grand jury in shooting death still out of work, but remains commissioned\u201d", "url": "https://www.wbrz.com/news/deputy-cleared-by-grand-jury-in-shooting-death-still-out-of-work-but-remains-commissioned/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "thurman-blevins", "caseNumber": "194", "name": "Thurman Blevins", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2018, "age": 31, "gender": "male", "city": "Minneapolis", "county": "Hennepin", "state": "MN", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Thurman Blevins, 31, was shot and killed by Minneapolis Police Officers Justin Schmidt and Ryan Kelly on June 23, 2018, at the end of a roughly 40-second foot chase in a north Minneapolis alley. A 911 caller had reported a man matching Blevins's description firing a handgun into the air and the ground; officers spotted him with a gun in his waistband, and he ran when they approached. Officers said Blevins pulled the gun from his pocket and turned toward them during the chase, prompting them to fire 14 shots, four of which struck him. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced in July 2018, after a five-week investigation, that the shooting was legally authorized and declined to bring charges against either officer. Body camera video of the shooting was released to the public only the night before that announcement. No one has ever been charged in Blevins's death.", "known": [ "The 911 report, the foot chase, and the shooting, per Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman's public charging decision and body camera footage released the night before that announcement.", "Officers fired a total of 14 shots, four of which struck Blevins.", "Freeman's office stated that witness testimony, body camera video, and forensic testing showed Blevins had a 9mm semi-automatic handgun in his hand and had refused multiple commands to drop it during the chase.", "Freeman concluded the officers' use of deadly force was authorized under Minnesota law because Blevins represented a danger to their lives, and announced no charges would be filed against Officers Schmidt or Kelly.", "Freeman's news conference was interrupted by Blevins's family and community members, who disputed that Blevins posed a threat to anyone in the community.", "Both officers remained on paid administrative leave during the department's internal investigation following the county attorney's decision." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Blevins's motion turning toward the officers while holding the gun, as described in the county attorney's account, constituted him aiming or threatening them specifically, versus another interpretation of the same body camera footage, was disputed by family members and community activists but never tested at any criminal trial.", "The specific reasoning behind the timing of the body camera footage's release \u2014 the night before the charging announcement, rather than promptly after the shooting \u2014 has not been fully explained by the department.", "The outcome of the Minneapolis Police Department's own internal review of the officers' conduct, separate from the county attorney's criminal charging decision, has not been made comprehensively public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was body camera footage of the shooting withheld from the public for over a month, until the night before the charging decision was announced?", "What specific internal department review, if any, followed the county attorney's decision not to prosecute, and what were its findings regarding officers Schmidt and Kelly?", "What became of the relationship between this case and Minneapolis's broader pattern of police shootings that would culminate, two years later, in the killing of George Floyd just a few miles away?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Star Tribune \u2014 \u201cNo charges against Minneapolis officers who fatally shot Blevins\u201d", "url": "https://www.startribune.com/no-charges-against-minneapolis-officers-who-fatally-shot-blevins/489514381", "verified": true }, { "name": "MPR News \u2014 \u201cFreeman: No charges against Minneapolis cops in Blevins shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/07/30/thurman-blevins-police-shooting-charging-announcement", "verified": true }, { "name": "PBS NewsHour \u2014 \u201cThe Minneapolis officers who fatally shot Thurman Blevins won't be charged. Here's what we know\u201d", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/the-minneapolis-officers-who-fatally-shot-thurman-blevins-wont-be-charged-heres-what-we-know", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "george-tillman", "caseNumber": "195", "name": "George Tillman III", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2016, "age": 32, "gender": "male", "city": "South Ozone Park", "county": "Queens", "state": "NY", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "George Homer Tillman III, 32, a licensed electrician and father of five visiting family from Maryland, was shot and killed by NYPD officers in South Ozone Park, Queens, on April 17, 2016, after being approached over an open container of alcohol outside a double-parked vehicle. Tillman complied by handing off the bottle, but police said he then ran when officers moved to question him, and that he pointed a loaded .40-caliber pistol at an officer during the chase; four of five pursuing officers opened fire, striking him approximately 13 times. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown cleared the officers of any wrongdoing in October 2016 after a six-month, 71-page investigation, finding Tillman's DNA on the recovered gun. No non-police witness ever corroborated that Tillman was armed, and a companion who was present was held in police custody for 12 hours without charge and without access to an attorney. In 2025, nine years after the shooting, a federal jury found NYPD officers liable in the family's wrongful death lawsuit and awarded $6.3 million. No one has ever been criminally charged in Tillman's death.", "known": [ "The encounter over the open container, the foot chase, and the shooting, per Queens District Attorney Richard Brown's 71-page report and subsequent federal civil trial testimony.", "Officers fired a total of 11 rounds; Tillman was struck multiple times, including a fatal shot to his left temple, according to the DA's report.", "The recovered .40-caliber pistol was found in Tillman's right hand and bore his DNA on the grip, magazine, and slide, per the DA's investigation; no evidence of any other person having handled the weapon with bare hands was found.", "DA Brown's October 2016 report concluded Tillman pointed the pistol at an officer and ignored commands to drop it, and that officers acted in lawful self-defense; no criminal charges were filed.", "A companion who was with Tillman at the time was taken into police custody and held for 12 hours after the shooting without being charged or given access to an attorney, according to the family's attorney.", "The Tillman family filed a federal wrongful death and civil rights lawsuit; in 2025, a jury found NYPD officers liable and awarded the family $6.3 million in damages." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Tillman in fact possessed and pointed the recovered pistol, as the DA's forensic findings concluded, or never had a weapon at all, as his family and their attorney maintained from the outset, was disputed throughout the civil proceedings and never tested in a criminal trial since none was brought.", "Why the companion held with Tillman at the time of the shooting was detained for 12 hours without charge or attorney access has not been explained in any official public accounting.", "The specific basis for the 2025 federal jury's liability finding, which arrived at a different conclusion than the district attorney's 2016 criminal review of largely the same underlying events, has not been reconciled in a single public record." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the criminal investigation and the 2025 federal civil trial, examining substantially the same shooting, reach such different conclusions about the officers' liability?", "Why was Tillman's companion held for 12 hours without charge or access to counsel immediately after the shooting?", "What specific evidence presented to the 2025 federal jury led it to find NYPD officers liable, and how did that evidence differ from what the Queens DA reviewed in 2016?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "QNS \u2014 \u201cCops were justified in fatally shooting an armed man during a South Ozone Park pursuit: DA report\u201d", "url": "https://qns.com/2016/10/cops-justified-fatally-shooting-armed-man-south-ozone-park-pursuit-da-report/", "verified": true }, { "name": "DNAinfo \u2014 \u201cNYPD Cleared in April Shooting of a Maryland Man by Queens DA\u201d", "url": "https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20161007/south-ozone-park/george-tillman-queens-district-attorney-fatal-police-shooting/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Jurimatic \u2014 \u201cJury Awards $6.3M in NYPD Wrongful Death Shooting Case\u201d", "url": "https://jurimatic.com/jury-finds-nypd-officers-liable-in-wrongful-death-of-george-homer-tillman-iii-and-awards-6-3-million/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "charleena-lyles", "caseNumber": "196", "name": "Charleena Lyles", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2017, "age": 30, "gender": "female", "city": "Seattle", "county": "King", "state": "WA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Charleena Lyles, 30, a pregnant mother of four, was shot seven times and killed by Seattle Police Officers Jason Anderson and Steven McNew inside her Magnuson Park apartment on Father's Day, June 18, 2017, after she called 911 herself to report a burglary. Officers said Lyles's demeanor suddenly shifted and she produced a knife, lunging at Anderson and missing his stomach by inches, prompting both officers to open fire; neither carried a Taser at the time. A King County inquest jury unanimously found the shooting justified in 2022, though it also found the officers had not followed department policy on using a stun gun. King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg declined to file charges weeks later, citing insufficient evidence to disprove justifiable homicide, while acknowledging the case \u201cdoes not mean everything was done right.\u201d The city settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Lyles's family for $3.5 million in 2021. No one has ever been charged in Lyles's death.", "known": [ "The 911 call, the confrontation, and the shooting, per King County inquest testimony, surveillance video, and the officers' own statements.", "Lyles had a caution flag attached to her name in police records from a prior incident in which she reportedly threatened law enforcement.", "Neither Anderson nor McNew carried a Taser at the time, despite McNew being a certified crisis intervention officer; three of Lyles's young children were in the apartment during the shooting.", "Video evidence introduced at the 2022 inquest contradicted Officer Anderson's sworn recollection that the apartment's front door was closed when he backed away from Lyles; the footage showed him backing through an open doorway into the hallway as the shots were fired.", "The inquest jury unanimously found in July 2022 that the officers had no reasonably effective alternative to deadly force and that the level of force used was reasonable, while separately finding they did not comply with department policy regarding stun-gun use.", "King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg announced two weeks later that his office would not file criminal charges, citing insufficient evidence to disprove the officers acted in justifiable self-defense under the \u201cmalice\u201d and \u201cgood faith\u201d legal standard in effect in 2017.", "The City of Seattle settled a wrongful death civil lawsuit with Lyles's family for $3.5 million in 2021.", "Lyles's case, along with a pattern of other 2017 King County police shootings and inquests criticized as favoring law enforcement, prompted county officials to overhaul the entire inquest process, including giving victims' families their own attorney." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Lyles's advance with the knife, occurring in a small kitchen area with her young children nearby, left the officers with genuinely no other option, as the inquest jury concluded, or whether de-escalation remained possible, as her family's attorney argued citing the contradicted testimony about the apartment door, was never resolved by any criminal trial.", "Why officers were not equipped with Tasers at the time, despite one being a certified crisis intervention officer, has not been fully explained beyond department equipment policy discussions that followed the shooting.", "The full reasoning connecting the inquest jury's simultaneous findings \u2014 that the shooting was reasonable but that stun-gun policy was violated \u2014 has not been reconciled in a single public accounting." ], "unanswered": [ "How can a shooting be found reasonable and justified while the same inquest jury concluded officers violated department policy on using less-lethal options first?", "Why did an officer's sworn recollection about a closed apartment door directly conflict with surveillance video, and how did that discrepancy factor into the prosecutor's declination decision?", "What specific outcomes has King County's overhauled inquest process, prompted partly by this case, produced in the years since?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Seattle Times \u2014 \u201cProsecutor: No charges against Seattle police officers in fatal 2017 shooting of Charleena Lyles\u201d", "url": "https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/prosecutor-no-charges-against-seattle-police-officers-in-fatal-2017-shooting-of-charleena-lyles/", "verified": true }, { "name": "KIRO 7 \u2014 \u201cCharleena Lyles inquest: Jury finds officers used reasonable force in deadly 2017 shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/charleena-lyles-inquest-jury-finds-officers-used-reasonable-force-deadly-2017-shooting/5IUGEKR5UJB6LG67U7YJIAKNZ4/", "verified": true }, { "name": "KING 5 \u2014 \u201cKing County prosecutor will not file charges against the officers who shot, killed Charleena Lyles\u201d", "url": "https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle/no-charges-officers-charleena-lyles/281-d2b573ce-47b2-4ae6-af0a-72d141d9c3ea", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "miles-jackson", "caseNumber": "197", "name": "Miles Jackson", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2021, "age": 27, "gender": "male", "city": "Westerville", "county": "Franklin", "state": "OH", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Miles Jackson, 27, was shot 20 times and killed inside an emergency room at Mount Carmel St. Ann's Hospital in Westerville, Ohio on April 12, 2021, during a struggle with Columbus police officers who had come to arrest him on outstanding warrants after he was brought in for a suspected overdose. An earlier pat-down by Westerville police had missed a handgun concealed in his pants pocket; when Columbus officers attempted their own search, prosecutors said Jackson fired the weapon, and a roughly five-minute standoff followed involving more than 90 commands and a stun gun before officers and hospital security opened fire, striking him in the head, chest, abdomen, buttocks, and thighs. A Franklin County grand jury declined to indict any of the Columbus police officers or Mount Carmel security personnel involved in October 2022. No one has ever been charged in Jackson's death.", "known": [ "The overdose call, the initial pat-down that missed a concealed handgun, and the shooting, per the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office and Ohio Attorney General's investigative findings.", "Jackson had been treated earlier the same day for an overdose, given Narcan, and left the hospital against medical advice before being returned there in police custody hours later on outstanding warrants.", "Prosecutors said forensic testing matched three spent shell casings at the scene to the gun Jackson possessed, and multiple officers reported hearing him fire during the encounter.", "Officers gave more than 90 verbal commands over roughly five minutes and used a stun gun before ultimately opening fire; six individuals in total \u2014 Columbus police and Mount Carmel security \u2014 discharged their weapons.", "A coroner's report found Jackson was struck 20 times, with a toxicology report showing fentanyl and norfentanyl in his system.", "A Franklin County grand jury returned a \u201cno bill\u201d decision in October 2022, declining to indict any officer or security guard involved; Prosecutor Gary Tyack announced the decision without further comment.", "No officers, hospital staff, or physicians were injured in the shootout, though one bullet passed through an officer's uniform sleeve." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Jackson fired the number of times and in the manner prosecutors described, versus an alternative account of the encounter, was based substantially on officer testimony and forensic matching, and was never independently tested at a criminal trial since none was brought.", "Why the initial Westerville police pat-down failed to detect the concealed handgun has been acknowledged as a lapse but not addressed through any public accountability measure beyond the prosecutor noting the officer had previously been cautioned for rushing his duties.", "The specific reasoning behind the grand jury's decision, beyond the prosecutor's public summary of the evidence, has not been made available, as Ohio grand jury proceedings are sealed." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the Westerville officer's pat-down fail to find the handgun, and had that officer's prior pattern of \u201crushing his duties\u201d ever been addressed before this case?", "Why did the confrontation escalate to 20 gunshot wounds despite roughly five minutes of commands and a stun gun deployment first?", "What became of Jackson's father's public statements that his son was a \u201cgood man\u201d who \u201cjust needed help,\u201d in terms of any policy change to how hospitals and police jointly handle patients with outstanding warrants?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "10TV (WBNS) \u2014 \u201cNo charges to be filed against officers in Miles Jackson's death\u201d", "url": "https://www.10tv.com/article/news/local/shooting-mount-carmel-st-anns-miles-jackson/530-363fc378-b399-4129-8040-d72215521b5d", "verified": true }, { "name": "AP, via CBS News Pittsburgh \u2014 \u201cOfficers cleared in shooting of man in Ohio emergency room\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/officers-cleared-in-shooting-of-man-in-ohio-emergency-room/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Franklin County Prosecutor's Office \u2014 official statement on the grand jury decision", "url": "https://prosecutor.franklincountyohio.gov/press-releases/1532", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "sahleem-tindle", "caseNumber": "198", "name": "Sahleem Tindle", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2018, "age": 28, "gender": "male", "city": "Oakland", "county": "Alameda", "state": "CA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Sahleem Tindle, 28, a father of two, was shot three times in the back and killed by Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Officer Joseph Mateu on January 3, 2018, on a sidewalk across from the West Oakland BART station. Tindle had been walking to the station with his fiancee and children when he got into an altercation with another man, and the two ended up wrestling over a handgun after shots were fired. Mateu, responding on foot to the sound of gunfire, found the two men grappling and shot Tindle three times without having established who fired the earlier shots or possessed the gun. Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley cleared Mateu of criminal wrongdoing in October 2018, concluding he reasonably believed he was acting in self-defense and defense of others. In March 2020, a federal jury found Mateu used excessive force and was negligent, awarding Tindle's family $6.3 million. No one has ever been criminally charged in Tindle's death.", "known": [ "The altercation, the struggle over the handgun, and the shooting, per Officer Mateu's body-worn camera footage and the Alameda County District Attorney's 48-page investigative report.", "Mateu ran toward the sound of gunfire from inside the BART station and, upon arriving, found Tindle and another, unidentified man grappling over a handgun; he fired three shots at Tindle without first determining who had fired the earlier shots or who owned the weapon.", "The DA's October 2018 report concluded Mateu \u201cactually and reasonably believed\u201d he was acting in self-defense and defense of others, and declined to bring criminal charges.", "Body camera video released to Tindle's family and later to the public showed conflicting interpretations: BART's police chief said it showed Tindle had not raised his hands until after being shot, while Tindle's mother said it showed his back was turned toward the other man and away from any threat when Mateu fired.", "Mateu was placed on paid administrative leave for approximately two weeks before returning to duty.", "A federal jury in March 2020, after a two-week trial, found Mateu had used excessive force in violation of Tindle's constitutional rights and had acted negligently, awarding $5.7 million to Tindle's estate for the constitutional violation and $608,000 to his two children for Mateu's negligence, a combined $6.3 million against BART." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Tindle himself had fired a weapon or was simply defending himself when Mateu shot him, given the officer acknowledged not knowing who fired the initial shots or possessed the gun before opening fire, was disputed throughout both the criminal review and the civil trial and was never resolved by any criminal proceeding since none was brought.", "The identity of the other man Tindle was grappling with, described in the DA's report only as an unnamed witness whom most other witnesses believed was not the aggressor, has not been made public.", "Why the district attorney's conclusion that the shooting was justified diverged so sharply from the federal civil jury's finding of excessive force and negligence, examining substantially the same body camera footage, has not been reconciled in any single public record." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did Officer Mateu fire on Tindle without first determining who had fired the earlier shots or who possessed the weapon in the struggle?", "Why did the federal civil jury reach the opposite conclusion from the district attorney about whether Mateu's use of force was justified, examining much of the same evidence?", "What became of the unnamed man Tindle was grappling with, and was he ever identified or questioned about the origin of the gun and the earlier gunshots?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "San Francisco Chronicle \u2014 \u201cBART officer cleared in West Oakland shooting of Sahleem Tindle\u201d", "url": "https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/BART-officer-cleared-in-West-Oakland-shooting-of-13330146.php", "verified": true }, { "name": "East Bay Express \u2014 \u201cDistrict Attorney Clears BART Police Officer in Fatal West Oakland Shooting of Sahleem Tindle\u201d", "url": "https://eastbayexpress.com/district-attorney-clears-bart-police-officer-in-fatal-west-oakland-shooting-of-sahleem-tindle-2-1/", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC Bay Area \u2014 \u201cJury Awards $6.3M to Family of Man Fatally Shot by BART Officer\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/jury-awards-6-3m-to-family-of-man-fatally-shot-by-bart-officer/2253895/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "aaron-bailey", "caseNumber": "199", "name": "Aaron Bailey", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2017, "age": 45, "gender": "male", "city": "Indianapolis", "county": "Marion", "state": "IN", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Aaron Bailey, 45, was shot four times in the back and killed by Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Officers Michal Dinnsen and Carlton Howard on June 29, 2017, moments after crashing his car into a tree at the end of a brief nighttime pursuit. Officers said Bailey ignored commands to show his hands and reached into the center console, where they feared a gun might be stored; no weapon was ever found in the car. Officers fired 11 shots into the back and side of the vehicle. A special prosecutor declined to bring criminal charges in October 2017, and federal investigators separately found insufficient evidence for civil rights charges. In a rare turn, IMPD's own police chief concluded the shooting was not justified and recommended both officers be fired \u2014 but Indianapolis's Civilian Police Merit Board voted 5-2 in May 2018 to clear them of any policy violation, allowing them to keep their jobs. No one has ever been held criminally or departmentally accountable for Bailey's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop, the pursuit, the crash, and the shooting, per special prosecutor Kenneth Cotter's 16-page report and subsequent Civilian Police Merit Board hearing testimony.", "Officers Dinnsen and Howard fired a total of 11 shots into the back and side of Bailey's vehicle after it crashed; four struck Bailey, and no weapon was found on him or in the car.", "Special Prosecutor Kenneth Cotter determined in October 2017 that the officers reasonably feared for their lives, citing Bailey's failure to cooperate, his reported nervousness, and his movement toward the center console after the crash, and declined to bring charges.", "IMPD's own Firearms Review Board and Police Chief Bryan Roach, who took office in January 2017, both concluded the officers violated department training and policy; Roach suspended both officers without pay and formally recommended their termination.", "The seven-member Civilian Police Merit Board voted 5-2 in May 2018, after a three-day hearing, to clear Dinnsen and Howard of any policy violation, overturning the police chief's own recommendation and allowing both officers to keep their jobs.", "The U.S. Department of Justice announced in April 2019 that an independent federal review, incorporating the special prosecutor's report, the merit board record, and an FBI investigation, found insufficient evidence to prove a willful federal civil rights violation.", "The City of Indianapolis settled with Bailey's estate for $650,000, without admitting wrongdoing, as part of an agreement in which the family dismissed its civil lawsuit." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Bailey's movement toward the center console reflected an actual attempt to retrieve a weapon, as officers believed, or an innocuous motion given that no gun was ever found, was disputed by the family and was never resolved by any criminal trial since none was brought.", "Why the Civilian Police Merit Board reached a conclusion directly opposite to that of the police department's own Firearms Review Board and chief, examining the same underlying conduct, has not been fully explained beyond board members' general statements about being persuaded by hearing testimony.", "The Bailey family raised specific questions about whether all evidence presented to the merit board was complete and accurate; what, if anything, that concern turned up has not been made public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did an independent civilian merit board overturn the police chief's own well-reasoned termination recommendation, based on the department's own internal Firearms Review Board findings?", "What specific evidence did Bailey's family believe was incomplete or inaccurate in the record presented to the merit board, and was that concern ever formally addressed?", "What reforms, if any, did Indianapolis make to its Civilian Police Merit Board process following the sustained public criticism of this outcome, including from the mayor himself?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "WTHR \u2014 \u201cJustice Department won't pursue civil rights charges in Aaron Bailey case\u201d", "url": "https://www.wthr.com/article/news/local/justice-department-wont-pursue-civil-rights-charges-aaron-bailey-case/531-7f6db42c-3579-4eb2-9604-0d56411b384c", "verified": true }, { "name": "Fox 59 \u2014 \u201cMerit Board decides not to terminate officers in fatal shooting of Aaron Bailey\u201d", "url": "http://fox59.com/2018/05/10/impd-merit-board-decides-not-to-terminate-officers-in-fatal-shooting-of-aaron-bailey/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Indianapolis Recorder \u2014 \u201cYear in Review: Officers kept jobs after killing Aaron Bailey\u201d", "url": "https://indianapolisrecorder.com/1ef7e782-0f5d-11e9-8df0-e3141bb980cd/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "delrawn-small", "caseNumber": "200", "name": "Delrawn Small", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2016, "age": 37, "gender": "male", "city": "Brooklyn", "county": "Kings", "state": "NY", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Delrawn Small, 37, a father of three, was shot and killed by off-duty NYPD Officer Wayne Isaacs on July 4, 2016, in East New York, Brooklyn, after the two men were involved in a traffic dispute that authorities said continued for several blocks. Small got out of his car and approached Isaacs's vehicle at a stoplight; Isaacs shot him through the driver's-side window, then briefly got out, looked toward Small as he collapsed, and drove away without identifying himself as police or rendering aid. Isaacs testified Small had punched him and that he feared for his life, but surveillance video played at trial appeared to contradict that account, showing Small shot almost immediately upon reaching the car. New York's Attorney General, appointed special prosecutor under a new state policy for police killings of unarmed civilians, charged Isaacs with second-degree murder. A Brooklyn jury acquitted him of all charges in November 2017. No one has ever been convicted in Small's death.", "known": [ "The traffic dispute, the shooting, and Isaacs's departure from the scene, per surveillance video played at trial and the New York Attorney General's prosecution.", "Isaacs was off duty and driving his personal vehicle; he shot Small three times through the driver's-side window without, according to witnesses, ever identifying himself as a police officer.", "This was the first trial prosecuted under an executive order Governor Andrew Cuomo signed appointing the New York Attorney General as special prosecutor in cases where unarmed civilians are killed by police officers.", "Isaacs testified Small punched him in the face and that he feared for his life, and an EMT testified she treated him for facial swelling after the incident; prosecutors argued the surveillance video showed Small was shot almost immediately after reaching the car, undermining the officer's account of an extended physical struggle.", "A Brooklyn jury acquitted Isaacs of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter in November 2017, following his own testimony in his defense.", "Isaacs, who is also Black, remained on the police force on non-enforcement duty without his service weapon pending an internal NYPD investigation following the acquittal.", "The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund publicly called on the NYPD to conduct a thorough investigation and impose discipline, including termination, following the acquittal." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Small in fact struck Isaacs with enough force and intent to justify lethal force, as Isaacs testified and the jury ultimately credited, or whether the surveillance video's near-immediate shooting contradicted that account, as prosecutors and Small's family argued, was the central dispute at trial and was resolved only by the jury's acquittal, not by any independent finding of fact.", "Why Isaacs did not identify himself as a police officer before or immediately after the shooting, and why he drove away rather than rendering aid, was raised at trial but not specifically addressed in the acquittal.", "The outcome of the NYPD's internal disciplinary investigation into Isaacs following the acquittal, which the department stated was ongoing, has not been made comprehensively public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the jury credit Isaacs's account of an extended physical altercation when surveillance video appeared to show Small was shot almost immediately upon reaching the car?", "Why did Isaacs leave the scene without identifying himself as an officer or rendering aid to Small before he collapsed?", "What was the final outcome of NYPD's internal disciplinary investigation into Isaacs following his criminal acquittal?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "ABC7 New York \u2014 \u201cVerdict: NYPD officer not guilty in apparent Brooklyn road rage shooting\u201d", "url": "https://abc7ny.com/post/nypd-officer-not-guilty-in-apparent-road-rage-shooting/2609751/", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC New York \u2014 \u201cOff-Duty NYPD Cop Acquitted in Deadly Road Rage Shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/nypd-cop-acquitted-murder-deadly-road-rage-shooting-brooklyn/333522/", "verified": true }, { "name": "NAACP Legal Defense Fund \u2014 \u201cLDF Statement on Acquittal of NYPD Officer Wayne Isaacs for Delrawn Small's Death\u201d", "url": "https://www.naacpldf.org/press-release/ldf-statement-on-acquittal-of-nypd-officer-wayne-isaacs-for-delrawn-smalls-death-2/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "yvette-smith", "caseNumber": "201", "name": "Yvette Smith", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2014, "age": 47, "gender": "female", "city": "Camp Swift", "county": "Bastrop", "state": "TX", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Yvette Smith, 47, a mother of two who had survived cancer, was shot twice and killed by Bastrop County, Texas Sheriff's Deputy Daniel Willis on February 16, 2014, moments after she opened the front door of her Camp Swift home. Smith had called 911 herself to report her boyfriend and his son fighting over a shotgun; by the time deputies arrived, she had already persuaded them to unload the gun and put it away. A dispatcher nonetheless told Willis someone inside had a gun, and he retrieved an AR-15 from his patrol car. Dashcam video showed no deputy gave any command before Willis fired the moment Smith appeared in the doorway; she was unarmed. Willis was charged with murder and fired from the department. His first trial ended in a hung jury deadlocked 8-4 toward conviction; at his retrial, Willis waived a jury and was acquitted by a judge in April 2016. No one has ever been convicted in Smith's death.", "known": [ "The 911 call, the dispatch information relayed to Willis, and the shooting, per Bastrop County Sheriff's Office dashcam footage and testimony from both criminal trials.", "Smith herself called 911 to report a domestic disturbance and had defused it by convincing her boyfriend's son to unload the shotgun and set it on a table before deputies arrived.", "Dashcam video showed Willis retrieved an AR-15-style rifle from his patrol vehicle and fired twice within roughly 3.5 seconds of Smith opening the front door, without any deputy having given a verbal command.", "The Bastrop County Sheriff's Office initially stated publicly that Smith had been \u201cdisplaying a firearm\u201d and ignored commands; officials later acknowledged she was unarmed and that no commands were given before the shooting.", "Willis was indicted for murder and fired from the sheriff's office in June 2014.", "His first trial in September 2015 ended in a mistrial after the jury deliberated nearly 20 hours over three days and remained deadlocked 8-4 in favor of conviction.", "At his 2016 retrial, Willis waived his right to a jury; Visiting Judge Albert McCaig Jr. found him not guilty of murder in April 2016, stating the domestic dispute between Smith's boyfriend and his son was the true cause of the tragedy.", "Bastrop County separately settled a wrongful death and negligent-hiring lawsuit with Smith's family for $1.2 million in 2015, the largest settlement in the county's history at the time." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Willis's belief that Smith might be armed, based solely on outdated dispatch information, was objectively reasonable given the roughly 3.5-second window before he fired was the central legal question and was resolved only by a single judge's ruling after a jury had already deadlocked in the opposite direction.", "Why Willis retrieved a rifle rather than waiting for further information or attempting verbal contact, given deputies were already on scene and no immediate threat had been confirmed, has not been fully explained beyond the defense's self-defense argument.", "Why the sheriff's office's initial public account \u2014 that Smith was armed and had ignored commands \u2014 differed so completely from what the department's own dashcam footage later showed has not been addressed in any official public accounting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did a judge acquit Willis after a jury had already deadlocked 8-4 in favor of conviction on largely the same evidence?", "Why did the Bastrop County Sheriff's Office's initial public statement claim Smith was armed and had ignored commands, when the department's own dashcam footage showed neither was true?", "What became of Willis professionally after his acquittal, and did any law enforcement agency subsequently employ him?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Austin American-Statesman \u2014 \u201cDaniel Willis found not guilty in shooting death of unarmed woman\u201d", "url": "https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2016/08/13/daniel-willis-found-not-guilty-in-shooting-death-of-unarmed-woman/9910759007/", "verified": true }, { "name": "KXAN \u2014 \u201cFired deputy Daniel Willis found not guilty of murder\u201d", "url": "https://www.kxan.com/news/fired-deputy-daniel-willis-found-not-guilty-of-murder/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Fox 7 Austin \u2014 \u201cBastrop Co. Fmr. Deputy Willis found not guilty\u201d", "url": "https://www.fox7austin.com/news/bastrop-co-fmr-deputy-willis-found-not-guilty", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "charly-keunang", "caseNumber": "202", "name": "Charly \u201cAfrica\u201d Keunang", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2015, "age": 43, "gender": "male", "city": "Los Angeles", "county": "Los Angeles", "state": "CA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Charly Leundeu Keunang, 43, a Cameroonian national living homeless on Skid Row and known locally as \u201cAfrica,\u201d was shot five times and killed by three Los Angeles Police officers on March 1, 2015, during a struggle that began when officers tried to arrest him on suspicion of robbery. A bystander's cellphone video of the daylight shooting was viewed millions of times worldwide and sparked days of protest under the banner \u201cJustice For Africa.\u201d Police said Keunang grabbed a rookie officer's holstered gun during the struggle, but the family's attorney later showed his DNA was never found on the weapon, despite the police chief's initial public claim that it had been. The LAPD Police Commission ruled the shooting justified in 2016, and the Los Angeles County District Attorney declined to bring charges later that year. A federal jury nonetheless found two officers liable in 2018, and the city settled with Keunang's family for $1.95 million. No one has ever been criminally charged in Keunang's death.", "known": [ "The confrontation, the struggle over the officer's holstered gun, and the shooting, per police body camera footage obtained by the Los Angeles Times and the district attorney's 22-page investigative report.", "Keunang was shot five times by three officers \u2014 Sergeant Chand Syed and Officers Francisco Martinez and Daniel Torres \u2014 after a struggle that began when officers attempted to remove him from his tent on suspicion of robbing another homeless person.", "Police Chief Charlie Beck stated shortly after the shooting that Keunang's DNA had been found on the gun; attorney Dan Stormer, representing Keunang's family in a civil suit, later presented evidence that Keunang's DNA was not in fact found on the weapon.", "The LAPD Police Commission unanimously ruled in February 2016 that the officers were within policy on the use of deadly force, following an 11-month investigation, while separately finding a rookie officer had used improper tactics.", "The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced in December 2016 that the officers \u201cacted lawfully in self-defense and in defense of others\u201d and declined to bring criminal charges.", "A federal jury in May 2018 found two of the officers liable in Keunang's death; the city subsequently settled the family's civil lawsuit for $1.95 million.", "A bystander, Trishawn Cardessa Carey, who briefly picked up a baton an officer dropped during the struggle, was separately charged with assault with a deadly weapon, facing 25 years to life under California's three-strikes law for that act alone." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Keunang in fact grabbed or nearly gained control of an officer's holstered gun, as police maintained and as justified the department's and DA's conclusions, or whether that account was undermined by the absence of his DNA on the weapon, as the family's civil attorney argued, was never resolved by any criminal trial since none was brought.", "Why the police chief's early public statement about DNA evidence on the gun differed from what was later presented in civil litigation has not been addressed in any official public accounting.", "The specific reasoning connecting the Police Commission's and district attorney's justified-shooting findings with the federal civil jury's contrary liability finding, examining much of the same video evidence, has not been reconciled in a single public record." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the police chief's initial public claim about DNA on the recovered gun differ from what was presented as evidence in the family's civil lawsuit?", "Why did LAPD wait nearly three years to release the officers' body camera footage of the shooting to the public?", "What accounts for the stark disparity between the officers facing no criminal consequences at all and a bystander who merely touched a dropped baton facing a 25-years-to-life charge?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "LAist \u2014 \u201cDistrict Attorney Says 2015 LAPD Shooting Of Homeless Man Was Justified\u201d", "url": "https://laist.com/news/da-office-keunang", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS Los Angeles \u2014 \u201cLA Approves Nearly $2M Lawsuit Settlement In Fatal LAPD Shooting Of Charly 'Africa' Keunang On Skid Row\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/charly-africa-keunang-skid-row-lapd-shooting-settlement/", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBC News \u2014 \u201cLos Angeles police officers cleared in fatal skid row shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/lapd-shooting-keunang-justified-1.3877957", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "robert-lawrence-white", "caseNumber": "203", "name": "Robert Lawrence White", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2018, "age": 41, "gender": "male", "city": "Silver Spring", "county": "Montgomery", "state": "MD", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Robert Lawrence White, 41, a man with cognitive impairments, was shot and killed by Montgomery County, Maryland Police Officer Anand Badgujar in a Silver Spring parking lot on June 11, 2018. White was simply walking alone near his home when Badgujar, who had just finished an unrelated call, noticed a rip in his jacket and moved his hand toward his pocket, and began following him. The encounter escalated into a physical struggle in which White allegedly knocked the officer down; Badgujar, heard on his own radio describing the situation as a possible \u201csuicide by cop type thing,\u201d fired eight rounds, striking White multiple times. No weapon was found on White. The Howard County State's Attorney's Office, brought in for an independent review, unanimously cleared Badgujar of criminal wrongdoing in July 2018, and Montgomery County's own internal review reached the same conclusion in 2019. A federal lawsuit alleging White was targeted because he was Black was dismissed in 2023. No one has ever been charged in White's death.", "known": [ "The initial stop, the escalating struggle, and the shooting, per Montgomery County Police body camera footage released publicly and the Howard County State's Attorney's independent review.", "Badgujar began following White after noticing him walking with a torn jacket and moving his hand toward his pocket; White was not the subject of any specific complaint or suspected of any particular crime at the time.", "Badgujar was recorded on his own police radio describing the unfolding situation as potentially a \u201csuicide by cop type thing\u201d before the shooting occurred.", "Police said White physically assaulted Badgujar twice, at one point knocking him to the ground and gaining a position where he could have taken the officer's firearm; Badgujar fired eight rounds, and no weapon was found on White.", "The Howard County State's Attorney's Office, brought in specifically to provide an independent review separate from Montgomery County's own department, unanimously concluded in July 2018 that Badgujar's actions were legally justified.", "A subsequent Montgomery County Police administrative review, completed in March 2019, reached the identical conclusion that the shooting was lawful and justified, finding Badgujar was \u201cin grave danger.\u201d", "White's siblings filed a federal lawsuit alleging Badgujar targeted White because he was Black, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause; a federal judge dismissed the case in 2023, ruling White was not legally \u201cseized\u201d until the moment he was shot, which defeated the unreasonable-seizure and excessive-force claims as pleaded." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Badgujar's initial decision to follow and stop White \u2014 someone not suspected of any specific crime, based only on a torn jacket and a hand movement \u2014 was itself reasonable, and whether that decision set the entire escalation in motion, was raised by the family but not the basis on which the courts or reviewing prosecutors resolved the case.", "Whether White's cognitive impairments affected his ability to understand or respond to the officer's commands during the encounter has not been directly addressed in the available public reviews.", "The full reasoning behind the federal court's procedural dismissal, turning on the legal definition of when a \u201cseizure\u201d began rather than on the reasonableness of the officer's conduct throughout the encounter, has been criticized by civil rights attorneys as avoiding the substance of the family's discrimination claim." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did Officer Badgujar begin following and questioning White, who was not suspected of any specific crime, based only on a torn jacket and a hand movement toward his pocket?", "Why did Badgujar's own radio call describing a possible \u201csuicide by cop\u201d scenario not prompt a different, more cautious response before the encounter turned physical?", "Did White's cognitive impairments play any role in the encounter's escalation, and was that ever specifically investigated?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Washington Post \u2014 \u201cMaryland prosecutors clear officer who killed unarmed man during chaotic parking lot encounter\u201d", "url": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/maryland-prosecutors-clear-police-officer-who-killed-unarmed-man-during-chaotic-parking-lot-encounter/2018/07/30/aab89674-93eb-11e8-80e1-00e80e1fdf43_story.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "WTOP News \u2014 \u201cMontgomery Co. police review finds 2018 shooting, killing of unarmed man justified\u201d", "url": "https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/04/montgomery-co-police-review-finds-2018-shooting-killing-of-unarmed-man-justified/", "verified": true }, { "name": "CourtListener \u2014 Thompson v. Badgujar, memorandum opinion", "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/9742532/thompson-v-badgujar/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "oshae-terry", "caseNumber": "204", "name": "O'Shae Terry", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2018, "age": 24, "gender": "male", "city": "Arlington", "county": "Tarrant", "state": "TX", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "O'Shae Terry, 24, was shot four times and killed by Arlington, Texas Police Officer Bau Tran on September 1, 2018, during a traffic stop for an expired registration tag. After officers said they smelled marijuana, Terry began rolling up his windows and started the engine to drive away; Tran, who had climbed onto the SUV's running board, drew his weapon and fired five rounds through the window as the vehicle began moving, striking Terry four times. A Tarrant County grand jury indicted Tran on criminally negligent homicide eight months later, a rare criminal charge against a police officer in the county. In May 2023, nearly five years after the shooting, Tran pleaded guilty \u2014 but received deferred adjudication, meaning he served no jail time and, if he completes probation, will have no conviction on his record at all. A separate federal civil rights lawsuit was dismissed on qualified immunity grounds. No one has ever been convicted in Terry's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop, the escalation as Terry attempted to leave, and the shooting, per body camera footage and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals's detailed recounting of the incident.", "Tran climbed onto the SUV's running board and reached through the window with his right hand before resting it on his holstered pistol; when Terry started the engine and the car began to move, Tran drew his weapon and fired five rounds, striking Terry four times.", "Terry's passenger, Terrence Harmon, was uninjured; the force of the SUV striking a curb afterward knocked Tran off the vehicle and onto the street.", "A Tarrant County grand jury indicted Tran on criminally negligent homicide in May 2019, described by legal observers as a rare criminal prosecution of a police officer in that county; Tran had a disciplinary record prosecutors characterized as reflecting \u201cbad character,\u201d including a prior off-duty incident where he allegedly pulled a knife on someone while identifying himself as an officer.", "The federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals nonetheless granted Tran qualified immunity in the Terry family's civil rights lawsuit, dismissing the case; the Cato Institute filed an amicus brief arguing Tran's conduct should be ruled unconstitutional regardless.", "In May 2023, nearly five years after the shooting and just before trial, Tran pleaded guilty to the felony charge but received six years of deferred adjudication community supervision and a $600 fine \u2014 no prison time \u2014 with the conviction to be wiped from his record entirely if he completes probation without violation.", "Attorney Lee Merritt, representing Terry's mother and Harmon, publicly called the deferred adjudication outcome \u201ca denial of accountability\u201d and \u201ca dereliction of justice.\u201d" ], "unknown": [ "Whether Tran reasonably perceived an imminent threat to his life in the roughly one-second window between the car's engine starting and his shots being fired \u2014 the central question in both the criminal case and the qualified-immunity analysis \u2014 was never resolved by any court ruling on the merits, since the criminal case ended in a plea and the civil case was dismissed on immunity grounds without reaching that question.", "The specific contents of Tran's prior disciplinary record beyond the incidents described in court filings have not been made comprehensively public.", "Why prosecutors agreed to a deferred adjudication plea deal nearly five years after indictment, rather than proceeding to the scheduled trial, has not been fully explained publicly." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did prosecutors agree to a plea deal carrying no jail time and an erasable conviction, nearly five years after the original indictment and shortly before trial?", "Why did the Fifth Circuit grant qualified immunity in the civil case despite an amicus brief specifically arguing the officer's conduct was clearly unconstitutional?", "What did Officer Tran's prior disciplinary record, cited by prosecutors as evidence of \u201cbad character,\u201d actually consist of, and why did it not result in earlier intervention?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "KERA News \u2014 \u201cFormer Arlington police officer could face no prison time after pleading guilty to 2018 shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.keranews.org/criminal-justice/2023-06-02/arlington-police-officer-shooting-deferred-adjudication", "verified": true }, { "name": "Reason \u2014 \u201cA Cop Was Indicted for Homicide After Shooting a Fleeing Driver. He Still Got Qualified Immunity.\u201d", "url": "https://reason.com/2021/11/09/cop-indicted-homicide-shooting-driver-qualified-immunity-bau-tran-arlington-texas/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WFAA \u2014 \u201cFormer Arlington officer who shot, killed man during 2018 traffic stop won't serve prison time\u201d", "url": "https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/former-arlington-officer-no-prison-time-shooting/287-59aede3f-0fa7-4db0-bd75-fb72095eaf80", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "vincent-truitt", "caseNumber": "205", "name": "Vincent Truitt", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 17, "gender": "male", "city": "Marietta", "county": "Cobb", "state": "GA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Vincent Truitt, 17, was shot twice in the back and killed by a Cobb County, Georgia Police officer on July 13, 2020, after fleeing on foot from a car that had been reported stolen. Truitt was the front-seat passenger; after the driver jumped out and was caught, Truitt also ran, and an officer chased him roughly two seconds \u2014 with no verbal commands given, according to released video \u2014 before firing. Police said Truitt had a gun and pointed it at the officer during the chase, though the officer's own body camera footage of that moment was reportedly too blurry to clearly confirm it. A Cobb County grand jury deliberated roughly eight hours in February 2021 before ruling the shooting justified. The family's $150 million federal lawsuit, which attorneys called the largest ever filed in a Georgia police shooting case, was later dismissed on qualified immunity grounds. No one has ever been charged in Truitt's death.", "known": [ "The stolen-vehicle pursuit, the foot chase, and the shooting, per Cobb County Police body camera and dashcam footage released publicly alongside the grand jury announcement.", "Video showed the driver of the reported stolen vehicle was apprehended first; Truitt, the passenger, then exited and began running, with an officer chasing him on foot for roughly two seconds \u2014 during which no verbal commands were given, per 11Alive's review of the footage \u2014 before firing two shots that struck him in the back.", "Cobb County Police Chief Tim Cox and the district attorney's office maintained that Truitt was armed and pointed a gun at the pursuing officer during the chase; a .40-caliber handgun was recovered feet from his body, though the officer's own body camera video of the moment he said he saw the weapon was reportedly too blurry to independently confirm it.", "A Cobb County grand jury deliberated for approximately eight hours in February 2021 before determining the officer's use of force was authorized and recommending no further action.", "Truitt's parents filed a $150 million federal civil rights lawsuit against the officer and Cobb County in January 2022, which their attorneys described as the largest ever filed in a Georgia police shooting case; the suit was later dismissed on qualified immunity grounds.", "Truitt's family and the Georgia NAACP publicly disputed the grand jury's finding, with family attorney Gerald Griggs stating the video showed Truitt never posed an immediate or deadly threat to the officer." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Truitt in fact pointed a firearm at the officer during the brief chase, as police maintained, or whether the blurry body camera footage left that central claim genuinely unconfirmed, as the family's attorneys argued, was never tested at any criminal trial since the grand jury declined to indict.", "The full grand jury proceedings and the specific evidence weighed most heavily in reaching its conclusion have not been made public beyond the announced outcome, as is standard under grand jury secrecy.", "Why the officer had only approximately two seconds to assess the situation and gave no verbal commands before firing has not been directly addressed beyond police's general characterization of the threat." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the confrontation between the officer and a fleeing 17-year-old escalate to gunfire within approximately two seconds of the foot chase beginning, with no commands given?", "If the officer's own body camera video was too blurry to clearly show a weapon in Truitt's hand, what specific additional evidence led the grand jury to conclude he was armed and threatening beyond doubt?", "What became of the driver of the reported stolen vehicle, who was apprehended without incident moments before Truitt was shot?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "WSB-TV \u2014 \u201cGrand jury clears Cobb County officer in deadly shooting of 17-year-old\u201d", "url": "https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/cobb-county/grand-jury-clears-officer-deadly-shooting-cobb-county-teen-attorneys-say/KGEXTISRMBBPLBKAOTV3ZQ5PFA/", "verified": true }, { "name": "11Alive \u2014 \u201cNewly-released video shows what led up to shooting of Vincent Truitt by Cobb County police\u201d", "url": "https://www.11alive.com/article/news/crime/vincent-truitt-cobb-county-shooting-body-camera/85-c1806be4-fcfe-4fab-93eb-fe04c5a38abb", "verified": true }, { "name": "13WMAZ \u2014 \u201cVincent Truitt death lawsuit against Cobb County dismissed\u201d", "url": "https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/crime/vincent-truitt-death-lawsuit-cobb-county-dismissed/85-91a1b64a-3621-4fb8-aae5-73d43346c28e", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "william-green", "caseNumber": "206", "name": "William Green", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 43, "gender": "male", "city": "Landover", "county": "Prince George's", "state": "MD", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "William Green, 43, was shot six times and killed by Prince George's County, Maryland Police Corporal Michael Owen Jr. while handcuffed in the front seat of Owen's patrol car on January 27, 2020. Owen had found Green asleep in his own vehicle after a series of traffic crashes, apparently under the influence of an unknown substance, handcuffed him, and placed him in the cruiser's passenger seat. Owen, who was not wearing a body camera, testified Green body-slammed him and grabbed for his gun during a struggle inside the car; prosecutors argued there was no evidence Green ever touched the weapon. Owen was fired and charged with second-degree murder within days, becoming the first officer in county history charged with murder for an on-duty killing. After nearly four years of delay, a jury acquitted him of all four charges in December 2023 following roughly two hours of deliberation. No one has ever been convicted in Green's death.", "known": [ "The traffic crash response, the handcuffing, and the shooting inside Owen's cruiser, per trial testimony and the Prince George's County Police Department's own account.", "Owen was not wearing a body camera during the encounter; his account of Green body-slamming him and reaching for his gun was corroborated only by his own testimony and a fellow officer who recalled Owen telling him afterward that Green had gone for the weapon.", "Owen was fired and charged with second-degree murder, first-degree assault, voluntary manslaughter, and misconduct in office within days of the shooting.", "The trial was delayed nearly four years; the presiding judge rejected a proposed plea deal that would have reduced the charge to voluntary manslaughter and publicly rebuked prosecutors for failing to exchange required evidence with the defense in time for the original trial date.", "A Prince George's County jury deliberated less than two hours before acquitting Owen of all four charges on December 6, 2023; Owen remained suspended without pay pending an internal administrative review, per the department's own statement.", "Prince George's County settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Green's family for $20 million in September 2020, months after the shooting and years before the criminal trial concluded, reported as the highest such payout on record at the time.", "State's Attorney Aisha Braveboy stated after the verdict that she did not personally believe Owen's account, calling his testimony \u201coutrageous and certainly implausible,\u201d but acknowledged the jury could still find reasonable doubt in it." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Green in fact grabbed for Owen's gun during the struggle, as Owen testified, or whether no such struggle over the weapon occurred, as prosecutors argued citing an absence of corroborating evidence, was the central dispute at trial and was resolved only by the jury's acquittal, not by any independent finding of fact.", "Why Owen was not equipped with a body camera at the time, despite the department having equipment available to at least some officers, has not been fully explained in public reporting.", "The specific evidence-exchange failures that led the judge to reject the proposed plea deal and delay the original trial date have not been detailed beyond the judge's public rebuke of the prosecutor's office." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did it take nearly four years for this case to reach trial, and what specific role did the prosecution's own evidence-handling failures play in that delay?", "Why was Corporal Owen not wearing a body camera during an encounter that began as a routine welfare check on a man asleep in his car?", "What was the outcome of Prince George's County Police Department's internal administrative review of Owen's conduct, separate from the criminal case?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Washington Post \u2014 \u201cPrince George's officer acquitted in fatal shooting of handcuffed man\u201d", "url": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/12/06/owen-verdict-police-shooting-prince-georges-not-guilty/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WUSA9 \u2014 \u201cJury verdict trial former Prince George's County police officer charged murder Michael Owen Jr. William Green\u201d", "url": "https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/maryland/jury-verdict-trial-former-prince-georges-county-police-officer-charged-murder-michael-owen-jr-william-green/65-6da9cf86-e0d9-4e9b-8a9b-39e98d7caf9d", "verified": true }, { "name": "AFRO American Newspapers \u2014 \u201cPrince George's Police Officer acquitted after shooting death of William Green\u201d", "url": "https://afro.com/prince-georges-police-officer-acquitted-after-shooting-death-of-william-green/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "anthony-lowe-jr", "caseNumber": "207", "name": "Anthony Lowe Jr.", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2023, "age": 36, "gender": "male", "city": "Huntington Park", "county": "Los Angeles", "state": "CA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Anthony Lowe Jr., 36, a double amputee who used a wheelchair, was shot roughly 10 times and killed by two Huntington Park, California police officers on January 26, 2023, moments after he moved away from his wheelchair while holding a knife. Officers had responded to a report that Lowe stabbed a man in the chest; police said he ignored commands to drop the knife and threatened to throw it after Tasers failed to stop him. Cellphone video showed him on the sidewalk moving away from the wheelchair as officers approached. Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman's office announced in December 2025, nearly three years after the shooting, that it would not file charges, concluding in a 28-page report that Lowe \u201cdespite his physical limitations, presented an imminent deadly threat.\u201d No one has ever been charged in Lowe's death.", "known": [ "The stabbing report, the confrontation, and the shooting, per the Los Angeles County District Attorney's 28-page investigative report and surveillance video cited in it.", "Surveillance video showed Lowe stab a man in the chest, causing a collapsed lung and two broken ribs, in the block before police encountered him.", "Officers Paul Munoz and Joshua Volasgis fired approximately 10 rounds at Lowe after Tasers failed to stop him and he refused to drop a roughly 10-inch butcher's knife, per the DA's report.", "The District Attorney's Office, after an investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department reviewing surveillance video, 911 recordings, witness interviews, and medical records, announced on December 30, 2025 that it would not file charges, concluding the officers reasonably believed deadly force was necessary.", "The DA's report separately acknowledged Lowe may have been experiencing a mental health crisis, describing him as \u201cpossibly suicidal,\u201d while stating that did not change the legal analysis of the officers' actions.", "Lowe's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit; their attorney publicly questioned the DA's seriousness about police accountability, noting the same office had separately declined to charge officers in another high-profile 2023 shooting, that of Christopher Deandre Mitchell." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Lowe's physical limitations meaningfully changed the level of threat he could actually pose in the moments before the shooting, as his family's attorney argued given his inability to move on his own without the wheelchair he had left behind, was addressed in the DA's report but never tested at any criminal trial since none was brought.", "The specific distance between Lowe and the officers at the moment they opened fire, and whether that distance left room for less-lethal alternatives beyond the Tasers already attempted, has not been made fully clear in public reporting.", "Why the District Attorney's charging decision took nearly three years to reach has not been explained beyond the office's general description of a thorough investigation." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did it take nearly three years for the district attorney's office to announce a charging decision in a case with extensive surveillance video already available?", "Given Lowe's physical limitations and the officers' own Taser deployment, why were further less-lethal options not attempted before resorting to roughly 10 gunshots?", "What became of the Lowe family's wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Huntington Park?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office \u2014 official statement declining to file charges", "url": "https://da.lacounty.gov/media/news/district-attorney-s-office-declines-file-charges-2023-fatal-shooting-anthony-lowe", "verified": true }, { "name": "Police1 \u2014 \u201cCalif. officers won't face charges in 2023 fatal OIS of knife-wielding amputee, D.A. says\u201d", "url": "https://www.police1.com/investigations/calif-officers-wont-face-charges-in-2023-fatal-ois-of-knife-wielding-amputee-d-a-says", "verified": true }, { "name": "ABC7 Los Angeles \u2014 \u201cHuntington Park police officers who shot double amputee holding knife will not face charges, prosecutors say\u201d", "url": "https://abc7.com/post/huntington-park-police-officers-shot-double-amputee-holding-knife-face-charges-prosecutors-say/18335068/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "christopher-deandre-mitchell", "caseNumber": "208", "name": "Christopher DeAndre Mitchell", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2018, "age": 23, "gender": "male", "city": "Torrance", "county": "Los Angeles", "state": "CA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Christopher DeAndre Mitchell, 23, was shot and killed by Torrance, California Police Officers Matthew Concannon and Anthony Chavez on December 9, 2018, within seconds of them approaching a parked car matching a stolen-vehicle report. Officers said they saw Mitchell reach toward what turned out to be an altered air rifle wedged between his legs and that he failed to comply with commands; his family maintained he was asleep and never given a chance to surrender. Then-District Attorney Jackie Lacey's office declined to file charges in 2019, finding the shooting justified. After George Gasc\u00f3n took office pledging to revisit police shootings, his office reopened the case in 2023 and secured a grand jury indictment for voluntary manslaughter \u2014 the same year it was publicly revealed that both officers had exchanged racist text messages. In November 2025, under a new district attorney, prosecutors moved to dismiss the case, and a judge granted that dismissal in April 2026, citing insufficient evidence to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. No one has ever been convicted in Mitchell's death.", "known": [ "The stolen-vehicle report, the parking lot encounter, and the shooting within roughly 12 to 15 seconds of officers' arrival, per Los Angeles County District Attorney records and grand jury indictment materials.", "Mitchell was found in the driver's seat of a black Honda Civic reported stolen, with an altered air rifle positioned between his legs; officers said they believed he was reaching for it.", "Then-DA Jackie Lacey's office reviewed the case and declined to file charges in 2019, concluding the officers were legally justified.", "In 2021, it was revealed that numerous Torrance police officers, including both Concannon and Chavez to varying degrees, had exchanged racist text messages; Mitchell's family's attorney cited this as evidence of potential racial bias in the shooting.", "District Attorney George Gasc\u00f3n's office reopened the investigation and secured a grand jury indictment against both officers for voluntary manslaughter in April 2023, more than four years after the shooting.", "Special Prosecutor Michael Gennaco, a nationally recognized use-of-force expert retained by the DA's office, produced a 26-page memo concluding the case could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, given the 12-second window officers had to assess the situation.", "Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Samuel Ohta dismissed the indictment in a 34-page opinion in April 2026, finding no evidence prosecutors sought dismissal in bad faith, and stating explicitly that the case was not a civil rights matter but a voluntary manslaughter case bound by that charge's evidentiary standard." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Mitchell was in fact reaching for the air rifle, as officers maintained, or was asleep and given no real opportunity to comply, as his family argued, was never resolved at any criminal trial since the case was dismissed before reaching one.", "The specific content of the racist text messages exchanged by the officers, and how directly connected they were to this particular shooting as opposed to reflecting broader department culture, was described as difficult to conclusively link by the special prosecutor's own analysis.", "Why the original 2019 charging decision and the 2023 reopened investigation, examining substantially the same evidence years apart, produced such different initial conclusions before the case was ultimately dismissed regardless." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the case take a dismissal after reopening and indictment, rather than proceeding to trial where a jury could weigh the same evidence the special prosecutor found insufficient?", "What role did the revealed racist text messages among Torrance officers play in either the original 2019 declination or the eventual 2026 dismissal, given prosecutors themselves called the connection difficult to establish?", "What accountability, if any, have Officers Concannon and Chavez faced departmentally, separate from the criminal case's outcome?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office \u2014 official statement on the case's dismissal", "url": "https://da.lacounty.gov/media/news/judge-dismisses-case-against-two-torrance-police-officers-charged-killing-man-who", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC Los Angeles \u2014 \u201cDA asks charges to be dropped against Torrance police officers for 2018 on-duty killing\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbclosangeles.com/investigations/charges-dropped-against-torrance-police-officers-for-2018-on-duty-killing/3807398/", "verified": true }, { "name": "FOX 11 Los Angeles \u2014 \u201cCharges dismissed against former Torrance officers in fatal shooting of Christopher DeAndre Mitchell\u201d", "url": "https://www.foxla.com/news/torrance-police-shooting-mitchell-charges-dismissed-2026", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "jordell-richardson", "caseNumber": "209", "name": "Jor'Dell Richardson", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2023, "age": 14, "gender": "male", "city": "Aurora", "county": "Arapahoe", "state": "CO", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Jor'Dell Richardson, 14, was shot and killed by Aurora, Colorado Police Officer Roch Gruszeczka on June 1, 2023, seconds after being tackled at the end of a foot chase following a suspected robbery of a convenience store. Body camera video showed Richardson reaching toward his waistband as officers chased him into an alley; Officer James Snapp tackled him, and five seconds later Gruszeczka fired a single shot into his upper abdomen while shouting \u201cGun, gun. Let go of the [expletive] gun.\u201d The weapon turned out to be a pellet-gun replica of a 9mm pistol. Richardson pleaded for help and lost consciousness within moments; he was pronounced dead at a hospital. The 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office announced in September 2023, three months later, that Gruszeczka was legally justified and would face no charges. No one has ever been charged in Richardson's death.", "known": [ "The robbery report, the foot chase, and the shooting, per body-worn camera video from both officers and the district attorney's public report of findings.", "A group of teenagers, including Richardson, allegedly robbed a convenience store of vape cartridges; a store employee said Richardson displayed what he believed was a gun by lifting his sweatshirt.", "Officer Snapp tackled Richardson in an alley as he fled; roughly five seconds later, Officer Gruszeczka fired a single shot into Richardson's upper abdomen while yelling commands about a gun.", "The recovered weapon was a pellet-gun replica of a 9mm pistol, not a functioning firearm.", "Officers began CPR and called an ambulance; Richardson was taken to University Hospital in Aurora, where he was pronounced dead at 5:05 p.m.", "The 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office, following review by its Critical Incident Response Team, concluded in a report released September 6, 2023 that Gruszeczka \u201cwas legally justified in using deadly physical force\u201d and separately cleared Officer Snapp of any criminal liability for the tackle.", "Aurora Police Department's own internal affairs bureau conducted a separate review alongside the district attorney's investigation; its findings were not made public in the same release." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Richardson's motion toward his waistband, in the roughly five seconds after being tackled, presented the kind of imminent deadly threat that legally justified the shot, given the weapon turned out to be a pellet-gun replica, was the central dispute the district attorney's report addressed but that was never tested at any criminal trial.", "The specific findings of Aurora Police Department's own internal affairs investigation, run in parallel with the district attorney's review, have not been made comprehensively public.", "Whether officers had any realistic opportunity to identify the pellet gun as a replica before firing, given the entire encounter from tackle to gunshot lasted about five seconds, was not directly addressed beyond the report's general finding of legal justification." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the confrontation escalate to a fatal gunshot within roughly five seconds of a 14-year-old being tackled to the ground?", "What specific de-escalation options, if any, existed once Richardson was already physically restrained by a second officer at the moment of the shooting?", "What became of Aurora Police Department's own internal affairs review of the officers' conduct, separate from the district attorney's criminal charging decision?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "CPR News \u2014 \u201cNo charges filed against Aurora Police officer who shot and killed Jor'Dell Richardson\u201d", "url": "https://www.cpr.org/2023/09/06/jordell-richardson-aurora-police-shooting/", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News Colorado \u2014 \u201cDA confirms no criminal charges for Aurora police in Jor'Dell Richardson's death\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/da-confirms-no-criminal-charges-aurora-police-jordell-richardsons-death/", "verified": true }, { "name": "9NEWS (KUSA) \u2014 \u201cDA will not file charges in police shooting of Jor'Dell Richardson, source says\u201d", "url": "https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/no-charges-jordell-richardson-police-fatal-shooting/73-cb8713dc-a6bb-484d-92ae-d737867a440f", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "omari-cryer", "caseNumber": "210", "name": "Omari Cryer", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2022, "age": 25, "gender": "male", "city": "Louisville", "county": "Jefferson", "state": "KY", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Omari Cryer, 25, a father, was shot twice and killed by a deputy U.S. Marshal on May 20, 2022, in Louisville's Chickasaw neighborhood while a federal task force attempted to serve a domestic violence arrest warrant. Body camera video showed Cryer running from officers, hopping a fence, and pulling a handgun from his waistband before falling; a marshal fired two rounds, striking him in the front. No other officer discharged a weapon. Nearly a year later, Cryer's family said the Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office told them it did not have enough evidence to indict anyone in his death. In 2023, a complaint to Louisville's Office of Inspector General alleged the arrest warrant used to justify the operation itself contained false statements; LMPD's chief publicly denied that allegation. No one has ever been charged in Cryer's death, and the identity of the marshal who fired has never been publicly released.", "known": [ "The warrant service, the foot chase, and the shooting, per LMPD body camera footage released publicly and the Jefferson County Coroner's Office.", "Cryer was wanted on a state arrest warrant alleging domestic violence, strangulation, terroristic threatening, and assault against a woman with whom he had a child.", "Body camera footage showed Cryer running, hopping a chain-link fence, and pulling a handgun from his waistband as he fell; a deputy U.S. Marshal fired two rounds, striking him in the front. No other officer at the scene fired a weapon.", "The Jefferson County Coroner's Office ruled the cause and manner of death \u201cgunshot wounds/homicide.\u201d", "LMPD's Public Integrity Unit investigated the shooting at the request of the U.S. Marshals Service; as of March 2023, Cryer's family said the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office told them it lacked sufficient evidence to indict anyone.", "A complaint filed with Louisville's Office of Inspector General in 2023 alleged the state arrest warrant used to justify the operation contained false statements, and separately alleged abuse of police authority and excessive force; LMPD Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel publicly stated the involved officers had not lied.", "The identity of the specific deputy U.S. Marshal who fired the fatal shots has never been publicly released." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Cryer pointed or aimed the recovered handgun at pursuing officers, as opposed to simply holding it while running and falling, was disputed by his family's attorney, who said body camera footage showed he \u201cnever turned, he never pointed that weapon,\u201d and was never resolved by any criminal proceeding since none was brought.", "The specific findings of the Office of Inspector General's investigation into whether the underlying arrest warrant contained false statements have not been made comprehensively public.", "Why the identity of the marshal who fired the fatal shots has never been publicly disclosed, unlike the practice for LMPD officers in comparable local shootings, has not been explained." ], "unanswered": [ "Why has the identity of the marshal who shot and killed Cryer never been publicly released?", "What did the Office of Inspector General's investigation into the arrest warrant's underlying statements ultimately conclude?", "Why did the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office determine there was insufficient evidence to indict anyone, given body camera video captured the entire encounter?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Louisville Public Media (LPM) \u2014 \u201cExperts weigh in on video evidence in shooting of Omari Cryer\u201d", "url": "https://www.lpm.org/news/2022-05-27/experts-weigh-in-on-video-evidence-in-shooting-of-omari-cryer", "verified": true }, { "name": "WAVE 3 News \u2014 \u201cFamily still looking for answers nearly 1 year after Omari Cryer was shot, killed by US Marshal\u201d", "url": "https://www.wave3.com/2023/03/14/family-still-looking-answers-nearly-1-year-after-omari-cryer-was-shot-killed-by-us-marshal/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WHAS11 \u2014 \u201c'Those officers didn't lie': LMPD chief denies allegations of misconduct leading to 2022 death\u201d", "url": "https://www.whas11.com/article/news/local/omari-cryer-lmpd-marshal-office-of-inspector-general-shooting-2022-louisville-kentucky/417-c9ccc811-1456-483e-84ba-c8db4bdd18c9", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "linus-phillip", "caseNumber": "211", "name": "Linus Phillip", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2018, "age": 30, "gender": "male", "city": "Largo", "county": "Pinellas", "state": "FL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Linus F. Phillip, 30, was shot four times and killed by Largo, Florida Police Officer Matthew Steiner at a Wawa gas station on March 23, 2018, after a traffic stop for illegally tinted windows. Officers said they smelled marijuana and moved to detain Phillip; he got back into his car and reversed, with Steiner partly inside the vehicle. Police said Steiner, being dragged and pinned between the car and gas pumps, fired in self-defense. Investigators later acknowledged that surveillance footage from the gas station did not actually capture the shooting itself. Weeks later, Largo detectives traveled to the funeral home holding Phillip's body and pressed his finger to his phone in an attempt to unlock it, a move his family called a violation. The State Attorney's Office ruled the shooting justifiable homicide in April 2018. No one has ever been charged in Phillip's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop, the struggle as Phillip attempted to drive away, and the shooting, per Largo Police Department statements and the State Attorney's Office's investigative findings.", "Officer Steiner fired four shots after being partially inside the reversing vehicle and, police said, pinned between the car and nearby gas pumps and concrete stanchions.", "Investigators reviewed multiple surveillance camera angles from the Wawa station but acknowledged the available footage was limited and did not capture the moment of the shooting itself.", "The State Attorney's Office for the 6th Judicial Circuit ruled on April 13, 2018 that the shooting was justifiable homicide under Florida Statute 776.012, finding Steiner acted in lawful self-defense.", "Roughly a month after the shooting, two Largo detectives went to the funeral home holding Phillip's body and held his hand up to his cellphone's fingerprint sensor in an attempt to unlock it as part of the ongoing investigation; the phone did not unlock, and Phillip's fiancee said she felt violated by the act.", "Phillip's family, through attorney John Trevena, disputed the official account and requested an independent second autopsy, saying the released videos did not tell \u201ca full tale.\u201d" ], "unknown": [ "Whether Phillip's vehicle in fact pinned or dragged Steiner in a manner presenting a deadly threat, as police maintained, or whether a different account was possible, given no surveillance footage captured the shooting itself, was disputed by the family and never resolved by any criminal proceeding since none was brought.", "Why Largo police pursued unlocking Phillip's phone at his funeral home rather than through another investigative avenue, and what specific evidence they believed the phone might contain, has not been fully explained in public reporting.", "The outcome of the independent second autopsy the family sought funding for has not been reported publicly." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did none of the available surveillance camera footage capture the shooting itself, despite multiple camera angles at the gas station?", "Why did detectives choose to attempt unlocking Phillip's phone at his funeral home using his fingerprint, rather than pursuing the device through other legal means before the body was released for burial?", "What specific injuries did Officer Steiner sustain during the encounter, and how did they factor into the State Attorney's justifiable-homicide finding?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Tampa Bay Times \u2014 \u201cLargo police release video as State Attorney clears officer in shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/Largo-police-release-video-as-State-Attorney-clears-officer-in-shooting_167445286/", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News \u2014 \u201cLargo, Florida police use finger of late Linus Phillip to try to unlock his cellphone\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/police-use-dead-mans-finger-to-try-to-unlock-his-cellphone/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WFLA \u2014 \u201cFamily of man killed by Largo police question official version of events\u201d", "url": "https://www.wfla.com/news/pinellas-county/family-of-man-killed-by-largo-police-question-official-version-of-events/amp/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "kenneth-ross-jr", "caseNumber": "212", "name": "Kenneth Ross Jr.", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2018, "age": 25, "gender": "male", "city": "Gardena", "county": "Los Angeles", "state": "CA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Kenneth Ross Jr., 25, was shot in the back and shoulder and killed by Gardena, California Police Officer Michael Robbins with a rifle on April 11, 2018, as Ross ran away from officers responding to a report of a man firing a weapon in Rowley Memorial Park. Body and dash camera video reviewed by the family's attorney showed Ross running with his hands empty and his back to police when Robbins fired two shots from an AR-15. Robbins told investigators he believed Ross was reaching for a gun and feared for his life; a handgun was later recovered from Ross's shorts, which his family disputes he was carrying at the moment he was shot. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office cleared Robbins of criminal wrongdoing in June 2019, finding he acted in lawful self-defense. Robbins had been involved in three prior shootings before this one and retired from the department in 2020. No one has ever been charged in Ross's death.", "known": [ "The shots-fired call, the foot pursuit, and the shooting, per the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Justice System Integrity Division report and body/dash camera footage described by the family's attorney.", "Officer Robbins fired two rounds from a rifle, striking Ross in the back and shoulder as Ross ran away from him with his hands empty, according to the family's attorney's description of the footage; a handgun was later found in Ross's shorts.", "The DA's report concluded that when Ross's left arm moved in a way not visible to the camera as he ran past Robbins, it was reasonable for Robbins to believe Ross was drawing the weapon, and that the law did not require Robbins to visually confirm the gun before firing.", "The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced on June 12, 2019 that Robbins acted in lawful self-defense and declined to bring any charges.", "Robbins had been involved in three prior officer-involved shootings before killing Ross, and retired from the Gardena Police Department in 2020.", "The City of Gardena settled federal civil lawsuits with Ross's mother, father, and young son for a combined total exceeding $1.3 million, without admitting wrongdoing.", "Ross's death directly prompted California Governor Gavin Newsom to sign the Kenneth Ross Jr. Police Decertification Act of 2021 (SB 2), a statewide law allowing California to strip the certification of officers convicted of serious misconduct or found to have engaged in bias, signed near the site of Ross's death." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Ross was in fact carrying and reaching for the recovered handgun at the specific moment Robbins fired, as the DA's report concluded was reasonable to believe based on an arm movement not fully visible on camera, or whether he was unarmed and merely fleeing, as his family maintained, was never resolved by any criminal trial since none was brought.", "The specific nature and outcomes of Officer Robbins's three prior officer-involved shootings, and whether any departmental review considered that pattern before this fourth shooting, has not been made comprehensively public.", "Whether Ross was in fact experiencing a mental health crisis at the time, as the DA's own statement suggested, and how that would have changed the appropriate police response, was not resolved through any independent review beyond the self-defense finding." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was an officer with three prior shootings on his record still armed with a rifle and responding to this call, and did any departmental review examine that pattern before Ross's death?", "Why did the district attorney conclude Robbins reasonably believed Ross was drawing a weapon based on an arm movement the DA's own report acknowledged was \u201cnever visible\u201d on camera?", "What measurable impact has the statewide decertification law that resulted from Ross's death had in the years since it was signed?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office \u2014 official Justice System Integrity Division report", "url": "https://da.lacounty.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/JSID-OIS-05-2019-Ross.pdf", "verified": true }, { "name": "ABC7 Los Angeles \u2014 \u201cFamily, activists demand criminal charges against officer who fatally shot man in Gardena\u201d", "url": "https://abc7.com/kenneth-ross-jr-gardena-police-shooting-ois-michael-robbins/5872326/", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cSon of Black man fatally shot by California police to receive $1.3 million in lawsuit settlement\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/son-black-man-fatally-shot-california-police-settles-lawsuit-13-millio-rcna5977", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "decynthia-clements", "caseNumber": "213", "name": "DeCynthia Clements", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2018, "age": 34, "gender": "female", "city": "Elgin", "county": "Kane", "state": "IL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "DeCynthia Clements, 34, was shot three times and killed by Elgin, Illinois Police Lieutenant Christian Jensen on Interstate 90 on March 12, 2018, at the end of an hour-long roadside standoff during which she appeared to be in mental distress and set her own car on fire. As smoke filled the vehicle, she opened the door and stepped out; police said she was holding a knife, though it is not clearly visible in released video. Jensen fired despite other officers on scene being equipped with a stun gun and rubber-bullet-firing weapon, telling investigators he could not wait to see if less-lethal options would work given how close officers were standing. A medical examiner found cocaine in her system. The Cook County State's Attorney's Office declined to file charges in February 2019, a decision a separate state appellate prosecutor's review upheld. No one has ever been charged in Clements's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop, the hour-long roadside standoff, and the shooting, per roughly 30 hours of Elgin Police body and dash camera footage the department released publicly.", "Clements set something on fire inside her car during the standoff; as smoke filled the vehicle, she opened the door and exited, at which point Jensen fired three shots, striking her twice in the head and once in the chest.", "Other officers on scene were equipped with a stun gun and a launcher for rubber bullets; Jensen told investigators he believed deadly force was the only option because officers were too close to wait and see if a Taser would be effective.", "The Cook County Medical Examiner's office found cocaine and a cocaine metabolite in Clements's bloodstream.", "The Cook County State's Attorney's Office announced on February 22, 2019 that the evidence was insufficient to support criminal charges against Jensen; a separate review by the office of the state appellate prosecutor reached the same conclusion.", "Elgin Police Chief Ana Lalley commissioned an independent professional standards investigation by an outside firm, Hillard Heintze, to separately review whether Jensen and other officers violated department policy.", "Clements's family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Jensen and the City of Elgin, alleging the department had non-lethal options available \u2014 including Tasers, barricades, and shields \u2014 that were not used before deadly force was applied." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Clements in fact held a knife at the moment she was shot, given the object is not clearly visible in the released video, and whether that object presented an imminent threat justifying lethal force over the less-lethal options already staged nearby, was disputed by her family and was never resolved by any criminal proceeding since none was brought.", "The specific findings of the independent Hillard Heintze professional standards investigation into whether department policy was violated have not been fully detailed in available public reporting.", "Why officers negotiated with Clements for over an hour, suggesting recognition of a mental health crisis, but the situation still ended in gunfire rather than a coordinated non-lethal response, has not been fully explained beyond Jensen's own account of the final moments." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did Lieutenant Jensen use his firearm when fellow officers on scene were already equipped with a stun gun and less-lethal launcher specifically for this kind of encounter?", "Why does the object police describe as a knife remain unclear in the extensive body and dash camera footage that was released?", "What specific findings did the independent Hillard Heintze review of department policy and use-of-force procedures produce, and what changes followed from it?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cDecynthia Clements: Video shows fatal police shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/23/us/decynthia-clements-police-shooting-illinois/index.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Daily Herald \u2014 \u201cNo criminal charges by Cook County in fatal Elgin police shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20190222/no-criminal-charges-by-cook-county-in-fatal-elgin-police-shooting/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Romanucci & Blandin, LLC \u2014 \u201cFederal Civil Rights Lawsuit Filed Against Elgin Police Officer, City of Elgin for Unjustified Fatal Shooting of DeCynthia Clements\u201d", "url": "https://www.rblaw.net/pressrelease-federal-civil-rights-lawsuit-filed-against-elgin-police-officer-city-of-elgin-for-unjustified-fatal-shooting-of-decynthia-clements", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "joshua-ruffin", "caseNumber": "214", "name": "Joshua Ruffin", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 17, "gender": "male", "city": "Columbia", "county": "Richland", "state": "SC", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Joshua \u201cJosh\u201d Dariandre Ruffin, 17, was shot and killed by Columbia, South Carolina Police Officer Kevin Davis on April 8, 2020, after Davis noticed him during a patrol responding to reports of car break-ins and neighborhood suspicious activity during COVID-19 lockdown hours. Ruffin ran when Davis tried to stop him; during the roughly 30-second, 557-foot chase, Davis said Ruffin stopped, pulled a .45-caliber handgun from a bag, and pointed it at him, prompting Davis to fire 10 shots, one striking Ruffin in the forehead. Fifth Circuit Solicitor Byron Gipson, who is also Black, announced in June 2020 that Davis would not be charged, openly acknowledging \u201ca racial dynamic\u201d to the case before concluding it played no role in his decision. The Ruffin family's attorney said the released body camera footage was too blurry to actually confirm Ruffin pointed the gun at Davis. No one has ever been charged in Ruffin's death.", "known": [ "The patrol, the foot chase, and the shooting near Eau Claire High School, per Solicitor Byron Gipson's public presentation of body camera footage and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division's investigation.", "Davis chased Ruffin for approximately 30 seconds and 557 feet with his gun not drawn; Gipson said the footage showed Ruffin stop, crouch, and pull a .45-caliber pistol from a bag before Davis fired 10 shots, one striking Ruffin in the forehead.", "Solicitor Gipson stated at a lengthy public press conference in June 2020 that he acknowledged \u201ca racial dynamic\u201d to the case, since Ruffin was Black and Davis is white, but concluded after reviewing the evidence that race played no role in his charging decision.", "The Ruffin family's attorney, state Representative Todd Rutherford, reviewed the same body camera footage and said the video was too blurry to actually confirm Ruffin pointed the weapon at Davis, rather than simply holding it.", "The recovered handgun was later reported stolen; Gipson's office concluded Ruffin was likely in unlawful possession of it as a minor, though the bag he carried contained no other stolen items.", "The Racial Justice Network and other community organizations later called on the U.S. Department of Justice to reopen the case for an independent federal investigation; no subsequent public announcement of federal charges has been reported.", "Officer Davis remained on paid administrative leave pending a separate internal department review of whether he violated any Columbia Police Department policy." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Ruffin in fact pointed the recovered handgun at Davis, as the solicitor's office concluded from body camera footage, or whether he was simply holding it without aiming, as the family's attorney argued the blurry video left genuinely unclear, was never resolved by any criminal trial since none was brought.", "The outcome of Columbia Police Department's internal review of whether Davis's tactics or decision to pursue alone violated department policy has not been made comprehensively public.", "Whether the Department of Justice ever formally responded to or acted on the Racial Justice Network's request for a federal civil rights investigation has not been reported in available public sources." ], "unanswered": [ "Why does the body camera footage remain too blurry, by the family attorney's own account, to conclusively establish the central fact the entire justification for the shooting rests on?", "What became of Columbia Police Department's internal review of Officer Davis's tactical decisions during the pursuit?", "Did the U.S. Department of Justice ever respond to the Racial Justice Network's request for a federal civil rights investigation into Ruffin's death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Post and Courier \u2014 \u201cSC prosecutor declines to charge officer who fatally shot Columbia teen\u201d", "url": "https://www.postandcourier.com/news/sc-prosecutor-declines-to-charge-officer-who-fatally-shot-columbia-teen/article_60d1c3e0-b56e-11ea-bc79-3fafaeea42e1.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "WIS10 \u2014 \u201cCPD officer in Joshua Ruffin case will not face charges\u201d", "url": "https://www.wistv.com/2020/06/24/cpd-officer-joshua-ruffin-case-will-not-face-charges/", "verified": true }, { "name": "AP, via WLOS \u2014 \u201cProsecutor: SC officer who shot black teen was justified, no charges filed\u201d", "url": "https://wlos.com/news/local/officer-kevin-davis-josh-ruffin-shooting-black-teen-columbia-car-break-ins-south-carolina", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "jeremy-mcdole", "caseNumber": "215", "name": "Jeremy McDole", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2015, "age": 28, "gender": "male", "city": "Wilmington", "county": "New Castle", "state": "DE", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Jeremy \u201cBam Bam\u201d McDole, 28, a paraplegic who used a wheelchair, was shot and killed by four Wilmington, Delaware police officers on September 23, 2015, after a 911 caller falsely reported he had a gun and had shot himself; the caller later recanted the claim and was never penalized for it. Bystander cellphone video showed officers surrounding McDole in his wheelchair, repeatedly ordering him to drop a weapon and raise his hands, before Officer Joseph Dellose opened fire as McDole's hands moved near his waist; no gun was ever visible in any released footage, and evidence photos purporting to show the recovered weapon did not surface publicly until six years later. Delaware's Department of Justice cleared all four officers of criminal wrongdoing in 2016, while finding Dellose's conduct \u201cextraordinarily poor\u201d; a 2020 review reached the identical conclusion. No one has ever been charged in McDole's death.", "known": [ "The false 911 report, the confrontation, and the shooting, per Delaware Department of Justice investigative reports and bystander cellphone video that circulated publicly.", "The 911 caller who reported McDole had a gun and had shot himself later recanted that account; she was never charged or otherwise penalized for the false report that prompted the police response.", "Video showed officers ordering McDole, seated in his wheelchair, to drop a weapon and raise his hands; Officer Dellose fired as McDole's hands moved toward his waist area, though no firearm is visible in any footage from the scene.", "The Delaware Department of Justice's 2016 report concluded Officers Silva, Lynch, and MacColl were legally justified, while separately finding Dellose's decision to immediately confront McDole alone, rather than coordinate with officers already on scene, constituted \u201cextraordinarily poor\u201d police work; prosecutors nonetheless declined to charge him criminally.", "A subsequent independent review in 2020 by Delaware's Department of Justice reached the same conclusion, again declining to bring charges against any of the four officers.", "Evidence photographs purporting to document the handgun police said was recovered from the scene were not made publicly available until approximately six years after the shooting.", "The City of Wilmington settled a wrongful death lawsuit filed by McDole's family for $1.5 million." ], "unknown": [ "Whether McDole in fact possessed a weapon at the time he was shot, given no gun is visible in any released video and evidence photographs of the recovered firearm were withheld from public view for roughly six years, was disputed by his family and was never resolved by any criminal proceeding since none was brought.", "Why evidence photographs central to the department's own justification for the shooting were not released for six years has not been explained in available public reporting.", "Why the 911 caller whose false report initiated the fatal encounter faced no legal consequence has not been addressed in any official public accounting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did it take approximately six years for evidence photographs of the alleged weapon to become publicly available, given they were central to justifying the shooting from the outset?", "Why did the 911 caller who falsely reported McDole was armed and had shot himself face no legal consequence for that false report?", "Why did prosecutors conclude Officer Dellose's conduct was \u201cextraordinarily poor\u201d and yet still not criminally chargeable?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 \u201cKilling of Jeremy McDole\u201d (sourced case history)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Jeremy_McDole", "verified": true }, { "name": "6abc Philadelphia \u2014 \u201cNo charges for Wilmington cops in killing of man in wheelchair\u201d", "url": "https://6abc.com/wilmington-delaware-lawsuit-police-involved/1335446/", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News Philadelphia \u2014 \u201cOfficials Announce No Charges For Wilmington Officers Who Fatally Shot Man In Wheelchair\u201d", "url": "https://cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/officials-announce-no-charges-for-wilmington-officers-who-fatally-shot-man-in-wheelchair", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "trey-pringle", "caseNumber": "216", "name": "Trey Pringle", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2018, "age": 24, "gender": "male", "city": "Seabrook", "county": "Beaufort", "state": "SC", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Trey Pringle, 24, a man with a documented history of mental illness, died three days after Beaufort County, South Carolina sheriff's deputies Tased him multiple times during a welfare check at his family's home on February 17, 2018. His family called 911 specifically requesting medical assistance. The situation escalated inside the home; deputies said Pringle struck and kicked them before he was Tased repeatedly and restrained, and a firefighter assisting on scene, Brandon Corey Thomsen, was separately accused in a wrongful death lawsuit of placing Pringle in a chokehold. Pringle suffered cardiac arrest and was taken to Beaufort Memorial Hospital, where he died three days later. Medical examiners at the Medical University of South Carolina ruled the death a homicide. After an eight-month investigation, 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone announced in February 2019 that no criminal charges would be filed against anyone involved. No one has ever been charged in Pringle's death.", "known": [ "The welfare-check call, the struggle inside the home, and the Taser deployments, per dash camera footage and audio the Solicitor's office released publicly.", "Pringle's family called 911 specifically to have him evaluated for medical and mental health assistance.", "Deputies told their captain afterward that Pringle struck one of them in the face three times and kicked another in the face before he was Tased and restrained.", "A wrongful death lawsuit separately accused Beaufort firefighter Brandon Corey Thomsen, who was assisting deputies on scene, of placing Pringle in a chokehold before he went into cardiac arrest.", "Medical examiners at the Medical University of South Carolina ruled Pringle's manner of death a homicide on his death certificate.", "The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division conducted an eight-month investigation, including 30 interviews, roughly 33 hours of audio and dash camera footage, and approximately 500 photographs.", "14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone announced in February 2019 that no one involved would face criminal charges, stating Pringle's death was \u201ca tragedy, but not the result of a crime,\u201d and his office publicly released nearly two hours of the underlying video and audio evidence.", "In 2020, Thomsen was separately wanted on unrelated child sex crime charges; Beaufort community members publicly noted he had never faced any charge in connection with Pringle's death despite the chokehold allegation." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the chokehold a lawsuit specifically attributed to firefighter Thomsen, as opposed to the Taser deployments alone, caused or substantially contributed to Pringle's cardiac arrest and the homicide ruling on his death certificate was never independently tested at any criminal trial since none was brought.", "Why a death certified as homicide by medical examiners did not result in criminal charges against anyone present has not been fully reconciled in the Solicitor's public statements beyond his general finding of no criminal conduct.", "What specific crisis-intervention training, if any, the responding deputies and assisting firefighter had before encountering a call explicitly described in advance as a mental health welfare check has not been detailed in available public reporting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did a death officially ruled a homicide by medical examiners not result in criminal charges against any deputy or the firefighter accused of using a chokehold?", "Why was firefighter Brandon Corey Thomsen, accused specifically of a chokehold in a wrongful death lawsuit, never criminally charged in connection with Pringle's death?", "What specific crisis-intervention or mental-health-response training did the responding deputies have, and has Beaufort County changed that training since Pringle's death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "WTOC \u2014 \u201cDeputies not facing charges after man died following struggle with Beaufort County officers\u201d", "url": "https://www.wtoc.com/2019/02/15/deputies-not-facing-charges-after-man-died-following-struggle-with-beaufort-county-officers/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WSAV \u2014 \u201cDash camera video, audio sheds new light on Trey Pringle's death\u201d", "url": "https://www.wsav.com/crime-safety/dash-camera-video-audio-sheds-new-light-on-trey-pringles-death/", "verified": true }, { "name": "FITSNews \u2014 \u201cBeaufort Firefighter Accused Of Chokehold In Trey Pringle Death Wanted [for child sex crimes]\u201d", "url": "https://www.fitsnews.com/2020/12/04/sc-firefighter-accused-of-chokehold-in-mans-controversial-death-now-wanted-for-child-sex-crimes/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "deandre-brunston", "caseNumber": "217", "name": "Deandre Brunston", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2003, "age": 24, "gender": "male", "city": "Compton", "county": "Los Angeles", "state": "CA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Deandre \u201cTrey\u201d Brunston, 24, was shot 22 times and killed after Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies fired 81 rounds at him in a doorway in Compton on August 24, 2003, following a 30-minute standoff after his girlfriend called police over a domestic dispute. Brunston falsely claimed to be armed and wanted for murder in an apparent effort to avoid returning to prison on a probation violation; deputies released a K-9 unit toward him despite the on-scene K-9 handler having judged the situation \u201cnon-deployable\u201d and objecting to the order, which was given by a supervising lieutenant later found to have been drinking at a party when he issued it. Brunston dropped the object in his hand \u2014 a sandal, not a weapon \u2014 as the dog reached him, but deputies had already begun firing. No gun was ever found on or near him. No criminal charges were ever filed against any deputy. The wounded police dog was airlifted to a veterinary hospital while Brunston was left on the concrete steps.", "known": [ "The domestic dispute call, the standoff, and the shooting, per contemporaneous Los Angeles Times reporting and video of the incident that circulated publicly.", "Brunston falsely told deputies during negotiations that he was armed and wanted for murder; neither claim was true, and no weapon was ever recovered from the scene.", "The K-9 handler on scene, Sergeant Earnest Burwell, judged the situation \u201cnon-deployable\u201d and objected to releasing the dog; the order to deploy the K-9 was given by phone by Lieutenant Patrick Maxwell, who was reported to have been drinking at a party at the time.", "Ten Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies discharged a combined 81 rounds within roughly five seconds, striking Brunston 22 times; the police dog was also fatally struck by deputy gunfire.", "The wounded police dog received an emergency helicopter airlift to a veterinary hospital, where it later died, while Brunston remained on the concrete steps before receiving medical attention; he died of his injuries.", "No criminal charges were ever filed against any of the deputies involved.", "Brunston's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit; a Los Angeles judge allowed the negligence claims, including allegations of inadequate training and supervision, to proceed, and the family settled with Los Angeles County for $340,000 in 2006." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Brunston's dropping of the sandal in his hand, occurring as the dog reached him, came before or essentially simultaneous with deputies opening fire has been described differently across various accounts, and the precise sequence was never resolved by any criminal proceeding since none was brought.", "The full extent of Lieutenant Maxwell's documented prior use-of-force history, referenced in contemporaneous reporting as including at least two other in-custody deaths before this incident, has not been comprehensively detailed in a single public record reviewed for this summary.", "Why ten deputies collectively fired 81 rounds within roughly five seconds, rather than a more limited response, has not been addressed in any public disciplinary or criminal finding." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the K-9 deployment order come from a supervising lieutenant reported to have been drinking at a party, overriding the on-scene handler's own judgment that the situation was not appropriate for a dog release?", "Why did the wounded police dog receive an emergency helicopter airlift while Brunston, also critically wounded, did not receive comparably urgent medical attention at the scene?", "Why did ten deputies fire a combined 81 rounds in roughly five seconds at a man who, by the department's own account, never possessed an actual weapon?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 \u201cKilling of Deandre Brunston\u201d (sourced case history)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Deandre_Brunston", "verified": true }, { "name": "San Francisco Chronicle \u2014 \u201cLA judge allows negligence suit in case of man killed by deputies\u201d", "url": "https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/LA-judge-allows-negligence-suit-in-case-of-man-2521098.php", "verified": true }, { "name": "Fatal Encounters database \u2014 case record for Deondre \u201cTrey\u201d Brunston", "url": "https://fatalencounters.org/view/person-csv/csv/?pagenum=120&letter=i", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "omar-edwards", "caseNumber": "218", "name": "Omar Edwards", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2009, "age": 25, "gender": "male", "city": "New York", "county": "New York", "state": "NY", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Omar Edwards, 25, an off-duty NYPD officer, was shot and killed by a fellow officer, Sergeant Andrew Dunton, in East Harlem on May 28, 2009, moments after Edwards had chased a man who broke into his personal car. Edwards, in plainclothes with his badge not visible, ran toward Dunton's unmarked car with his own service weapon drawn while pursuing the suspect; Dunton, believing Edwards was a threat, fired six times, striking him in the arm, hip, and back. No witness reported hearing Edwards identify himself as a police officer before the shooting, and he never fired his own weapon. A Manhattan grand jury, after hearing from 20 witnesses and reviewing 68 documents, declined to indict Dunton in September 2009. Civil rights leaders questioned whether the outcome would have been different had the officers' races been reversed. No one has ever been criminally charged in Edwards's death.", "known": [ "The car break-in, the foot chase, and the shooting, per Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau's public account of the grand jury proceedings.", "Edwards, off duty and in plainclothes, chased a man who had smashed his car window; Dunton and other plainclothes officers on anti-crime patrol encountered the pursuit and ordered the men to halt.", "Witnesses said Edwards turned toward the officers with his service weapon in hand as Dunton fired six shots from behind his car door, striking Edwards in the left arm, hip, and back; the fatal wound entered from the side of his back before reaching his heart and lung.", "Edwards never fired his own weapon, and no witness reported hearing him identify himself as a police officer before he was shot.", "A Manhattan grand jury heard from 20 witnesses and examined 68 documents before declining to indict Dunton on any charge in September 2009.", "The Reverend Al Sharpton and other civil rights leaders publicly renewed calls for the New York governor to authorize a special prosecutor for police shooting cases in the wake of the decision.", "Dunton remained on administrative duty following the shooting pending a separate internal NYPD disciplinary review." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Edwards, an on-the-job trained officer himself, had any real opportunity to identify himself before Dunton fired, given the encounter unfolded in seconds on a dark street, was central to both the grand jury's review and the public debate that followed, and was never resolved by any criminal trial since none was brought.", "Whether the fact that Edwards was Black and Dunton is white affected the split-second assessment of threat, as Edwards's mother and civil rights leaders publicly suggested, was raised repeatedly in public commentary but not something the grand jury's process was designed to determine.", "The outcome of NYPD's own internal disciplinary review of Dunton's conduct, separate from the grand jury's declination, has not been made comprehensively public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the encounter between two on-duty-trained officers escalate to gunfire within seconds, with no verbal identification exchanged?", "Would the outcome have been different had the races of the two officers been reversed, as civil rights leaders publicly questioned at the time?", "What specific reforms, if any, did the NYPD implement regarding plainclothes and off-duty officer identification protocols following Edwards's death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cNo charges in NYC friendly fire police shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/wbna32406860", "verified": true }, { "name": "Fox News \u2014 \u201cNYPD Probes Killing of Black Cop by Fellow Officer\u201d", "url": "https://www.foxnews.com/story/nypd-probes-killing-of-black-cop-by-fellow-officer.amp", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Grio \u2014 \u201cWhite cop evades criminal charges in death of Omar Edwards\u201d", "url": "https://thegrio.com/2009/08/14/white-cop-evades-criminal-charges-in-murder-of-omar-edwards/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "moores-ford-lynchings", "caseNumber": "219", "name": "Roger Malcom, Dorothy Malcom, George Dorsey & Mae Murray Dorsey", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1946, "age": null, "gender": null, "city": "Monroe", "county": "Walton", "state": "GA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Roger Malcom, 24, his wife Dorothy Malcom, 20, and another sharecropper couple, World War II veteran George Dorsey, 28, and his wife Mae Murray Dorsey, 24, were shot and killed by a mob of 20 to 25 white men at Moore's Ford Bridge near Monroe, Georgia on July 25, 1946, in what became known as \u201cthe last mass lynching in America.\u201d Roger Malcom had stabbed a white farmer, Barnett Hester, in a dispute eleven days earlier and was released on bond that afternoon; their employer, Loy Harrison, was driving the two couples home when the car was stopped at the bridge by an armed mob who dragged all four out, tied them up, and shot them so many times the bodies were difficult to identify. The killings prompted President Harry Truman to push for federal civil rights legislation and create the President's Committee on Civil Rights, but a 1946 federal grand jury failed to indict anyone, concluding only that the four died \u201cat the hands of persons unknown.\u201d Despite renewed state and federal investigations in 2001 and 2008 that recovered Ku Klux Klan membership records and firearms from a suspect's property, the FBI and Georgia Bureau of Investigation formally closed the case on January 29, 2018 \u2014 72 years later \u2014 without ever charging anyone.", "known": [ "The stabbing dispute, the mob ambush at the bridge, and the shootings, per the FBI and Georgia Bureau of Investigation's released case file and Loy Harrison's own 1946 statements to investigators, as he was the only witness who ever spoke to authorities about what happened at the bridge.", "Harrison told investigators the mob's leader identified Roger Malcom and, mistaking another passenger for a different man they sought, ultimately took all four sharecroppers; when one of the women began identifying mob members by name, the leader ordered the women seized as well \u2014 \u201cthey know too much.\u201d", "A federal grand jury convened in Athens, Georgia in December 1946 heard testimony but failed to return any indictment, concluding the four had died \u201cat the hands of persons unknown\u201d after six months of investigation met with what one retired FBI agent described as total non-cooperation from the community.", "Georgia Governor Ellis Arnall initially offered a reward that grew to $30,000 and stated 15 to 20 mob members were known by name, but the reward was never paid and Arnall lost his re-election bid to a segregationist candidate who had campaigned in Walton County shortly before the killings.", "A 2008 search of a deceased Klan gunsmith's former property, prompted by a confidential informant's tip, recovered a Klan membership roster \u2014 including the local funeral home owner who had received the victims' bodies, listed as the chapter's \u201cExalted Cyclops\u201d \u2014 along with a pre-1931 shotgun investigators could not conclusively link to the killings.", "Georgia's governor formally reopened the case in 2001, and the FBI reviewed it again in the mid-2000s; investigators repeatedly identified as many as 20 possible suspects over the decades but found that most had died and the survivors would not give statements.", "The FBI and Georgia Bureau of Investigation officially and permanently closed the investigation on January 29, 2018, stating all known investigative leads had been exhausted, without ever charging or convicting anyone in the four deaths." ], "unknown": [ "The full membership of the mob that carried out the killings has never been conclusively established; investigators identified as many as 20 possible suspects across seven decades of investigation but were never able to build a prosecutable case against any of them before they died or the case was closed.", "Whether the Ku Klux Klan roster and firearm recovered from a suspect's property in 2008 were directly connected to the killings, as a tip to investigators alleged, was never conclusively established; the recovered shotgun could not be forensically linked to the shootings.", "Long-presumed-lost transcripts from the 1946 federal grand jury were located decades later in the National Archives and their release was litigated in federal court; what they reveal about why the grand jury failed to indict anyone despite named suspects has been the subject of historical research but was not fully resolved in the case file's public release." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did a federal grand jury, told 15 to 20 mob members were known by name, fail to indict anyone in 1946?", "What specifically motivated the 2018 decision to permanently close the case rather than continue pursuing the handful of leads still theoretically available, given new forensic techniques existed that hadn't existed in earlier decades?", "What do the located 1946 federal grand jury transcripts, once presumed lost and later found in the National Archives, ultimately reveal about the grand jury's reasoning?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Southern Poverty Law Center \u2014 \u201cAnswers to last mass lynching in U.S. die when investigators close case after 72 years\u201d", "url": "https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/answers-last-mass-lynching-us-die-when-investigators-close-case-after-72-years/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 \u201cMoore's Ford lynchings\u201d (sourced case history)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_Ford_lynchings", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cFBI reviewing 1946 Georgia lynching case\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna12306053", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "winston-smith-jr", "caseNumber": "220", "name": "Winston Boogie Smith Jr.", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2021, "age": 32, "gender": "male", "city": "Minneapolis", "county": "Hennepin", "state": "MN", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Winston \u201cBoogie\u201d Smith Jr., 32, a father of three and local comedian, was shot and killed by members of a U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force in an Uptown Minneapolis parking ramp on June 3, 2021, while sitting in an SUV with a woman he had been on a lunch date with. Task force members had watched the couple for over an hour before boxing in Smith's vehicle and announcing an arrest on an outstanding firearms warrant; officials said he refused to comply and produced a handgun, and task force members fired. No body camera, dashcam, or surveillance footage of the shooting exists \u2014 the Marshals Service had not yet implemented a body camera policy change in Minnesota specifically, despite the change taking effect elsewhere months earlier. His companion's attorneys said she never saw Smith holding a gun, and investigators never took gunshot residue samples from his hands because his body had already been washed by the medical examiner. Crow Wing County Attorney Donald Ryan declined to charge any task force member in October 2021. No one has ever been charged in Smith's death.", "known": [ "The hour-long surveillance, the vehicle stop, and the shooting, per Crow Wing County Attorney Donald Ryan's public findings and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's investigation.", "No body camera, dashcam, or surveillance video of the shooting itself exists; officers assigned to the task force had body cameras but were told by the U.S. Marshals Service not to use them, even after an October 2020 Department of Justice policy change permitting local task force members to wear them during arrest operations \u2014 a policy that did not take effect in Minnesota until the day after Smith's death.", "Attorney Ryan's letter stated task force members watched Smith and his companion, Norhan Askar, share a rooftop lunch date and walk to his vehicle before officers boxed the car in with their own and announced an arrest.", "Askar's attorneys said she never saw Smith holding a weapon, and that officers never identified themselves as law enforcement before surrounding the car; they said this contributed to the confusion of the encounter.", "Investigators did not collect gunshot residue samples from Smith's hands because the medical examiner had already washed his body before the request was made, according to Askar's attorneys, who said such evidence could have helped establish what actually happened.", "A firearm was recovered from underneath the seat of the vehicle Smith arrived in, not immediately on his person; he was prohibited from possessing a gun due to a prior felony conviction.", "Crow Wing County Attorney Donald Ryan, brought in because Twin Cities-area prosecutors had conflicts of interest, announced in October 2021 that task force members were legally justified and would not be charged, a decision the Hennepin County Attorney's Office publicly announced on his behalf.", "The names of the task force members who fired have never been publicly released." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Smith actually drew and fired a weapon, as officials maintained, or whether the official account itself shifted over the investigation's early days \u2014 from an initial claim he \u201cfired first\u201d to a later, more limited claim he \u201cpulled out a gun\u201d \u2014 was never resolved by any independent evidence, since no video exists and gunshot residue was never tested.", "Why officers were instructed not to use body cameras in Minnesota specifically, when the policy permitting their use elsewhere had already changed months earlier, has not been fully explained beyond acknowledgment of the delay.", "The identities of the task force members who fired the fatal shots have never been publicly disclosed." ], "unanswered": [ "Why were task force members in Minnesota specifically still barred from using body cameras months after a federal policy change permitted it elsewhere?", "Why did investigators never collect gunshot residue evidence that could have independently confirmed or contradicted whether Smith fired a weapon?", "Why have the identities of the task force members involved in the shooting never been publicly released?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NPR \u2014 \u201cNo charges will be filed against officers who fatally shot Winston Smith in Minn.\u201d", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2021/10/11/1045084433/no-charges-will-be-filed-against-officers-who-fatally-shot-winston-smith-in-minn", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cOfficers didn't identify themselves in fatal Minneapolis shooting of Winston Boogie Smith, attorney says\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/officers-didn-t-id-selves-fatal-minneapolis-shooting-winston-boogie-n1273011", "verified": true }, { "name": "Star Tribune \u2014 \u201cAttorney for Winston Smith's family calls for independent investigation\u201d", "url": "https://www.startribune.com/attorney-for-winston-smith-s-family-calls-for-independent-investigation/600107002", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "frederick-cox-jr", "caseNumber": "221", "name": "Frederick Cox Jr.", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 18, "gender": "male", "city": "High Point", "county": "Davidson", "state": "NC", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-08", "summary": "Frederick Rodriquez Smith Cox Jr., 18, was shot and killed by a plainclothes Davidson County, North Carolina sheriff's detective outside a funeral at Living Water Baptist Church in High Point on November 8, 2020, after gunfire broke out in the parking lot as mourners were leaving. Witnesses said Cox was helping people get to safety when Detective Michael Shane Hill, who was attending the funeral of a separate homicide victim he had been investigating, shot him multiple times. Hill said he saw Cox holding a handgun, and a gun was found near his body afterward, but Cox's autopsy found no gunshot residue on his hands, meaning he had not fired a weapon. The state medical examiner ruled his death a homicide. A Guilford County grand jury declined to indict Hill in June 2021, seven months after the shooting. No one has ever been charged in Cox's death.", "known": [ "The funeral, the outbreak of gunfire in the parking lot, and the shooting, per the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation's report and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner's autopsy findings.", "Detective Hill was attending the funeral of Jonas Tramone Thompson Jr., a homicide victim he was actively investigating, at the request of Thompson's family, when gunfire broke out among other funeral attendees in the parking lot.", "Hill reported seeing Cox holding a handgun at the moment he fired, and a gun was found near Cox's body after the shooting; multiple witnesses told reporters they never saw Cox with a firearm and disputed the account.", "Cox's autopsy, performed November 10, 2020 and released the following March, found he was shot four times \u2014 in the neck, shoulder, back, and thigh \u2014 with no gunshot residue present on either hand, indicating he had not fired a weapon.", "The state medical examiner classified the manner of death as homicide, with cause of death listed as multiple gunshot wounds.", "A Guilford County grand jury reviewed two possible charges, voluntary manslaughter and felony assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, and declined to indict Hill on either on June 1, 2021, finding insufficient evidence to support criminal charges.", "High Point police separately released information describing Cox as having gang affiliations; his mother and friends publicly disputed that characterization, saying he had posted repeatedly on social media against gang violence.", "Cox's family filed a federal lawsuit against the Davidson County Sheriff's Office and Detective Hill, which settled for $4 million in early 2025, more than four years after his death." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Cox was in fact holding a firearm at the moment Hill fired, as Hill's account maintained, or whether the gun recovered near his body ended up there through some other means, given the absence of gun residue on his hands directly contradicted the justification for the shooting, was never resolved by any criminal trial since the grand jury declined to indict.", "Why witnesses' accounts describing Cox helping others to safety, rather than participating in the gunfire, differed so sharply from the detective's account has not been reconciled in any public record.", "The specific reasoning behind the grand jury's insufficient-evidence finding, given the autopsy's own physical findings, has not been made public, as grand jury proceedings are sealed under North Carolina law." ], "unanswered": [ "How could a grand jury find insufficient evidence for criminal charges when the victim's own autopsy directly contradicted the central justification given for the shooting \u2014 that he had been holding and possibly firing a gun?", "Why did it take four years and a $4 million settlement before any accountability was reached in this case, given the detective was never criminally charged?", "Why did High Point police publicize unverified gang-affiliation claims about Cox after his death, and did that framing affect how his case was reviewed?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "WFMY News 2 \u2014 \u201cGrand Jury: No charges for Davidson County detective who SBI says shot 18-year-old Fred Cox at a funeral\u201d", "url": "https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/local/grand-jury-no-charges-for-davidson-county-detective-who-sbi-says-shot-18-year-old-fred-cox-at-a-funeral/83-c02619ad-f324-46c2-9f61-5aa24d8a0f7a", "verified": true }, { "name": "FOX8 WGHP \u2014 \u201cNo indictment for Davidson County deputy after 18-year-old Frederick Cox Jr. shot, killed at funeral in High Point; family will file civil suit\u201d", "url": "https://myfox8.com/news/grand-jury-will-not-indict-high-point/", "verified": true }, { "name": "FOX8 WGHP \u2014 \u201cFamily speaks after settlement in lawsuit against Davidson County Sheriff's Office on behalf of Fred Cox Jr.\u201d", "url": "https://myfox8.com/news/north-carolina/piedmont-triad/family-speaks-after-settlement-in-lawsuit-against-davidson-county-sheriffs-office-on-behalf-of-fred-cox-jr/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "najee-seabrooks", "caseNumber": "222", "name": "Najee Seabrooks", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2023, "age": 31, "gender": "male", "city": "Paterson", "county": "Passaic", "state": "NJ", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-15", "summary": "Najee Seabrooks, 31, a violence-intervention specialist with the Paterson Healing Collective, was shot and killed by two Paterson, New Jersey police officers on March 3, 2023, at the end of a roughly five-hour standoff after he called 911 himself during a mental health crisis, saying people were trying to hurt him. He barricaded himself in a bathroom with knives; officers fired 15 non-lethal rounds without effect as he cut himself and set a fire, before he emerged and, according to the Attorney General's office, lunged at officers with a knife. Of roughly 220 minutes of body camera footage from seven officers later released, the knife was clearly visible in only one recording; most captured the shooting itself without a clear view of a weapon in his hand. A state grand jury declined to indict either officer in March 2025, two years after the shooting. No one has ever been charged in Seabrooks's death.", "known": [ "The 911 call, the roughly five-hour standoff, and the shooting, per 220 minutes of body camera footage and seven 911 recordings the New Jersey Attorney General's office released publicly.", "Seabrooks's own family told responding officers he was hallucinating and behaving erratically, possibly from a bad reaction to something he had smoked, and was completely out of character.", "Officers deployed 15 non-lethal rounds during the standoff without stopping him; Seabrooks told police he had two knives and a gun, cut himself with the knives, and at one point poured alcohol on a fire he had started.", "The Attorney General's office identified the two officers who fired, Anzore Tsay and Jose Hernandez, both assigned to the department's Emergency Response Team; three additional officers used less-lethal force during the encounter.", "Of the released body camera recordings, only one clearly showed a knife in Seabrooks's hand; the footage capturing the shooting itself did not clearly show a weapon.", "Family members and Seabrooks's fellow crisis-intervention workers publicly questioned why officers equipped with riot gear and a shield, and trained in de-escalation, did not use Mace, flash-bang devices, or a Taser before resorting to gunfire.", "A state grand jury declined to indict either officer on March 18, 2025, two years after the shooting; New Jersey law requires all officer-involved deaths to go before a grand jury.", "The shooting prompted the New Jersey Attorney General's office to take the rare step of assuming direct oversight of the Paterson Police Department, citing a \u201ccrisis of confidence,\u201d and to expand statewide programs for police response to mental health crises; Seabrooks's family separately filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city days before the grand jury's decision was announced." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Seabrooks was in fact holding a visible knife at the exact moment officers opened fire, given only one of seven officers' body cameras clearly captured a knife at any point and the recordings of the shooting itself did not clearly show one, was central to the family's dispute of the official account and was never resolved by any criminal trial since the grand jury declined to indict.", "Why officers equipped with a shield and riot gear, during an encounter already lasting nearly five hours, did not attempt Mace, flash-bang devices, or a Taser as a next step before gunfire has not been fully addressed beyond the Attorney General's finding that the shooting was justified.", "The full reasoning behind the grand jury's decision, beyond the Attorney General's public statement, has not been made available, as grand jury proceedings are sealed under New Jersey law." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did it take two full years for the grand jury to reach a decision in a case with 220 minutes of body camera footage already in hand?", "Why does the footage capturing the actual shooting not clearly show a knife, when officials maintain Seabrooks was holding one at that moment?", "What specific outcomes has the state's rare takeover of the Paterson Police Department produced in the years since, and has it changed how mental health crisis calls are handled?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "New Jersey Monitor \u2014 \u201cGrand jury declines to charge cops in death of Paterson activist Najee Seabrooks\u201d", "url": "https://newjerseymonitor.com/2025/03/18/grand-jury-declines-to-charge-cops-in-death-of-paterson-activist-najee-seabrooks/", "verified": true }, { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cNew Jersey Attorney General's Office takes control of Paterson Police Department, citing \u2018crisis of confidence\u2019\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/28/us/new-jersey-paterson-police-attorney-general-control/index.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "AP, via Yahoo News \u2014 \u201cPaterson police body-camera video from Najee Seabrooks shooting released by NJ AG's office\u201d", "url": "https://news.yahoo.com/paterson-police-body-camera-video-211436302.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "daquain-johnson", "caseNumber": "223", "name": "Da'Quain Johnson", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2026, "age": 32, "gender": "male", "city": "Grand Rapids", "county": "Kent", "state": "MI", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-15", "summary": "Da'Quain Johnson, 32, a father of three daughters, was shot three times and killed by a Grand Rapids, Michigan Police Department K-9 officer on February 18, 2026, in an apartment complex parking lot after being chased on his bicycle and attacked by a police dog. Officers said they believed Johnson, who was on parole for a prior weapons conviction, was armed, and that he pointed a gun at an officer during the struggle after falling from his bike; a handgun was recovered near his body. A video released by Johnson's family appeared to show him lying face-down, pinned by an officer and still being bitten by the K-9, in the moments before he was shot. Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker announced on April 2, 2026 that neither officer would be charged, holding the news conference at a Michigan State Police facility roughly seven miles from his own downtown office rather than there. No one has ever been charged in Johnson's death.", "known": [ "The bicycle pursuit, the K-9 deployment, and the shooting, per Grand Rapids Police Department body-worn camera, dashcam, and witness video, released publicly within days of the shooting.", "Officers pursued Johnson on his bicycle believing he was armed; a K-9 unit was deployed and attacked him after he fell in an apartment complex parking lot.", "A witness video released by Johnson's family appeared to show him on his stomach, restrained by an officer with the police dog still biting him, in the seconds before the fatal shots.", "Police said Johnson had a 9mm pistol loaded with eight rounds, recovered on the ground near his body, and that an officer reported seeing its barrel pointed at him during the struggle.", "Johnson was on parole at the time for a prior weapons violation, which police said may have factored into why he fled.", "The Michigan State Police investigated independently and turned its findings, which were not made public, over to the Kent County Prosecutor's Office.", "Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker announced on April 2, 2026 that the officers would not be charged, stating he could not disprove self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt; he held the announcement at a Michigan State Police facility rather than his own downtown office, which local reporting said some residents believed was intended to insulate him from public backlash.", "The shooting drew renewed local and national attention to the Grand Rapids Police Department's record on fatal police shootings, coming less than four years after the high-profile killing of Patrick Lyoya by a different GRPD officer, whose own prosecution ended in a mistrial the city chose not to retry." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Johnson in fact pointed a gun at the officer during the struggle, as police maintained, or whether he remained restrained and non-threatening at the moment he was shot, as the family's own released video appeared to show, was never independently tested at any criminal trial since none was brought.", "The specific findings of the Michigan State Police's investigative report, beyond the prosecutor's public summary, have not been made available to the public.", "The identity of the K-9 officer who fired the fatal shots had not been publicly released as of the available reporting reviewed for this summary." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the prosecutor choose to announce his charging decision from a state police facility miles from his own office rather than downtown, and what did that choice reflect about anticipated public reaction?", "Why does family-released video appear to show Johnson restrained and non-threatening in the moments before the shooting, when the official justification rests on him pointing a weapon at that same moment?", "Given Grand Rapids' recent history with the Patrick Lyoya case, what specific departmental changes, if any, were made to K-9 deployment or foot-pursuit policy following Johnson's death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 \u201cKilling of Da'Quain Johnson\u201d (sourced case history)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Da%27Quain_Johnson", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Trace \u2014 \u201cNo Charges After Grand Rapids Police Killed Da'Quain Johnson\u201d", "url": "https://www.thetrace.org/2026/04/grand-rapids-daquain-johnson-shooting/", "verified": true }, { "name": "FOX 17 West Michigan (WXMI) \u2014 \u201cNo charges for GRPD officers in shooting death of Da'Quain Johnson\u201d", "url": "https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/grand-rapids/no-charges-for-grpd-officers-in-shooting-death-of-daquain-johnson", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "jalen-randle", "caseNumber": "224", "name": "Jalen Randle", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2022, "age": 29, "gender": "male", "city": "Houston", "county": "Harris", "state": "TX", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-15", "summary": "Jalen Randle, 29, was shot in the neck and killed by Houston Police Officer Shane Privette on April 27, 2022, roughly two seconds after stepping out of a car at the end of a short chase in the Pleasantville neighborhood. Officers had been trying to serve Randle with a warrant on three felony charges. Body camera video showed Privette order Randle to show his hands and open fire before finishing the sentence, then curse after the shot; Randle dropped a bag that was later found to contain a gun. Harris County presented the case to a grand jury twice \u2014 the first took no action at all in April 2023, and a second panel declined to indict Privette in October 2023, 18 months after the shooting. Privette was later returned to active duty in the department's narcotics division. No one has ever been charged in Randle's death.", "known": [ "The attempted warrant service, the short vehicle pursuit, and the shooting, per Houston Police Department body camera footage released publicly and Harris County District Attorney's Office statements.", "Body camera video showed Privette telling Randle to show his hands and firing a single shot before finishing the command, striking Randle in the neck roughly two seconds after he exited the vehicle; Privette can be heard uttering a curse word immediately after firing.", "Randle dropped a bag as he was shot; a handgun was later found inside it, though family members and their attorney disputed that this justified the shooting given the video's timing.", "The driver of the vehicle, E.J. Robertson, was separately charged only with a misdemeanor for fleeing police; that charge was ultimately dismissed.", "A first Harris County grand jury considered the case in April 2023 and took no action either way, an unusual outcome that required the case be presented again to a new panel.", "A second grand jury declined to indict Privette on October 18, 2023, roughly 18 months after the shooting; the Harris County District Attorney's Office said it followed its standard policy of presenting all officer-involved shootings to a grand jury.", "Privette was placed on administrative leave following the shooting but was later reassigned to the department's narcotics division; Randle's family said they learned he had returned to duty only through media reports, not from the department.", "Civil rights attorney Ben Crump represented Randle's family, who pursued a separate civil lawsuit against the city and publicly called for Privette's firing and federal charges." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Randle's motion reaching back into the bag, in the roughly two seconds between exiting the vehicle and being shot, constituted a threat justifying deadly force, or whether the shooting preceded any clear display of the weapon, was disputed by the family based on the same body camera footage and was never resolved by any criminal trial since the grand jury declined to indict.", "Why the first grand jury took no action at all, rather than either indicting or clearing Privette, has not been explained beyond the district attorney's office's procedural statement that the case would be presented again.", "The specific reasoning behind the second grand jury's decision not to indict has not been made public, as grand jury proceedings are sealed under Texas law." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did a Houston police officer open fire within roughly two seconds of a man exiting a vehicle, before finishing his own command to show hands?", "Why did it take two separate grand juries and 18 months to reach a final decision in a case with body camera video available from the outset?", "Why was Officer Privette returned to active duty in the narcotics division without the Randle family being formally notified by the department?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Houston Public Media \u2014 \u201cGrand jury declines charges on Houston police officer involved in shooting, killing Black man\u201d", "url": "https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/criminal-justice/2023/10/19/467109/grand-jury-declines-charges-on-houston-police-officer-involved-in-shooting-killing-black-man/", "verified": true }, { "name": "KHOU 11 \u2014 \u201cHarris County grand jury declines charges against HPD officer who shot, killed man during arrest attempt\u201d", "url": "https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/jalen-randle-shane-privette-grand-jury-no-bill/285-e2761fdd-8cfb-4d3d-bad4-b870a7357cc1", "verified": true }, { "name": "ABC13 Houston \u2014 \u201cHPD Officer Shane Privette faces grand jury for 2nd time after being accused of fatally shooting Jalen Randle during chase in 2022\u201d", "url": "https://abc13.com/jalen-randle-killed-harris-county-court-system-officer-shane-privette-shoots-man/13925264/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "luke-stewart", "caseNumber": "225", "name": "Luke Stewart", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2017, "age": 23, "gender": "male", "city": "Euclid", "county": "Cuyahoga", "state": "OH", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-15", "summary": "Luke Stewart, 23, was shot and killed by Euclid, Ohio Police Officer Matthew Rhodes in the early morning hours of March 13, 2017, after officers found him asleep in a parked car reported as suspicious. Neither Rhodes nor his partner, Officer Louis Catalani, identified themselves as police before approaching the vehicle, both later testified; when Stewart woke and started driving away, Rhodes climbed partway into the moving car, deployed a Taser and struck Stewart repeatedly, then shot him as the car struck the patrol vehicle. Stewart was unarmed. A grand jury declined to indict Rhodes later that year. Neither officer wore a body camera. A federal judge dismissed the family's civil rights lawsuit, a decision upheld on appeal and left standing when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case in 2021 \u2014 yet a Cuyahoga County jury, hearing a separate state wrongful-death claim in November 2022, awarded Stewart's family $4.4 million, finding Rhodes had acted recklessly. No one has ever been criminally charged in Stewart's death.", "known": [ "The suspicious-vehicle report, the officers' approach, and the shooting, per the Ohio Attorney General's investigative summary and testimony from both the criminal grand jury process and later civil trials.", "Officer Rhodes positioned his patrol car in front of Stewart's, telling investigators \u201cwe normally have one vehicle behind and one in front in case they pull forward\u201d; both Rhodes and Catalani later testified under oath that neither had identified himself as a police officer before approaching.", "When Stewart woke and started the car, Catalani tried to pull him from the driver's side while Rhodes pushed from the passenger side; Rhodes then entered the vehicle, deployed a Taser six times with little effect, and struck Stewart several times before Stewart's car, still trying to pull away, struck the patrol vehicle and Rhodes fired the fatal shot.", "Toxicology found Stewart's blood alcohol content at 0.250 \u2014 more than three times the legal driving limit \u2014 along with cocaine and oxycodone; no weapon was found in the car.", "A grand jury declined to indict Rhodes later in 2017; neither he nor Catalani was wearing a body camera during the encounter.", "A federal judge dismissed the family's civil rights lawsuit against Rhodes and the city, ruling no clearly established law barred the officer's conduct; the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case in May 2021, leaving the dismissal in place.", "A separate state wrongful-death lawsuit went to trial in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas; in November 2022, a jury found Rhodes acted recklessly and awarded Stewart's family $3.9 million for loss of companionship and $500,000 for his pain and suffering, though it declined to award punitive damages." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Rhodes's decision to climb into a moving vehicle rather than release it, which the family's police-practices expert testified was \u201ca total disregard of training and protocol,\u201d was the proximate cause of the shooting was contested throughout both civil proceedings and was never tested in any criminal trial since the grand jury declined to indict.", "Why the federal appellate courts found no clearly established law violated by Rhodes's conduct, while a state civil jury five years later found that same conduct reckless, has not been reconciled in any single public record.", "The full reasoning behind the grand jury's 2017 decision not to indict has not been made public, as grand jury proceedings are sealed under Ohio law." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did neither officer identify himself as police before approaching a man asleep in a parked car, and would doing so have changed what followed?", "How can the same underlying conduct be found to violate no clearly established federal right, yet be found reckless enough to justify a $4.4 million verdict in state court?", "Why did neither officer wear a body camera in 2017, and had that changed within the department by the time of the later civil trial?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "News 5 Cleveland (WEWS) \u2014 \u201cEuclid officer not charged in deadly shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/oh-cuyahoga/euclid-officer-who-shot-luke-stewart-an-unarmed-driver-will-not-be-charged", "verified": true }, { "name": "News 5 Cleveland (WEWS) \u2014 \u201cFamily of man killed by Euclid police officer awarded $4.4 million following civil lawsuit\u201d", "url": "https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/investigations/family-of-man-killed-by-euclid-police-officer-awarded-3-9-million-following-civil-lawsuit", "verified": true }, { "name": "ACLU of Ohio \u2014 \u201cJudge's Dismissal of Wrongful Death Lawsuit Perpetuates Police Violence Against People of Color\u201d", "url": "https://www.acluohio.org/press-releases/judges-dismissal-wrongful-death-lawsuit-perpetuates-police-violence-against-people/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "ricky-cobb-ii", "caseNumber": "226", "name": "Ricky Cobb II", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2023, "age": 33, "gender": "male", "city": "Minneapolis", "county": "Hennepin", "state": "MN", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-15", "summary": "Ricky Cobb II, 33, was shot twice and killed by Minnesota State Trooper Ryan Londregan on Interstate 94 in Minneapolis on July 31, 2023, during a traffic stop for a taillight violation. Troopers learned Cobb was wanted in a separate county for violating a domestic no-contact order and ordered him out of the car; when he refused and began driving away while a trooper was partly inside attempting to unbuckle his seatbelt, Londregan fired twice into his torso. Londregan was charged in January 2024 with second-degree murder, first-degree assault, and manslaughter, becoming a rare instance of a Minnesota trooper facing criminal charges. Five months later, the Hennepin County Attorney dropped every charge before trial, citing new evidence that Londregan would testify Cobb reached for his firearm and that state training did not, contrary to best practice, instruct troopers against shooting into a moving vehicle. A federal judge separately dismissed the family's civil lawsuit. No one has ever been convicted in Cobb's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop, the discovery of the outstanding no-contact order violation, and the shooting, per Minnesota State Patrol body and dash camera video released publicly and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty's charging and dismissal statements.", "The Hennepin County Medical Examiner ruled Cobb's death a homicide caused by multiple gunshot wounds.", "Londregan was charged in January 2024 with second-degree unintentional murder, first-degree assault, and second-degree manslaughter, and pleaded not guilty; a trial was scheduled for September 2024.", "In June 2024, five months after charging him and roughly three months before trial, County Attorney Moriarty filed a notice dismissing all charges, citing two pieces of evidence disclosed late in proceedings: that Londregan would testify he saw Cobb reach for his firearm, and that a state patrol trainer testified he had never instructed troopers to avoid shooting into a moving vehicle during an extraction, despite that being described as best practice.", "Moriarty said her office concluded a judge would likely have granted a defense motion for acquittal had the case gone to trial, and stated publicly, \u201cRicky Cobb should be alive today,\u201d while explaining the dismissal.", "Londregan returned to active duty in the Minnesota State Patrol's West Metro District following the dismissal, required to complete additional training.", "A federal judge dismissed the Cobb family's separate civil rights lawsuit against Londregan in October 2024, ruling he acted reasonably when he fired as the vehicle moved forward with a fellow trooper partly inside it." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Cobb in fact reached for Londregan's firearm, as the trooper's prospective testimony maintained, was the central disputed fact underlying both the dismissed criminal case and the dismissed civil suit, and was never independently tested at any trial since neither proceeded to one.", "Why evidence central to the prosecution's decision to dismiss \u2014 including a trainer's testimony about department practice \u2014 surfaced only months into the case rather than before charges were filed has not been fully explained beyond the county attorney's general statement of frustration with the timing.", "The specific findings of the Minnesota State Patrol's internal critical incident review of Londregan's conduct have not been made comprehensively public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did prosecutors file serious felony charges in January 2024 only to conclude by June that conviction was no longer provable, and what changed in the interim?", "Why did the state patrol trainer's testimony that troopers were never instructed against shooting into moving vehicles come to light only after charges were already filed?", "What specific additional training was Trooper Londregan required to complete before returning to active duty, and who determined its scope?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 \u201cKilling of Ricky Cobb II\u201d (sourced case history)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Ricky_Cobb_II", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News Minnesota \u2014 \u201cMurder charges dropped against Minnesota state trooper Ryan Londregan in killing of Ricky Cobb II\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/murder-charges-dropped-against-minnesota-state-trooper-ryan-londregan-in-killing-of-ricky-cobb-ii/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Star Tribune \u2014 \u201cJudge dismisses lawsuit by family of Ricky Cobb II against Minnesota state trooper Londregan over fatal shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.startribune.com/ricky-cobb-ryan-londregan-lawsuit-dismissal/601172209", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "shipp-and-smith", "caseNumber": "227", "name": "Thomas Shipp & Abram Smith", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1930, "age": null, "gender": "male", "city": "Marion", "county": "Grant County", "state": "IN", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-15", "summary": "Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith were lynched by a mob of thousands in the town square of Marion, Indiana, on the night of August 7, 1930, after being arrested the previous evening in connection with the death of a white factory worker, Claude Deeter, and an alleged assault on his companion, Mary Ball. The mob broke into the county jail with sledgehammers and crowbars, dragged both men from their cells, beat them, and hanged them from a tree as thousands of local residents, including women and children, looked on and posed for photographs. A third young man held in connection with the same incident, 16-year-old James Cameron, had a noose already around his neck when the mob inexplicably released him. Local photographer Lawrence Beitler's image of the hanging became the most widely reproduced lynching photograph in American history and directly inspired the poem and song \u201cStrange Fruit,\u201d later made famous by Billie Holiday. No one was ever charged in connection with the lynching of Shipp or Smith.", "known": [ "The arrest, the jail break-in, and the double lynching, per contemporaneous news accounts, the Beitler photograph, and later historical research including Indiana University historian James Madison's book \u201cA Lynching in the Heartland.\u201d", "A mob estimated in the thousands overwhelmed local police and used sledgehammers and crowbars to break into the Grant County jail, then dragged Shipp and Smith out, beat them, and hanged them from a tree in the courthouse square. Marion's police chief had earlier hung Deeter's bloodied shirt out a police station window, which local histories describe as having helped inflame the crowd that gathered outside the jail that afternoon.", "A third teenager arrested in connection with the same case, James Cameron, was pulled toward the same tree with a noose already around his neck; witnesses said an unidentified voice from the crowd called out that he was innocent, and the mob inexplicably released him back to custody.", "Cameron was later convicted as an accessory to the murder of Claude Deeter and served four years in prison; historian James Madison has stated that who actually killed Deeter \u2014 as opposed to who was present \u2014 was disputed and, in his assessment, likely unknowable from the surviving record.", "Photographer Lawrence Beitler's image of the hanging, showing the two bodies suspended above a crowd of onlookers, was reproduced and sold as postcards nationwide and directly inspired Abel Meeropol's poem and later song \u201cStrange Fruit,\u201d recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939.", "No one was ever arrested, charged, or prosecuted for the lynching of Shipp or Smith themselves.", "James Cameron was formally pardoned by Indiana Governor Evan Bayh in 1993, more than six decades after his conviction; he went on to found three NAACP chapters, serve as Indiana's State Director of the Office of Civil Liberties, and establish America's Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee before his death in 2006." ], "unknown": [ "The identities of the mob's organizers and participants, despite being photographed in large numbers at the scene, have never been officially established or prosecuted.", "Who was actually responsible for Claude Deeter's death \u2014 as distinct from who was merely present at the scene \u2014 was never conclusively established, according to historian James Madison's assessment of the surviving record.", "Why local law enforcement was unable or unwilling to prevent a mob of thousands from breaking into the jail has not been documented in any surviving official accounting held accountable at the time." ], "unanswered": [ "Why has no official investigation ever identified or prosecuted any participant in the lynching, despite the mob being photographed in detail and numbering in the thousands?", "What specifically caused the mob to release James Cameron after already placing a noose around his neck, and who was the voice from the crowd that intervened?", "What became of Grant County or Indiana state law enforcement's own internal accounting of its failure to protect the men in its custody?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NPR \u2014 \u201cStrange Fruit: Anniversary Of A Lynching\u201d", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2010/08/06/129025516/strange-fruit-anniversary-of-a-lynching", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Indiana History Blog (Indiana Historical Bureau) \u2014 \u201cFrom Strange Fruit to Seeds of Change?: The Aftermath of the Marion Lynching\u201d", "url": "https://blog.history.in.gov/from-strange-fruit-to-seeds-of-change-the-aftermath-of-the-marion-lynching/", "verified": true }, { "name": "America's Black Holocaust Museum \u2014 \u201cAn Iconic Lynching in the North\u201d", "url": "https://www.abhmuseum.org/an-iconic-lynching-in-the-north/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "david-jones", "caseNumber": "228", "name": "David Jones", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2017, "age": 30, "gender": "male", "city": "Philadelphia", "county": "Philadelphia", "state": "PA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-15", "summary": "David Jones, 30, was shot twice in the back and killed by Philadelphia Police Officer Ryan Pownall on June 8, 2017, after being pulled over for riding a dirt bike illegally on a city street. Officers said Pownall found a gun on Jones during a pat-down and struggled with him over the weapon before it fell and Jones fled on foot; Pownall then fired multiple shots, striking Jones twice in the back. He was the first Philadelphia officer in roughly two decades to be charged with murder for an on-duty shooting. After more than five years of pretrial proceedings, including an appeal that reached the Pennsylvania Supreme Court over how juries should be instructed on police use-of-force law, a Philadelphia judge dismissed all charges against Pownall in October 2022, ruling prosecutors had improperly instructed the grand jury that indicted him. Pownall was reinstated to the police department with full back pay and seniority in 2024. No one has ever been convicted in Jones's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop, the struggle over the recovered handgun, and the shooting, per the grand jury presentment and Philadelphia Police Department statements, since the case never reached a trial that established facts through testimony.", "Pownall struck Jones during a struggle after finding a gun on him in a pat-down; Jones dropped the weapon and fled on foot, and Pownall fired at him, striking him twice in the back.", "A Philadelphia grand jury indicted Pownall on charges including third-degree murder in 2018, making him the first Philadelphia police officer in roughly two decades to face a homicide charge for an on-duty shooting.", "The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office sought to bar the standard jury instruction on Pennsylvania's police use-of-force justification statute, arguing it was unconstitutionally permissive; the dispute over that instruction reached the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which ruled in 2022 without reaching the constitutional question, delaying the case for years.", "Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara A. McDermott dismissed all charges against Pownall in October 2022, ruling that prosecutors had failed to properly instruct the grand jury on when officers are legally justified in using deadly force.", "The City of Philadelphia settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Jones's family for $1 million in 2018, years before the criminal case concluded.", "An independent arbitrator ruled in April 2024 that the city must reinstate Pownall to the police department with full back pay and seniority, roughly a year and a half after the criminal charges were dismissed." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Jones posed a threat justifying deadly force at the moment he was shot in the back while running away, as opposed to during the earlier struggle over the weapon, was the central legal question the case was built around and was never resolved by any trial on the merits, since the charges were dismissed before one occurred.", "The specific grand jury instructions found deficient by the dismissing judge, and what corrected version might have produced a different outcome, have not been made available in a form accessible to the public.", "Why the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office did not seek to refile charges through a properly instructed grand jury after the 2022 dismissal has not been fully explained in available public reporting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did procedural questions about jury instructions delay this case for more than five years without ever reaching a trial on the actual facts?", "Why did prosecutors not seek to refile charges through a corrected grand jury process after the 2022 dismissal, given the case had been billed as a landmark test of police accountability in the city?", "What has Officer Pownall's return to active duty, with full back pay and seniority restored, meant in practice for the department's own accountability standards?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Philadelphia Inquirer \u2014 \u201cFired Philly cop Ryan Pownall, whose murder case in controversial shooting was dismissed by judge, can get job back, arbitrator rules\u201d", "url": "https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/philly-police-officer-ryan-pownall-arbitration-reinstated-20240425.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "WHYY \u2014 \u201c4 Black men killed by Philly police and the officers who haven't yet faced a jury\u201d", "url": "https://whyy.org/articles/4-black-men-killed-by-philly-police-and-the-officers-who-havent-yet-faced-a-jury/", "verified": true }, { "name": "City of Philadelphia, Citizens Police Oversight Commission \u2014 official statement on the dismissal of criminal charges against Ryan Pownall", "url": "https://www.phila.gov/2022-10-13-cpoc-releases-statement-on-the-dismissal-of-criminal-charges-against-former-philadelphia-police-officer-ryan-pownall/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "kemonte-cobbs", "caseNumber": "229", "name": "Kemonte Cobbs", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2017, "age": 15, "gender": "male", "city": "Gary", "county": "Lake", "state": "IN", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-15", "summary": "Kemonte Cobbs, 15, was shot and killed by Gary, Indiana Police Officer Justin Hedrick during a foot pursuit on August 1, 2017, after Cobbs and several other teenagers were reportedly involved in an attempted armed robbery in neighboring Munster. Officers gave shifting and inconsistent accounts of the shooting, variously describing Cobbs as running when shot, lying in wait to ambush pursuing officers, or charging at them with a gun drawn. His mother, Tasheena Brooks, said investigators initially told her no weapon had been recovered at the scene, then called a week later to say one had been found near his body. Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter ruled the shooting justified and declined to file charges. Community members held sustained protests demanding the release of video and audio recordings, which authorities resisted for months. No one has ever been charged in Cobbs's death.", "known": [ "The Munster robbery report, the foot pursuit into Gary, and the shooting, per the Lake County Sheriff's Office, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office, and Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter's public statements.", "Cobbs was struck by gunfire and taken first to Methodist Hospital Northlake in Gary, then transferred to Christ Medical Center in Illinois, where he was pronounced dead.", "Investigating officers gave differing accounts of the moments before the shooting to different agencies, variously stating Cobbs was shot while running, was lying in wait to ambush officers, or turned and charged at them with a weapon drawn, according to community organizers who reviewed the conflicting reports.", "Cobbs's mother said she was initially told no gun was recovered at the scene of the shooting, and was contacted roughly a week later and told a weapon had in fact been found near her son's body.", "Black Lives Matter Northwest Indiana/Gary organized sustained protests for months following the shooting, demanding the release of all video and audio recordings and a public account from Officer Hedrick of what had occurred.", "Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter reviewed the case and ruled the shooting legally justified, declining to file any criminal charges against Hedrick.", "A Gary police officer was separately suspended over a public remark made in connection with the case, though the specific internal disciplinary record was not made fully public." ], "unknown": [ "Which of the differing officer accounts of the shooting \u2014 Cobbs running, lying in ambush, or charging with a weapon \u2014 reflected what actually happened was never resolved by any independent proceeding, since no criminal charges were ever filed and the case never reached a trial.", "Why Cobbs's family was initially told no weapon was recovered at the scene, only to be informed a week later that one had been found near his body, has not been explained in any official public accounting.", "The full video and audio recordings of the incident, which community organizers spent months demanding, were not made comprehensively public in the sources reviewed for this summary." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did investigating officers give inconsistent accounts of the shooting to different reviewing agencies?", "Why did the timeline of when a weapon was reported recovered shift from immediately after the shooting to roughly a week later?", "What specific remark led to a Gary officer's suspension in connection with this case, and what discipline, if any, resulted?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Times of Northwest Indiana (nwitimes.com) \u2014 \u201cGallery: Black Lives Matter protests Gary police killing of Kemonte Cobbs, 15\u201d", "url": "https://nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-courts/gallery-black-lives-matter-protests-gary-police-killing-of-kemonte-cobbs-15/collection_192c73f7-54d8-5d4f-90d0-5febefee4acf.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Times of Northwest Indiana (nwitimes.com) \u2014 \u201cOfficer suspended for remark after Indiana police killed man\u201d", "url": "https://www.nwitimes.com/news/officer-suspended-for-remark-after-indiana-police-killed-man/article_ec98a049-bafe-5a3e-8f46-06f59c0c6a15.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Chicago Tribune / Post-Tribune \u2014 coverage of the Gary, Indiana officer-involved shooting of Kemonte Cobbs", "url": "https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-gary-officer-involved-shooting-st-0225-20180223-story.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "darryl-tyree-williams", "caseNumber": "230", "name": "Darryl Tyree Williams", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2023, "age": 32, "gender": "male", "city": "Raleigh", "county": "Wake", "state": "NC", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-15", "summary": "Darryl \u201cTyree\u201d Williams, 32, died in Raleigh, North Carolina police custody on January 17, 2023, after officers on a \u201cproactive patrol\u201d approached him sitting in his parked car outside a sweepstakes parlor and, suspecting drug possession, tried to arrest him. Williams ran, fell, and was tased repeatedly \u2014 by some accounts three to four times \u2014 while telling officers he had a heart condition, audible on the body camera footage later released. He went into cardiac arrest and died at the hospital. The state medical examiner ruled his death a homicide, attributing it to sudden cardiac arrest amid cocaine intoxication, physical exertion, Taser use, and physical restraint together. Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman announced in June 2023 that the officers' actions did not violate the law and that prosecution was \u201cunsustainable.\u201d The City of Raleigh settled a federal civil rights lawsuit with Williams's family for $975,000 in December 2025. No one has ever been charged in Williams's death.", "known": [ "The proactive-patrol stop, the foot chase, and the repeated Taser deployments, per Raleigh Police Department body and dash camera footage released publicly and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation's findings.", "Officers approached Williams and a passenger sitting in a parked car near closed businesses on Rock Quarry Road around 2 a.m.; after finding a folded dollar bill with an unidentified substance on Williams, they attempted to arrest him for suspected drug possession.", "Williams ran, fell to the ground, and was tased multiple times by officers while resisting having his arms placed behind his back; released video captured him telling officers repeatedly that he had a heart condition.", "The North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled Williams's death a homicide, listing the cause as sudden cardiac arrest in the setting of cocaine intoxication, physical exertion, conducted energy weapon (Taser) use, and physical restraint.", "Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman announced on June 21, 2023 that the officers' actions did not violate North Carolina law and that continued prosecution was \u201cunsustainable,\u201d declining to bring charges against any of the officers involved.", "Six officers involved in the encounter were placed on administrative leave following Williams's death.", "Williams's family, represented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump and the organization Emancipate NC, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in 2024 seeking $25 million, described as the largest amount ever sought in a Raleigh in-custody death case; the City of Raleigh settled the suit for $975,000 in December 2025." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the combined use of repeated Taser deployments and physical restraint against someone who had disclosed a heart condition was a substantial cause of Williams's death, as the medical examiner's homicide ruling and contributing-factors finding suggested, or whether his death was primarily attributable to his own physical exertion and drug use, as the district attorney's declination implied, was never independently tested at any criminal trial since none was brought.", "Why a death officially ruled a homicide by the state's own medical examiner did not result in criminal charges against any officer has not been reconciled beyond the district attorney's general statement that prosecution was unsustainable.", "The specific internal disciplinary outcomes, if any, for the six officers placed on administrative leave have not been made comprehensively public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the district attorney conclude prosecution was \u201cunsustainable\u201d despite the state medical examiner's own homicide ruling naming Taser use and physical restraint as contributing factors in Williams's death?", "Why were officers still attempting a full arrest and physical restraint after Williams had already told them he had a heart condition?", "What became of the six officers placed on administrative leave, and did any face internal discipline separate from the criminal charging decision?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "ABC11 Raleigh-Durham (WTVD) \u2014 \u201cNo charges to be filed against officers in death Darryl Williams while in Raleigh police custody\u201d", "url": "https://abc11.com/darryl-williams-officers-no-charges-raleigh-police-wake-district-attorney/13410360/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WRAL \u2014 \u201cWake DA: No charges for police officers who shocked man outside sweepstakes parlor\u201d", "url": "https://www.wral.com/story/wake-da-no-charges-for-police-officers-who-shocked-man-outside-sweepstakes-parlor/20921028/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WUNC \u2014 \u201cCity of Raleigh settles for nearly $1 million in police Taser death of Darryl Williams\u201d", "url": "https://www.wunc.org/race-class-communities/2025-12-05/raleigh-police-taser-death-darryl-williams-settlement", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "james-lanier", "caseNumber": "231", "name": "James Lanier", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2023, "age": 34, "gender": "male", "city": "Wallace", "county": "Duplin", "state": "NC", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-15", "summary": "James Lanier, 34, who had a history of mental illness, was shot and killed by a Wallace, North Carolina police officer outside the Express Mini Mart on February 24, 2023, after store employees called police because he had entered the store naked and was bothering customers. According to the district attorney's account of surveillance video, Lanier pushed the responding officer, was Tased without apparent effect, and continued advancing on the officer despite repeated commands to back away before the officer fired three shots, one of which struck and killed him. District Attorney Ernie Lee ruled the shooting justified in May 2023, and later cited toxicology results showing PCP in Lanier's system as further justification. Lanier's father publicly said he believed race played a role in his son's death. No one has ever been charged in Lanier's death.", "known": [ "The store disturbance call, the confrontation in the parking lot, and the shooting, per surveillance video and District Attorney Ernie Lee's public findings following a State Bureau of Investigation review.", "Lanier entered the Express Mini Mart naked and was reported to be bothering and spitting on customers and a store clerk before employees called police.", "Lee's account, based on surveillance footage, stated Lanier pushed the responding officer, was then Tased without apparent effect, and continued to advance on the officer despite repeated commands to back away, at which point the officer fired three shots.", "The officer involved was placed on paid administrative leave following the shooting and was not publicly named in the district attorney's initial announcement.", "District Attorney Ernie Lee announced in May 2023 that the shooting was justified, stating there was \u201cno evidence\u201d the officer acted unlawfully given the threat he perceived.", "Lee separately released toxicology results in January 2024 showing elevated levels of PCP in Lanier's system, characterizing the finding as additional context for the encounter.", "Lanier's father, also named James Lanier, said publicly when asked whether race played a role in his son's death, \u201cYes, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yes, I do. I don't understand why or how they shot my son.\u201d", "Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and the organization Emancipate NC represented Lanier's family and reviewed body camera footage of the incident with the district attorney's office." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Lanier's advance on the officer after being Tased reflected an intentional threat or behavior consistent with a mental health crisis and PCP intoxication that he could not control, and whether less-lethal follow-up options existed after the Taser proved ineffective, was never independently tested at any criminal trial since none was brought.", "The specific content of the body camera footage reviewed by Lanier's family's representatives, beyond the district attorney's own narrative summary, has not been made fully public.", "The identity of the officer who fired the fatal shots has not been made public in the sources reviewed for this summary." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the district attorney release toxicology results months after already ruling the shooting justified, and what purpose did emphasizing PCP intoxication serve at that later point?", "What specific de-escalation or mental-health crisis response training, if any, the responding officer had, given the store owner's description of Lanier's behavior as consistent with a mental health crisis rather than a targeted threat.", "Why has the identity of the officer who fired the fatal shots never been made public?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "WITN \u2014 \u201cDA says man killed by Wallace officer had PCP in his system\u201d", "url": "https://www.witn.com/2024/01/09/da-says-man-killed-by-wallace-officer-had-pcp-his-system/", "verified": true }, { "name": "FOX8 WGHP \u2014 \u201cDistrict attorney says \u2018no evidence\u2019 officer broke law in shooting, killing man in North Carolina\u201d", "url": "https://myfox8.com/news/district-attorney-says-no-evidence-officer-broke-law-in-shooting-killing-man-in-north-carolina/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Emancipate North Carolina \u2014 \u201cFamily of James Lanier Fights for Justice in Wallace\u201d", "url": "https://emancipatenc.org/family-of-james-lanier-fights-for-justice-in-wallace/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "mary-and-hayes-turner", "caseNumber": "232", "name": "Mary Turner & Hayes Turner", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1918, "age": null, "gender": null, "city": "Barney", "county": "Brooks County", "state": "GA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-15", "summary": "Mary Turner, 19 and eight months pregnant, and her husband Hayes Turner, 25, were lynched one day apart in Brooks County, Georgia, in May 1918, during a mob rampage that killed at least 11 to 13 Black people in the wake of a white plantation owner's murder. After Hampton Smith, known locally for abusing Black farmworkers, was shot and killed by an employee named Sidney Johnson on May 16, 1918, a mob of hundreds began seizing and lynching Black residents with no connection to any investigation, based only on rumor. Hayes Turner, who had previously been jailed for threatening Smith after Smith beat Mary, was seized from sheriff's custody and lynched on May 18. When Mary Turner publicly denounced her husband's killing and vowed to seek warrants against the men responsible, a mob of several hundred captured her the next day, hanged her upside down from a tree, and burned and shot her to death; she was still alive when a member of the mob cut her unborn child from her body. No one was ever charged in the deaths of Mary Turner, Hayes Turner, or the other Black residents killed during the same two-week rampage.", "known": [ "The killing of Hampton Smith, the resulting mob rampage across Brooks and Lowndes counties, and the lynchings of Mary and Hayes Turner, per contemporaneous NAACP investigation led by Walter F. White, later academic history including Julie Buckner Armstrong's \u201cMary Turner and the Memory of Lynching,\u201d and the Equal Justice Initiative's documentation of the period's racial terror lynchings.", "Hayes Turner had previously served time on a chain gang for threatening Hampton Smith after Smith physically beat Mary Turner; when Smith was killed, Turner was arrested based on rumor of a conspiracy among Smith's mistreated workers, with no evidence directly tying him to the shooting.", "While being transferred to a jail in a neighboring county for his own safety, Hayes Turner was intercepted by a mob of roughly 40 masked men, who took him from the custody of the sheriff and county clerk and lynched him; his body was left hanging publicly for at least a day.", "Mary Turner, upon hearing of her husband's death, publicly stated he had nothing to do with Smith's killing and said she intended to seek legal warrants against the men who lynched him; this public statement enraged the mob further.", "A mob of several hundred people captured Mary Turner the next day, May 19, bound her ankles, hung her upside down from a tree at Folsom Bridge, doused her in gasoline, and set her on fire; while she was still alive, a member of the mob used a knife to cut her unborn child from her body, and the infant was then killed as well before the mob shot Turner's body hundreds of times.", "NAACP Secretary John R. Shillady sent an open letter to Georgia Governor Hugh Dorsey and regional business organizations demanding that mob members be identified and prosecuted; no one was ever charged in connection with any of the killings during the two-week rampage.", "The lynching of Mary Turner directly prompted NAACP officials to press Congressman Leonidas Dyer to draft federal anti-lynching legislation; the resulting Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 1922 but was repeatedly blocked in the Senate by Southern Democratic senators and never became law." ], "unknown": [ "The identities of the mob members who lynched Hayes Turner, Mary Turner, and the other Black residents killed during the same two-week period were reported to investigators and the Georgia governor's office at the time, but none were ever officially confirmed, charged, or prosecuted.", "Whether Hayes Turner had any actual connection to Hampton Smith's killing, as opposed to being targeted based on a prior personal conflict with Smith and rumor of a broader conspiracy, was never established through any legal proceeding.", "The full number of Black residents killed during the Brooks-Lowndes rampage is reported inconsistently across sources, ranging from at least 11 to as many as 13, reflecting how incompletely the killings were documented even at the time." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did Georgia authorities never charge or prosecute any participant in a rampage that killed at least 11 to 13 people over two weeks, despite the NAACP providing investigative findings and demanding accountability at the time?", "Why was a pregnant woman targeted and killed specifically for publicly stating her intention to pursue lawful warrants against her husband's killers?", "What specific factors caused the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, passed by the House in direct response to this case, to fail repeatedly in the Senate over the following years?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "BlackPast.org \u2014 \u201cMary Turner (1899-1918)\u201d", "url": "https://blackpast.org/african-american-history/mary-turner-1899-1918/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Equal Justice Initiative \u2014 \u201cOn May 19, 1918: Mary Turner, Pregnant, Lynched in Georgia for Publicly Criticizing Husband's Lynching\u201d", "url": "https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/may/19", "verified": true }, { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 \u201cMay 1918 lynchings\u201d (sourced case history)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_1918_lynchings", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "allen-brooks", "caseNumber": "233", "name": "Allen Brooks", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1910, "age": 59, "gender": "male", "city": "Dallas", "county": "Dallas County", "state": "TX", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-15", "summary": "Allen Brooks, roughly 59 years old and possibly born into slavery, was lynched by a mob estimated at 2,000 to 6,000 people in downtown Dallas, Texas, on March 3, 1910, on the day he was set to stand trial. Brooks, a handyman, had been accused of assaulting a two-and-a-half-year-old white girl whose family's furnace he had been repairing; the director of a Dallas civil rights organization later told The New York Times there was no proof he was guilty. As his trial recessed at the Dallas County Courthouse, a mob of over 1,000 people overwhelmed 70 to 150 law enforcement officers, tied a rope around Brooks's neck, and pulled him out a second-story window; he landed on his head on the street below, was beaten further by the crowd, and was dragged by car to a nearby arch where he was hanged from a telephone pole or iron spike. Souvenir postcards of the lynching were printed and mailed by the thousands. No one was ever charged in Brooks's death, and the site went unmarked for 111 years.", "known": [ "The accusation, the courthouse mob takeover, and the lynching, per contemporaneous newspaper coverage and later academic histories including Terry Anne Scott's \u201cLynching and Leisure\u201d and Michael Phillips's \u201cWhite Metropolis.\u201d", "Brooks was accused of assaulting a young girl after being found together with her while repairing her family's furnace; George Keaton Jr., director of the nonprofit Remembering Black Dallas, told The New York Times decades later that there was no proof establishing his guilt.", "On the morning of Brooks's scheduled trial, a crowd exceeding 1,000 people filled the courthouse; when the case was recessed for 30 minutes so Brooks's newly assigned attorney could confer with him, the mob placed a ladder against the building and, around 11:15 a.m., overwhelmed 70 to 150 law enforcement officers who made no effort to use their firearms in his defense.", "The mob tied a rope around Brooks's neck and pulled him out a second-story courthouse window; he landed on his head on the street below, where the crowd continued beating him before dragging him by car to the Elks Arch at Main and Akard streets and hanging him from a telephone pole or an iron spike beneath the arch.", "The city's undertaker later found Brooks's body reduced to what a historian described as a \u201cshapeless mass of flesh\u201d; mob members carved pieces from the telephone pole and took pieces of his clothing as souvenirs.", "Souvenir postcards depicting the lynching, with captions describing it as \u201ca great day we had in Dallas,\u201d were printed and mailed by the thousands; the local U.S. District Attorney, William H. Atwell, denied requests to stop their distribution, stating the only law broken was \u201cthe law of common decency.\u201d", "Dallas's sheriff stated afterward that it had been \u201cimpossible to protect\u201d Brooks; an investigation by city authorities never named any mob member, with a historian noting that punishing participants was considered \u201cout of the question\u201d because the officers who had been assigned to protect Brooks would not identify anyone in the crowd.", "The lynching site went without any historical marker for 111 years until the nonprofit Remembering Black Dallas, with funding from the Equal Justice Initiative, placed one in 2021; a second marker was placed at the Dallas County Courthouse itself in 2023." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Brooks committed the assault he was accused of was never established through any legal proceeding, and a historian who later researched the case publicly stated there was no proof of his guilt.", "The identities of the mob's participants, despite the event drawing thousands and being covered extensively by contemporary newspapers, were never officially documented, since the law enforcement officers present would not identify anyone.", "The full extent of local law enforcement's advance knowledge of the mob's plans, given a crowd of over 1,000 had already gathered before the recess even began, has not been established in the historical record reviewed for this summary." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did 70 to 150 armed law enforcement officers make no effort to use their firearms to protect Brooks from a mob that ultimately numbered in the thousands?", "Why did the federal district attorney explicitly decline to stop the mass distribution of souvenir postcards depicting the lynching, and what accountability, if any, existed for such conduct at the time?", "Why did it take 111 years for any public acknowledgment or historical marker to be placed at the site of Brooks's lynching?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The New York Times \u2014 \u201cAllen Brooks, Victim of a 1910 Lynching, Is Remembered in Dallas\u201d", "url": "https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/20/us/allen-brooks-1910-lynching-dallas.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "KERA News \u2014 \u201cA Dallas mob lynched a Black man 113 years ago. A new plaque marks where the tragedy started\u201d", "url": "https://www.keranews.org/news/2023-07-27/allen-brooks-lynching-historical-marker-dallas-county", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News Texas \u2014 \u201cDallas To Build Memorial To Lynching Of Allen Brooks\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/dallas-memorial-lynching/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "dexter-reed", "caseNumber": "234", "name": "Dexter Reed", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2024, "age": 26, "gender": "male", "city": "Chicago", "county": "Cook", "state": "IL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-15", "summary": "Dexter Reed, 26, was shot 13 times and killed by Chicago police officers on March 21, 2024, during a traffic stop in the city's Humboldt Park neighborhood that escalated into a gunfight. Five plainclothes tactical officers in an unmarked SUV curbed Reed's car, giving shifting reasons for the stop \u2014 first a seatbelt violation, later tinted windows. Officers said Reed, who did not legally own the recovered handgun, fired first and wounded one officer, prompting four others to fire a combined 96 rounds in 41 seconds. Chicago's Civilian Office of Police Accountability separately found the same five officers had conducted roughly 50 traffic stops in the days beforehand, including two documented instances of unlawfully stopping and detaining people without justification. Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke announced in August 2025, nearly a year and a half after the shooting, that none of the officers would be charged. No one has ever been charged in Reed's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop, the exchange of gunfire, and the shooting, per Civilian Office of Police Accountability body camera footage and the Cook County State's Attorney's charging announcement.", "Officers gave inconsistent public justifications for the stop, initially citing a seatbelt violation and later citing illegally tinted windows.", "Reed's SUV had tinted windows; when officers ordered him to roll them down, unlock the doors, and show his hands, he did not immediately comply, and the encounter escalated within roughly 71 seconds into gunfire.", "Prosecutors said Reed fired first with a handgun he did not legally possess, striking and wounding Officer Gregory St. Louis in the wrist; four other officers then fired a combined 96 rounds in 41 seconds, striking Reed 13 times, with 11 spent cartridge cases at the scene matching Reed's firearm.", "Chicago's Civilian Office of Police Accountability separately found that the same five officers had conducted approximately 50 traffic stops in the days and hours leading up to Reed's death, including two documented instances of stopping, searching, and detaining people without legal justification during what were characterized as pretextual stops; officers involved received administrative suspensions ranging from three to 25 days for those separate incidents.", "Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke announced on August 13, 2025 that her office would not charge any of the four officers who fired, stating the evidence was \u201cclear and overwhelming\u201d that they could not secure a conviction given Reed fired first.", "Reed's family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in April 2024 alleging the traffic stop itself was unconstitutional and pretextual; the Chicago City Council rejected a proposed $1.25 million settlement in April 2025, and the family's civil case is proceeding toward trial." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the underlying traffic stop was lawfully justified at all, given officers gave shifting public explanations for it and COPA separately documented the same officers conducting other stops without legal justification in the same period, was raised by the family's civil attorney but was not the basis on which the criminal charging decision turned.", "The specific sequence of commands and Reed's responses in the roughly 71 seconds before gunfire began has been described consistently by prosecutors based on body camera footage, but the family's civil suit disputes the characterization of the stop that preceded it.", "Why officers who had documented, sustained findings of unlawfully stopping and detaining people in the same window of time as Reed's stop were not subject to a broader review of that unit's practices before the fatal encounter has not been fully addressed in available public reporting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did officers give shifting justifications for the traffic stop \u2014 first a seatbelt violation, later tinted windows \u2014 and did the stop's underlying legality factor into the charging decision at all?", "Why were the same five officers allowed to continue conducting an unusually high volume of traffic stops, including ones already found unlawful by the city's own oversight body, without broader intervention before Reed's death?", "What will the pending federal civil rights lawsuit reveal about whether the stop itself was constitutional, given the criminal charging decision did not turn on that question?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "WTTW (Chicago PBS) \u2014 \u201cChicago Police Officers Who Shot, Killed Dexter Reed Won't Be Charged\u201d", "url": "https://news.wttw.com/2025/08/13/chicago-police-officers-who-shot-killed-dexter-reed-won-t-be-charged", "verified": true }, { "name": "Chicago Sun-Times \u2014 \u201cNo charges for Chicago police officers involved in deadly shoot-out with Dexter Reed\u201d", "url": "https://chicago.suntimes.com/dexter-reed/2025/08/13/chicago-police-shooting-dexter-reed-traffic-stop-murder-crime-eileen-oneill-burke-cook-county", "verified": true }, { "name": "Courthouse News Service \u2014 \u201cChicago police officers involved in Dexter Reed's shooting death won't face criminal charges\u201d", "url": "https://www.courthousenews.com/chicago-police-officers-involved-in-dexter-reeds-shooting-death-wont-face-criminal-charges/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "bunk-richardson", "caseNumber": "235", "name": "Bunk Richardson", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1906, "age": null, "gender": "male", "city": "Gadsden", "county": "Etowah County", "state": "AL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-15", "summary": "Bunk Richardson was abducted from the Etowah County Jail in Gadsden, Alabama, by a large white mob in the middle of the night on February 11, 1906, and lynched, despite never having been charged with any crime. In July 1905, three men had been accused of raping and murdering a white woman; Richardson was not involved but was arrested anyway because he knew one of the suspects. Two of the actual suspects were later tried, convicted, and executed; the third, Will Johnson, was also convicted and sentenced to death, but Alabama Governor William Jelks, doubting his guilt, commuted the sentence to life in prison. That commutation of a stranger's sentence sparked outrage in Gadsden, and a mob responded by seizing Richardson \u2014 who had no connection to the original crime beyond an acquaintance \u2014 dragging him through the streets, and hanging him from train trestles over the Coosa River. His relatives were forced to flee town and abandon their businesses. No one was ever charged in Richardson's death, and the site went without any public acknowledgment for 110 years until a historical marker was dedicated in 2016.", "known": [ "The original 1905 rape and murder accusation, Richardson's unrelated arrest, and his lynching, per the Equal Justice Initiative's documented account and contemporary Gadsden newspaper coverage reproduced at the time of the marker's 2016 dedication.", "Richardson was arrested in July 1905 alongside three actual suspects in the case solely because he was acquainted with one of them; he was not accused of participating in the underlying crime.", "A mob of roughly 300 people gathered at the Gadsden jail intending to lynch all four prisoners shortly after their arrest, but was successfully held back, and the men were transferred to Jefferson County for safekeeping the following day.", "Two of the three actual suspects, Jack Hunter and Vance Gardner, were tried, convicted, and executed for the crime; the third, Will Johnson, was also convicted and sentenced to death, but Governor William Jelks, doubting Johnson's guilt, commuted his sentence to life imprisonment.", "The governor's commutation of Johnson's sentence \u2014 not any new accusation against Richardson himself \u2014 is what sparked the outrage that led directly to the mob action against him.", "A mob seized Richardson from the Etowah County Jail in the middle of the night on February 11, 1906, dragged him through the streets of Gadsden, and hanged him from train trestles crossing the Coosa River.", "Richardson's relatives were forced to abandon thriving businesses and flee Gadsden following his lynching, while the broader Black community in the city lived in fear.", "No one was ever charged in connection with Richardson's death; the Equal Justice Initiative, in partnership with the City of Gadsden and Gadsden Reads, dedicated a historical marker commemorating the lynching in December 2016, 110 years after it occurred." ], "unknown": [ "The identities of the mob members who abducted and lynched Richardson were never officially documented or prosecuted, despite the lynching occurring in a populated area of Gadsden and drawing significant local attention at the time.", "The specific reasoning that led authorities to arrest Richardson in the first place, given he was acknowledged even by contemporary accounts to have had no connection to the underlying crime beyond acquaintance with one suspect, has not been fully documented beyond the general practice of the era.", "What became of Richardson's relatives after they were forced to flee Gadsden and abandon their businesses has not been documented in the sources reviewed for this summary." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was Richardson arrested at all in connection with a crime the historical record confirms he had no part in?", "Why did it take 110 years for any public acknowledgment of Richardson's lynching to be made, and what specific historical evidence made the 2016 marker dedication possible?", "What became of Richardson's family and their businesses after they were forced to flee Gadsden in the lynching's aftermath?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Equal Justice Initiative \u2014 \u201cEJI Dedicates Lynching Marker in Gadsden, Alabama, for Bunk Richardson\u201d", "url": "https://eji.org/news/eji-dedicates-lynching-marker-gadsden-alabama-bunk-richardson/", "verified": true }, { "name": "AL.com \u2014 \u201c'I'm So Proud of my City Right Now': Gadsden Dedicates Lynching Marker\u201d", "url": "http://www.al.com/news/anniston-gadsden/index.ssf/2016/12/im_so_proud_of_my_city_right_n.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Gadsden Times \u2014 \u201cProgress Through Recognition: Marker for Lynching Victim Dedicated\u201d", "url": "http://www.gadsdentimes.com/news/20161213/progress-through-recognition-marker-for-lynching-victim-dedicated", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "colfax-massacre", "caseNumber": "236", "name": "The Colfax Massacre", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1873, "age": null, "gender": "male", "city": "Colfax", "county": "Grant Parish", "state": "LA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-17", "summary": "On Easter Sunday, April 13, 1873, a mob of armed white men, including former Confederate soldiers and Ku Klux Klan members, attacked the Grant Parish Courthouse in Colfax, Louisiana, where Black freedmen and state militia had gathered to defend the results of a disputed election. The mob, numbering as many as 150 to 300 and equipped with a small cannon, set the courthouse ablaze; most of the Black men inside were shot as they fled the flames or after they had already surrendered, and nearly 50 more were murdered later that night after being held as prisoners for hours. Estimates of the death toll vary significantly across sources, ranging from roughly 62 to as many as 150 or more Black men killed; only three of the white attackers died. Federal prosecutors indicted 97 people and brought nine to trial; a jury convicted three men under the Enforcement Act of 1870, but the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overturned every conviction in United States v. Cruikshank (1876), ruling the federal government lacked power to prosecute private individuals for violating civil rights. No one was ever held accountable for what remains the deadliest single incident of racial violence during Reconstruction.", "known": [ "The disputed 1872 Louisiana gubernatorial election, the courthouse occupation, and the massacre itself, per multiple academic histories including Charles Lane's \u201cThe Day Freedom Died,\u201d the Equal Justice Initiative's documentation, and the U.S. Supreme Court Historical Society's own case record.", "Following Louisiana's contested 1872 election, which produced rival claims to the governorship, Black freedmen and Republican state militia occupied the Grant Parish Courthouse in Colfax to defend the results certifying a Republican victory.", "A mob of white men, reported at anywhere from 150 to 300, surrounded the courthouse on April 13, 1873, brought a small cannon, and set the building on fire; men fleeing the flames were shot, and most of those who surrendered were killed rather than taken prisoner.", "Nearly 50 additional Black men who had been held as prisoners were murdered later that same night, according to multiple historical accounts, including testimony later presented at federal trial.", "U.S. Attorney James Beckwith federally indicted 97 members of the mob; only nine ultimately stood trial, facing charges under the Enforcement Act of 1870 (also called the Ku Klux Klan Act) rather than murder charges, since federal prosecutors believed those charges offered the clearest path to conviction.", "After an initial mistrial, a jury convicted three defendants, including William J. Cruikshank; the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overturned all convictions in United States v. Cruikshank (1876), ruling the Fourteenth Amendment restricted only state action, not the conduct of private individuals, and that the federal indictments were therefore invalid.", "The Cruikshank decision severely curtailed the federal government's ability to prosecute racial violence for the remainder of Reconstruction and beyond, shifting responsibility to state courts that routinely declined to prosecute such crimes, and is widely cited by historians as a key legal foundation enabling the unchecked racial terrorism of the Jim Crow era.", "A Louisiana state historical marker erected in 1950 described the event as the \u201cColfax Riot\u201d and stated it marked \u201cthe end of carpetbag misrule in the South,\u201d language that remained in place until 2021; a separate monument in the Colfax cemetery memorializes the three white attackers who died as \u201cheroes\u2026who fell fighting for white supremacy.\u201d" ], "unknown": [ "The precise number of Black men killed has never been conclusively established; estimates across contemporary and modern sources range from roughly 62 to over 150, and the overwhelming majority of victims were never individually identified or named in the surviving historical record.", "The full list of participants in the mob, despite 97 people being federally indicted, was never conclusively established at trial, and only nine individuals were ever actually prosecuted.", "Why the Supreme Court's reasoning in Cruikshank \u2014 that federal civil rights protections applied only to state action \u2014 was applied specifically to overturn convictions in a case involving organized private mob violence has been the subject of extensive legal-historical critique but was never revisited by the Supreme Court itself in a way that restored the original convictions." ], "unanswered": [ "Why does the death toll remain so uncertain more than 150 years later, despite the massacre being investigated by federal authorities within days?", "Why did the U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous ruling in United States v. Cruikshank effectively end federal prosecution of racial terrorism for decades, and what would Reconstruction-era civil rights enforcement have looked like had the convictions stood?", "Why did an official Louisiana state historical marker describe this massacre in celebratory terms for 71 years, from 1950 until 2021?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "BlackPast.org \u2014 \u201cThe Colfax Massacre (1873)\u201d", "url": "https://blackpast.org/african-american-history/colfax-massacre-1873/", "verified": true }, { "name": "64 Parishes \u2014 \u201cColfax Massacre\u201d", "url": "https://64parishes.org/entry/colfax-massacre-adaptation", "verified": true }, { "name": "Supreme Court Historical Society \u2014 \u201cUnited States v. Cruikshank\u201d", "url": "https://civics.supremecourthistory.org/article/united-states-v-cruikshank/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "frank-tyson", "caseNumber": "237", "name": "Frank Tyson", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2024, "age": 53, "gender": "male", "city": "Canton", "county": "Stark", "state": "OH", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-17", "summary": "Frank Tyson, 53, died in the custody of Canton, Ohio police officers Camden Burch and Beau Schoenegge on April 18, 2024, after they restrained him face-down on the floor of a veterans hall he had entered following a car crash. Body camera video showed Tyson repeatedly telling officers \u201cThey're trying to kill me\u201d and, after being handcuffed with an officer's knee on his upper body, \u201cI can't breathe\u201d; an officer told him \u201cYou're fine. Shut the [expletive] up.\u201d Tyson was left motionless and unattended for roughly seven minutes before officers checked on him. The Stark County coroner ruled his death a homicide. A grand jury indicted both officers on felony reckless homicide charges in November 2024, making Tyson's case one of the rare instances to reach that point. Nearly two years later, on the day jury selection began for their trial, both officers instead pleaded guilty to unrelated misdemeanor charges \u2014 failure to report a crime and dereliction of duty \u2014 neither of which addresses causing Tyson's death, and the original reckless homicide charges were dropped. No one has ever been convicted of causing Tyson's death.", "known": [ "The vehicle crash, the encounter at the AMVETS post, and Tyson's death in custody, per body camera footage released publicly and Stark County Prosecutor Kyle Stone's public statements.", "Tyson had crashed his car into a utility pole and walked into a nearby veterans hall, where someone called police; when officers arrived, Tyson became distressed and repeatedly said \u201cThey're trying to kill me\u201d and \u201cCall the sheriff\u201d as they moved to restrain him.", "Body camera video showed officers taking Tyson to the floor face-down and handcuffing him while one officer's knee was on his upper body; Tyson repeatedly said \u201cI can't breathe,\u201d and an officer responded \u201cYou're fine. Shut the [expletive] up.\u201d", "After Tyson was handcuffed, officers left him motionless and unattended on the floor for roughly seven minutes before checking on him, administering Narcan, and beginning CPR.", "The Stark County Coroner's Office ruled Tyson's death a homicide in August 2024, also citing a heart condition and cocaine and alcohol intoxication as contributing factors.", "A Stark County grand jury indicted both Burch and Schoenegge on one felony count each of reckless homicide in November 2024, a rare instance of officers facing homicide charges for an in-custody death.", "The case was delayed roughly two years through multiple continuances and a change of prosecutor and judge; on August 10, 2026, the day jury selection began for their trial, both officers pleaded guilty instead to unrelated reduced misdemeanor charges \u2014 Burch to failure to report a crime, and Schoenegge to dereliction of duty \u2014 carrying maximum sentences of 30 and 90 days respectively, and both resigned from the department as part of the deal.", "Neither misdemeanor charge Burch or Schoenegge pleaded guilty to addresses causing Tyson's death; the original reckless homicide charges, which did, were dismissed as part of the plea agreement. Tyson's family separately filed a $13 million federal lawsuit against the city and the officers." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the restraint techniques used on Tyson, including the knee placed on his upper body while he repeatedly said he could not breathe, directly caused his death, or whether his underlying heart condition and intoxication were the primary cause, as the coroner's report characterized as contributing factors alongside the restraint itself, was never resolved by a jury, since the case ended in a plea agreement before trial testimony began.", "Why prosecutors agreed to drop felony reckless homicide charges entirely, rather than seeking any plea to a lesser charge that would have still addressed causing Tyson's death, has not been fully explained in available public reporting beyond the general dynamics of a negotiated plea on the eve of trial.", "The specific sentences ultimately imposed on Burch and Schoenegge, scheduled for a later sentencing hearing, were not confirmed in the sources reviewed for this summary." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did a case that reached a rare felony indictment for officers ultimately resolve with guilty pleas to misdemeanors that don't address causing Tyson's death at all?", "Why did it take roughly two years and multiple case delays to reach a resolution that ultimately avoided any trial testimony on the central facts of what happened to Tyson?", "What specific consequences, beyond resignation and the misdemeanor sentences, will Burch and Schoenegge face, and will either ever work in law enforcement again?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "CBS News \u2014 \u201c2 Ohio police officers involved in Frank Tyson's in-custody death charged with reckless homicide\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/frank-tyson-death-ohio-police-officers-charged-with-reckless-homicide/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Ideastream Public Media \u2014 \u201cCanton police officers plead guilty to lesser charges in man's death\u201d", "url": "https://www.ideastream.org/law-justice/2026-08-10/canton-police-officers-plead-guilty-to-lesser-charges-in-mans-death", "verified": true }, { "name": "Yahoo News / The Repository \u2014 \u201cFormer Canton police officers to be sentenced Sept. 24 in Frank Tyson death case\u201d", "url": "https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/former-canton-police-officers-sentenced-163401707.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "roshad-mcintosh", "caseNumber": "238", "name": "Roshad McIntosh", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2014, "age": 19, "gender": "male", "city": "Chicago", "county": "Cook", "state": "IL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-17", "summary": "Roshad McIntosh, 19, was shot and killed by Chicago Police Officer Robert Slechter on August 24, 2014, after being chased into the yard of a residence in the North Lawndale neighborhood. Police said McIntosh pointed a gun at Slechter, who fired three shots; a loaded pistol was recovered at the scene, though no usable fingerprints were ever identified on it. Witnesses told McIntosh's family he was actually kneeling on the ground with his hands raised, unarmed, when he was shot, and his family's attorneys have alleged the gun was planted after the fact. Chicago's Independent Police Review Authority cleared Slechter in 2015; after the agency was replaced by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, the case was reopened at the family's request and, after a two-year investigation, COPA again found the shooting justified. A separate officer at the scene was recommended for firing after his account was contradicted by surveillance footage, but he retired before the Police Board acted. The City of Chicago moved to settle the family's federal lawsuit for $2.25 million a decade after the shooting. No one has ever been charged in McIntosh's death.", "known": [ "The chase, the shooting, and the recovery of a firearm at the scene, per the Independent Police Review Authority's original 2015 report and the Chicago Sun-Times's reporting on the case's history.", "Police confronted a group of people, including McIntosh, on West Polk Street after receiving a tip about armed men; McIntosh ran, and Officer Robert Slechter pursued him into the yard of a nearby two-flat before firing three shots.", "A loaded pistol was found on the front porch of the house after the shooting, but investigators were unable to identify any usable fingerprints on it, according to a 2017 Chicago Tribune report.", "Witnesses told McIntosh's family he had already surrendered, kneeling on the ground with his hands raised and unarmed, when he was shot; his family's attorneys have alleged police planted the recovered firearm after the fact.", "The Independent Police Review Authority closed its investigation in October 2015, finding the shooting justified or \u201cwithin policy,\u201d and the Cook County State's Attorney's Office did not file criminal charges.", "The case was reopened in 2017 at the family's request after IPRA was replaced by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability; several officers at the scene had changed their initial accounts after being shown surveillance video that contradicted their original statements.", "COPA's renewed investigation again found Slechter's actions justified; the agency separately recommended that another officer at the scene, Saharat Sampim, be fired for giving an initial account contradicted by surveillance footage, but Sampim retired while that firing was still pending before the Police Board.", "A City Council committee considered a proposed $2.25 million settlement of the family's federal lawsuit in March 2025, nearly eleven years after the shooting." ], "unknown": [ "Whether McIntosh was in fact armed and pointed a weapon at Slechter, as police maintained, or was unarmed and already surrendering, as witnesses told his family, was disputed from the outset and was never resolved by any criminal trial since none was brought, and the absence of usable fingerprints on the recovered gun did not resolve the question either way.", "Whether the firearm recovered at the scene was placed there after the shooting, as the family's attorneys have alleged, was never independently confirmed or disproven through any public accounting reviewed for this summary.", "The full content of the surveillance footage that led multiple officers to change their initial accounts, and what it specifically showed about the shooting itself as opposed to officers' conduct afterward, has not been made comprehensively public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why were no usable fingerprints found on a gun police said McIntosh pointed at an officer moments before being shot?", "Why did multiple officers at the scene change their initial statements only after being shown surveillance footage that contradicted them, and what did that footage actually show?", "Why was Officer Saharat Sampim able to retire and avoid the firing COPA had recommended, simply by leaving the department before the Police Board acted?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Chicago Sun-Times \u2014 \u201cFamily of teen killed in fatal foot chase could get $2.25 million from city to settle lawsuit\u201d", "url": "https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2024/03/14/fatal-shooting-chicago-police-foot-chase-cpd-policy-roshad-mcintosh", "verified": true }, { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cHer son was killed by Chicago police. Five years later, a judge's ruling could bring her closer to getting answers\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/27/us/roshad-mcintosh-wrongful-death-lawsuit/index.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "People's Law Office \u2014 press release on the family's federal civil rights lawsuit", "url": "https://peopleslawoffice.com/family-of-roshad-mcintosh-a-young-black-male-fatally-shot-by-chicago-police-officers-files-lawsuit-against-city-of-chicago/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "kevin-peterson-jr", "caseNumber": "239", "name": "Kevin Peterson Jr.", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 21, "gender": "male", "city": "Vancouver", "county": "Clark", "state": "WA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-17", "summary": "Kevin Peterson Jr., 21, a new father, was shot 34 times and killed by three Clark County, Washington Sheriff's deputies on October 29, 2020, after he ran from a drug sting in a bank parking lot near Vancouver. Clark County's sheriff publicly stated the day after the shooting that Peterson had fired at deputies; an independent multi-agency investigation concluded roughly two weeks later that he never fired his weapon at all, though he had one on him. Surveillance video showed Peterson was shot from behind while running away. His body was left in the parking lot for roughly eleven hours before being removed. An independent prosecutor from a neighboring county found the shooting justified in August 2021, concluding Peterson had \u201cample opportunity\u201d to drop his gun and declining to charge any of the three deputies. The family's federal wrongful death lawsuit settled for $1.25 million in late 2024. No one has ever been charged in Peterson's death.", "known": [ "The drug sting, the foot pursuit, and the shooting, per the Southwest Washington Independent Investigative Response Team's findings and Pierce County Prosecutor Mary Robnett's public declination letter.", "Deputies approached Peterson believing he was involved in selling prescription pills during an undercover operation; he ran when deputies moved to arrest him.", "Clark County Sheriff Chuck Atkins told reporters the day after the shooting that Peterson had fired at deputies; an independent investigation released roughly two weeks later concluded there was no evidence he had ever discharged his weapon, though a handgun was recovered near his body.", "Surveillance video released by investigators showed Peterson was shot from behind while running away from deputies, not while facing them.", "Witnesses and Peterson's family said his body remained in the U.S. Bank parking lot for roughly eleven to twelve hours after the shooting before being removed.", "Because Clark County prosecutors had a conflict of interest, the charging decision was referred to Pierce County Prosecutor Mary Robnett, who concluded in August 2021 that the deputies were legally justified, writing that Peterson had \u201cample opportunity\u201d to drop the gun he was carrying and that officers were not required to let him fire first before defending themselves.", "Peterson's family, represented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump and the Herrmann Law Group, filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit alleging Clark County had a \u201cpolicy, custom and established practice\u201d of permitting deputies to use deadly force unlawfully; a federal judge approved a $1.25 million settlement of that suit in December 2024, with part of the funds set aside for Peterson's young daughter as a legal requirement given her status as a minor beneficiary." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Peterson's possession of a handgun, without evidence he ever fired or pointed it at deputies, justified 34 rounds fired by three officers as he ran away was the central dispute the family's civil case raised and was never tested at any criminal trial since none was brought.", "Why the sheriff's initial public statement that Peterson had fired at deputies was made before any investigation had concluded, and why it took roughly two weeks for that claim to be publicly corrected, has not been fully explained in available public reporting.", "The specific reasoning behind the roughly eleven-hour delay in removing Peterson's body from the scene has not been addressed in any official public accounting reviewed for this summary." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the Clark County Sheriff publicly state Peterson had fired at deputies before any investigation had been completed, when investigators later found no evidence he ever discharged his weapon?", "Why did three deputies fire a combined 34 rounds at a man shot from behind while running away, rather than pursuing him or using less-lethal options?", "Why was Peterson's body left in the parking lot for roughly eleven hours before it was removed?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "OPB \u2014 \u201cProsecutors find fatal police shooting of Kevin Peterson Jr. justified\u201d", "url": "https://www.opb.org/article/2021/08/16/prosecutors-rule-fatal-police-shooting-of-kevin-peterson-jr-justified/?outputType=amp", "verified": true }, { "name": "KATU \u2014 \u201cVIDEO: New details released in case of Black man shot, killed by Clark Co. deputies\u201d", "url": "https://katu.com/news/local/investigators-release-more-details-on-moments-before-the-shooting-of-kevin-peterson-jr", "verified": true }, { "name": "FOX 13 Seattle \u2014 \u201cFederal judge approves $1.25M settlement in deputy killing of WA Black man\u201d", "url": "https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/federal-judge-settlement-deputy-killing-wa-black-man", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "damian-daniels", "caseNumber": "240", "name": "Damian Daniels", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 30, "gender": "male", "city": "San Antonio", "county": "Bexar", "state": "TX", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-17", "summary": "Damian Daniels, 30, a Black Army combat veteran who had served in Afghanistan, was shot and killed by Bexar County, Texas Sheriff's Deputy John Rodriguez outside his home on August 25, 2020, during a mental health welfare check requested by his family. Deputies, including Sheriff Javier Salazar himself, responded and said Daniels became erratic and reached for a legally owned gun in his waistband, leading to a physical struggle that lasted more than two minutes before Rodriguez opened fire, striking him twice. Sheriff Salazar's early public account, including selectively released still images, drew accusations from the family of \u201cmaterial misrepresentations\u201d before full body camera footage was ever made public. A Bexar County grand jury declined to indict Rodriguez in December 2021, roughly 16 months after the shooting. No one has ever been charged in Daniels's death.", "known": [ "The family-requested welfare check, the struggle over Daniels's firearm, and the shooting, per body camera footage the Bexar County Sheriff's Office released publicly in December 2021 and the Bexar County District Attorney's Office's public statements.", "Daniels's family called for a mental health check on August 25, 2020; Sheriff Javier Salazar personally responded alongside Deputy John Rodriguez.", "Salazar said Daniels became erratic and reached for a gun in his waistband, prompting a physical struggle that lasted more than two minutes before Rodriguez fired two shots, killing him.", "Before body camera footage was released, Sheriff Salazar shared selectively chosen still images from the encounter; Daniels's family and their attorney publicly called for his resignation over what they characterized as \u201cmaterial misrepresentations\u201d of what happened.", "A Bexar County grand jury declined to indict Rodriguez on December 20, 2021, roughly 16 months after the shooting; District Attorney Joe Gonzales said his office reviewed the footage with the family and stated every officer-involved shooting resulting in serious injury or death in the county would be decided by a grand jury.", "Roughly 27 minutes of body camera footage, narrated by a public information officer, was released the same day as the grand jury's decision; the Bexar County Sheriff's Office separately adopted a new policy requiring release of body camera footage within 10 days of a critical incident going forward.", "Daniels's mother, Annette Watkins, publicly disputed the deputies' account after viewing the footage, stating, \u201cHe never moved or said anything for you to attack him like that.\u201d", "The shooting prompted Bexar County to launch a new mental health crisis response unit intended to handle future calls of this kind." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Daniels's actions during the encounter, including the physical struggle over his own legally possessed firearm, justified deadly force after more than two minutes of physical contact with two deputies, was disputed by his family based on the same body camera footage reviewed by the grand jury, and was never independently tested at any criminal trial since none was brought.", "The specific content and framing of the sheriff's early selectively released still images, and how they differed from the full body camera footage eventually made public, has not been comprehensively documented in a single public accounting.", "The full reasoning behind the grand jury's decision not to indict, beyond the district attorney's general public statement, has not been made available, as grand jury proceedings are sealed under Texas law." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did it take roughly 16 months for a grand jury decision to be reached in a case with body camera footage available from the outset?", "Why did the sheriff release selectively chosen still images before the full body camera footage was made public, and what specifically differed between the two accounts?", "What specific outcomes has Bexar County's new mental health crisis response unit, created in the wake of Daniels's death, produced in the years since?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "KSAT \u2014 \u201cGrand jury declines to indict Bexar County deputy in fatal shooting of veteran Damian Daniels\u201d", "url": "https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2021/12/20/grand-jury-declines-to-indict-bexar-county-deputy-in-fatal-shooting-of-veteran-damian-daniels/", "verified": true }, { "name": "San Antonio Report \u2014 \u201cGrand jury declines to indict Bexar deputy in vet's fatal shooting\u201d", "url": "https://sanantonioreport.org/damian-daniels-grand-jury-no-indictment/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Newsweek \u2014 \u201cDeputy Who Shot Veteran Damian Daniels During Mental Health Call Avoids Charges\u201d", "url": "https://www.newsweek.com/deputy-who-shot-veteran-damian-daniels-during-mental-health-call-avoids-charges-1661934", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "donnie-sanders", "caseNumber": "241", "name": "Donnie Sanders", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 47, "gender": "male", "city": "Kansas City", "county": "Jackson", "state": "MO", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-17", "summary": "Donnie Sanders, 47, was shot three times and killed by Kansas City, Missouri Police Officer Blayne Newton on March 12, 2020, after a foot chase that began with what prosecutors later called a \u201cpretextual\u201d traffic stop \u2014 Newton had no radar equipment or training to legally have clocked Sanders for speeding in the first place. Sanders fled on foot into an alley; Newton fired five shots, striking him three times. Police initially said Sanders was unarmed, carrying only a cellphone. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker declined to charge Newton in March 2021, citing a witness who said Sanders appeared to be pointing something at the officer. Newton remained on the force and, within the following years, accumulated multiple excessive force allegations \u2014 including kneeling on a nine-months-pregnant woman's back during an arrest \u2014 before fatally shooting two more people in a single 2026 encounter. Prosecutor Baker then publicly called for Newton's firing, citing \u201cyears of institutional failure to act.\u201d No one has ever been charged in Sanders's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop, the foot pursuit, and the shooting, per the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office's investigative report and Kansas City Star reporting on Officer Blayne Newton's later record.", "Newton initiated what the prosecutor's office later formally classified as a \u201cpretextual\u201d stop, suspecting Sanders of speeding despite having no radar equipment or specialized training that would have legally permitted him to issue a speeding citation.", "Sanders pulled into an alley and fled on foot; Newton chased him, and though the dashboard camera did not capture a clear view of the two men, it recorded Newton yelling commands before firing five shots, three of which struck Sanders.", "Police announced the day after the shooting that Sanders had been unarmed, carrying only a cellphone in his pocket.", "Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker declined to charge Newton in March 2021, stating a witness corroborated Newton's account that Sanders appeared to be pointing something at him, and that the evidence was insufficient to prove excessive force beyond a reasonable doubt.", "Newton remained on active duty after the shooting; later in 2020 he was accused of placing his knee on the back of a woman who was nine months pregnant during an arrest, and he had previously been one of three officers accused of beating and using a Taser on a teenager in 2019.", "In a single encounter in 2026, Newton fatally shot two more people, bringing his total to three people killed in the line of duty; Kansas City had by then paid millions of dollars in civil settlements connected to allegations of excessive force by Newton.", "Following the 2026 shooting, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker publicly called on the Kansas City Police Department to fire Newton, writing that his continued employment \u201cposed a serious risk to the public\u201d and that the deaths were \u201cthe result of years of institutional failure to act.\u201d", "The Sanders shooting and the 2020 protests it helped prompt led KCPD to adopt several reforms, including department-wide body cameras, transferring officer-involved shooting investigations to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, a duty-to-intervene policy, a chokehold ban, and an anonymous internal complaint process." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Sanders in fact made a gesture that could reasonably be mistaken for pointing a weapon, as the corroborating witness statement suggested, or whether officers misperceived an unarmed man reaching for or holding his cellphone, was never independently tested at any criminal trial since none was brought.", "Why Officer Newton was permitted to remain on active patrol duty for years despite an escalating, well-documented pattern of excessive force allegations \u2014 spanning a pregnant woman, a teenager, and Sanders's death \u2014 before ultimately killing two more people, has not been fully explained beyond the prosecutor's general public statement about institutional failure.", "The specific internal disciplinary reviews, if any, conducted after each individual excessive force allegation against Newton prior to the 2026 shootings have not been made comprehensively public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did Kansas City police department leadership keep Officer Newton on active, armed patrol duty despite a documented, escalating pattern of violent incidents in the years following Sanders's death?", "Why did the department not act on the pattern the prosecutor's office says it specifically flagged internally before Newton went on to kill two more people?", "What became of the KCPD reforms adopted after Sanders's death, given the same officer was still armed and on duty six years later?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cKansas City officer will not face charges in the killing of an unarmed man in 2020\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/02/us/kansas-city-donnie-sanders-killing/index.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "KCUR \u2014 \u201cJackson County Prosecutor calls on KCPD to fire officer who's allegedly killed 3 people\u201d", "url": "https://www.kcur.org/news/2024-12-28/kansas-city-police-officer-who-killed-3-people-should-be-fired-prosecutor-says", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cKansas City officer won't be charged in shooting death of Donnie Sanders\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kansas-city-officer-won-t-be-charged-shooting-death-donnie-n1259312", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "tyrea-pryor", "caseNumber": "242", "name": "Tyrea Pryor", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2022, "age": 39, "gender": "male", "city": "Independence", "county": "Jackson", "state": "MO", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-17", "summary": "Tyrea Pryor Sr., 39, a father of three, was shot approximately 15 times and killed by Independence, Missouri Police Officers Hunter Soule and Jamie Welsh on March 11, 2022, after a police pursuit ended in a crash. Pryor was left incapacitated and trapped in the wrecked vehicle; an assault-style rifle was found lodged in the car but never brandished, and another officer had already secured it before Soule and Welsh opened fire, believing Pryor was reaching for a pistol. No pistol was ever found \u2014 investigators later theorized a pill bottle in his waistband may have been mistaken for one. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced in March 2023, a year after the shooting, that she would not charge either officer, stating it was \u201cindisputable Pryor did not have a gun in his hand\u201d but that officers held a \u201creasonable belief\u201d a threat existed. Pryor's family filed a $25 million federal lawsuit and formally asked the Department of Justice to investigate after Baker declined to bring the case before a grand jury. No one has ever been charged in Pryor's death.", "known": [ "The pursuit, the crash, and the shooting, per Missouri State Highway Patrol investigative interviews and body camera video released publicly by the Pryor family's attorneys.", "Officer Soule initially responded to a disturbance call and began following Pryor's vehicle after seeing him grab an unknown item; the car fled and crashed a short time later near U.S. 24 and Noland Road.", "Pryor was trapped and immobilized in the wrecked vehicle; two female passengers were ordered out and complied, but Pryor could not exit.", "An assault-style rifle found lodged between the driver's seat and center console was secured by a third responding officer, Alex Steele, before Welsh said he believed he saw Pryor reach for a pistol in his waistband and shouted \u201cHey, he's got a gun\u201d; officers then fired more than 20 shots into the vehicle, striking Pryor approximately 15 times.", "No pistol was ever recovered from the scene; investigators told Pryor's family they theorized a pill bottle hidden in his waistband may have been mistaken for a weapon.", "Body camera footage released by the family's attorneys captured an officer saying \u201cI don't see a pistol\u201d moments after the shooting.", "Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced in March 2023 that neither officer would be charged, stating in her office's letter that it was \u201cindisputable Pryor did not have a gun in his hand\u201d when he was shot, but that the officers' \u201creasonable belief\u201d a threat existed meant criminal charges were not supportable.", "Pryor's family, represented by civil rights attorneys including Harry Daniels and John Burris, filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit seeking at least $25 million and formally requested a Department of Justice investigation after Baker declined to present the case to a grand jury; a third related lawsuit was filed in 2025." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Officer Welsh's belief that Pryor was reaching for a pistol was objectively reasonable, given no pistol was ever found and a rifle already visible in the car had already been secured by another officer before the shooting began, was disputed by the family's attorneys and was never tested at any criminal trial since the prosecutor declined to bring the case before a grand jury at all.", "Whether the item mistaken for a pistol was in fact a pill bottle, as investigators theorized to the family, was never conclusively confirmed in any public accounting reviewed for this summary.", "The full content of the Missouri State Highway Patrol's independent investigative report, beyond the prosecutor's public declination letter, has not been made comprehensively public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the prosecutor's own letter acknowledge Pryor was indisputably unarmed at the moment he was shot, yet still conclude criminal charges could not be supported?", "Why did the prosecutor decline to present the case to a grand jury at all, when the family's attorneys specifically requested that step given the conflicting officer statements and available video?", "What specific policy, if any, has the Independence Police Department adopted regarding officers firing at immobilized, trapped occupants of a crashed vehicle since Pryor's death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "KCUR \u2014 \u201cFamily of Black man killed by Independence police sue for $25 million: 'We want justice'\u201d", "url": "https://www.kcur.org/news/2023-05-11/family-of-black-man-tyrea-pryor-killed-by-independence-police-sue-for-25-million-we-want-justice", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cFederal lawsuit filed over fatal 2022 police shooting of Kansas City-area suspect\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/federal-lawsuit-filed-fatal-2022-police-shooting-kansas-city-area-susp-rcna84118", "verified": true }, { "name": "Kansas City Star (via AOL News) \u2014 \u201cAgonizing video shows Black man posed no threat when Independence police killed him\u201d", "url": "https://www.aol.com/news/agonizing-video-shows-black-man-100000881.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "xzavier-hill", "caseNumber": "243", "name": "Xzavier Hill", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2021, "age": 18, "gender": "male", "city": "Goochland", "county": "Goochland County", "state": "VA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-17", "summary": "Xzavier Deyonte Hill, 18, of Charlottesville, was shot and killed by Virginia State Police Troopers Benjamin Bone and Seth Layton on Interstate 64 in Goochland County on January 9, 2021, after a high-speed chase ended when his car slid down an embankment. Troopers said Hill reached for and displayed a handgun as they ordered him to show his hands; dashcam audio captured them shouting \u201cGun! Gun! Gun!\u201d before firing. A stolen handgun was recovered in the passenger seat after the shooting. A multi-jurisdictional grand jury, overseen by a prosecutor who was himself a former state trooper, unanimously found the shooting justified in February 2021. Hill's mother, Latoya Benton, disputed the official account, said her son did not have a gun, and accused police of a cover-up; she later filed a $60 million wrongful death lawsuit, and a judge ordered the troopers to answer her questions under oath in the civil case. No one has ever been charged in Hill's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop attempt, the high-speed chase, and the shooting, per Virginia State Police statements and dashcam footage released by the Goochland Commonwealth's Attorney's Office.", "Troopers attempted to stop Hill for speeding around 4:35 a.m.; he fled, reaching speeds authorities described as high before his car slid down an embankment off Interstate 64 in Goochland County.", "Dashcam audio captured Trooper Bone ordering Hill to put his hands up and Trooper Layton shouting \u201cHe's reaching, reaching, reaching!\u201d and then \u201cHe's got a gun! Gun! Gun! Gun!\u201d immediately before the troopers opened fire.", "A handgun that had been reported stolen by someone Hill knew was recovered in the passenger seat of the car after the shooting, according to the grand jury's report.", "The investigation was overseen by Goochland Commonwealth's Attorney D. Michael Caudill, himself a former Virginia state trooper; a multi-jurisdictional grand jury convened on February 24, 2021 and unanimously found the troopers' actions \u201creasonable, justified, and supported by the facts and circumstances,\u201d concluding there was no probable cause to charge either trooper.", "Hill's mother, Latoya Benton, publicly disputed the account after reviewing the same dashcam footage, maintaining her son did not have a gun and stating she believed police were \u201chiding something.\u201d", "The Virginia NAACP publicly called on the governor and state attorney general to pursue further review and broader reforms requiring independent investigations of officer-involved shootings, citing Hill's case specifically.", "Benton filed a $60 million federal wrongful death lawsuit against the troopers and Virginia State Police; a judge later ordered the troopers to answer written questions from Benton about the night of the shooting as part of that civil case." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Hill in fact displayed a handgun in the moments before he was shot, as the troopers and the grand jury's report concluded, or whether his movement was misperceived, as his mother has maintained, was never independently tested at any criminal trial since the grand jury declined to indict.", "Whether the underlying grand jury proceeding, overseen by a prosecutor who was himself a former state trooper, and the version of the evidence and footage presented to the public afterward were complete, has been specifically disputed by the family's attorney, who noted only limited camera angles were released.", "The full content of any additional footage or evidence not released alongside the initial single-angle dashcam video has not been made comprehensively public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was the underlying criminal investigation overseen by a prosecutor who was himself a former Virginia state trooper, and did that role affect how the case was reviewed?", "Why has only limited camera-angle footage of the shooting been made public, despite the family's specific requests for the complete evidentiary record?", "What did the troopers' sworn answers in the family's civil lawsuit, compelled by a judge's order, ultimately reveal about the night of the shooting?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Newsweek \u2014 \u201cXzavier Hill Shooting by Virginia State Police Ruled Justified in Unanimous Grand Jury Decision\u201d", "url": "https://www.newsweek.com/xzavier-hill-shooting-virginia-state-police-ruled-justified-unanimous-grand-jury-decision-1572547", "verified": true }, { "name": "WRIC (ABC 8News) \u2014 \u201cVirginia NAACP calls for criminal justice reform after officer-involved shooting death of Xzavier Hill\u201d", "url": "https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/virginia-naacp-calls-for-criminal-justice-reform-after-officer-involved-shooting-death-of-xzavier-hill/", "verified": true }, { "name": "VPM \u2014 \u201cVirginia Troopers Ordered to Answer Questions in Hill Case\u201d", "url": "https://www.vpm.org/news/2021-11-16/the-officers-who-killed-xzavier-hill-will-have-to-answer-his-mothers-questions/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "jaheim-mcmillan", "caseNumber": "244", "name": "Jaheim McMillan", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2022, "age": 15, "gender": "male", "city": "Gulfport", "county": "Harrison", "state": "MS", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-17", "summary": "Jaheim McMillan, 15, a Gulfport High School freshman, was shot eight times, including once in the head, by Gulfport, Mississippi Police Officer Kenneth Nassar outside a Family Dollar store on October 6, 2022, after officers responded to reports of teenagers waving guns at passing motorists. Police said McMillan fled, then turned toward Nassar with a weapon, prompting the officer to fire; McMillan was taken off life support two days later. A bystander video that circulated afterward appeared to show him already stopped and raising his hands before the shots were fired, directly contradicting the official account. A Harrison County grand jury found \u201cno criminal conduct\u201d on Nassar's part in February 2023, four months after the shooting. His family and civil rights organizers have since formally asked the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division to investigate the case. No one has ever been charged in McMillan's death.", "known": [ "The reported-weapons call, the pursuit, and the shooting, per a 106-page Mississippi Bureau of Investigation report and dash and body camera footage the Mississippi Department of Public Safety released in 2025.", "Gulfport police received a report of several minors inside a car waving guns at passing drivers; officers stopped the vehicle at a Family Dollar, and most occupants fled on foot, including McMillan.", "Police Chief Adam Cooper said McMillan \u201cturned his body and his weapon toward the officer\u201d after being ordered to stop, prompting Officer Kenneth Nassar to fire, striking him eight times including once in the head.", "A bystander video that circulated on social media shortly after the shooting appeared to show McMillan already stopped and raising his hands in the air in the moments before shots were fired, directly contradicting the department's account.", "McMillan was taken off life support on October 8, 2022, two days after the shooting; four other teenagers in the vehicle were separately arrested on aggravated assault charges related to the reported gun-waving.", "The investigation was handled by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation under a state transparency law requiring independent review of officer-involved shootings, and the case was referred to the Mississippi Attorney General's office before being presented to a Harrison County grand jury.", "The Harrison County grand jury announced on February 22, 2023 that it found \u201cno criminal conduct\u201d by Nassar and declined to indict him; dash and body camera footage and the full MBI report were not publicly released until nearly three years after the shooting, in November 2025.", "McMillan's family, represented by civil rights organizers including Black Lives Matter Grassroots, have formally requested that the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division investigate the case following the state grand jury's decision." ], "unknown": [ "Whether McMillan in fact turned toward Officer Nassar while holding a weapon, as the official account maintained, or whether he had already stopped and raised his hands, as bystander video appeared to show, was never independently resolved at any criminal trial since the grand jury declined to indict.", "Why the dash and body camera footage central to both accounts was withheld from public release for nearly three years after the shooting, despite a state transparency policy requiring release of such footage, has not been fully explained.", "The full reasoning behind the grand jury's \u201cno criminal conduct\u201d finding, beyond the state's brief public statement, has not been made available, as grand jury proceedings are sealed under Mississippi law." ], "unanswered": [ "Why does bystander video appear to show McMillan already stopped with his hands raised, when the official justification for the shooting rests on him turning toward the officer with a weapon?", "Why did it take nearly three years for the dash and body camera footage to be released to the public, despite Mississippi's own stated transparency policy for officer-involved shootings?", "Has the U.S. Department of Justice responded to the family's formal request for a federal civil rights investigation into McMillan's death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Mississippi Free Press \u2014 \u201cJaheim McMillan Shooting Video Released, But Officer Not Indicted\u201d", "url": "https://www.mississippifreepress.org/jaheim-mcmillan-shooting-video-released-but-no-indictment-for-gulfport-officer/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WLOX \u2014 \u201cGrand Jury clears Gulfport police in shooting of Jaheim McMillan\u201d", "url": "https://www.wlox.com/2023/02/22/grand-jury-clears-gulfport-police-shooting-jaheim-mcmillan/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Newsweek \u2014 \u201cJaheim McMillan's Family Demand Gulfport Police Release Bodycam Footage\u201d", "url": "https://www.newsweek.com/jaheim-mcmillan-family-demand-gulfport-police-release-bodycam-footage-1750993", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "paul-oneal", "caseNumber": "245", "name": "Paul O'Neal", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2016, "age": 18, "gender": "male", "city": "Chicago", "county": "Cook", "state": "IL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-17", "summary": "Paul O'Neal, 18, was shot in the back and killed by Chicago Police Officer Jose Diaz on July 28, 2016, after fleeing on foot from a stolen Jaguar convertible he had crashed into two police vehicles during a chase in the South Shore neighborhood. O'Neal was unarmed. Two other officers had already fired roughly a dozen shots into the car itself before he ran, in apparent violation of the department's own policy against shooting into a moving vehicle when it poses the only danger. The medical examiner classified O'Neal's death a homicide. Following an investigation, no criminal charges were ever filed against any of the three officers who fired. In 2020, the Chicago Police Board fired two of the officers who had shot at the car \u2014 but not Diaz, the officer whose shot actually killed O'Neal. The city settled a wrongful death lawsuit with O'Neal's mother for $2.25 million later that year. No one has ever been charged in O'Neal's death.", "known": [ "The stolen-vehicle chase, the crash, and the shooting, per Chicago Police Department body and dash camera footage released publicly in August 2016.", "O'Neal, driving a Jaguar convertible reported stolen from a neighboring suburb, struck two Chicago police vehicles and a parked car during the chase; two officers then fired at the vehicle itself while O'Neal was still inside it.", "O'Neal fled the car on foot after crashing it and was pursued by a third officer, Jose Diaz, who fatally shot him once in the back as he ran; roughly fifteen shots were fired in total across the encounter by the three officers.", "Chicago's own use-of-force policy specifically prohibits officers from firing into a vehicle when the car itself is the only danger present, though the policy allows exceptions when deadly force is reasonably necessary to prevent death or serious injury.", "The three officers who fired were stripped of police powers following a preliminary investigation; after a full investigation, no criminal charges were brought against any of them.", "In March 2020, the Chicago Police Board ordered the firing of Officers Michael Coughlin and Jose Torres, who had fired into the vehicle, for their roles in the shooting; Officer Jose Diaz, who fired the shot that killed O'Neal, was not fired.", "The City of Chicago settled a wrongful death lawsuit brought by O'Neal's mother for $2.25 million in 2020, the same year the two other officers were fired." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Diaz's decision to fire at O'Neal as he fled unarmed on foot was justified under the circumstances, separate from the department's own finding that firing into the vehicle itself violated policy, was never resolved by any criminal trial since none was brought.", "Why disciplinary review concluded that Coughlin and Torres's conduct warranted firing while Diaz's did not, despite Diaz being the officer whose shot actually killed O'Neal, has not been fully explained in available public reporting.", "The full reasoning behind the Cook County State's Attorney's decision not to bring criminal charges against any of the three officers has not been made comprehensively public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was Officer Jose Diaz, who fired the shot that killed O'Neal, not fired by the Police Board when two colleagues involved in the same incident were?", "Why did officers fire into O'Neal's vehicle at all, given the department's own policy against shooting into a car that poses the only danger?", "Why did the criminal investigation conclude no charges were warranted against any officer, despite the medical examiner ruling O'Neal's death a homicide?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Chicago Tribune \u2014 \u201cVideo from cop shooting of teenager 'horrific,' family lawyer says\u201d", "url": "http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-police-shooting-paul-oneal-video-met-20160805-story.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Chicago Tribune \u2014 \u201cPaul O'Neal fatally shot by police in back: autopsy\u201d", "url": "http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-paul-oneal-autopsy-20160817-story.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News Chicago \u2014 \u201cPolice Board Orders 2 Officers Fired In 2016 Shooting That Killed Paul O'Neal\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/police-board-orders-2-officers-fired-in-2016-shooting-that-killed-paul-oneal/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "patrick-warren-sr", "caseNumber": "246", "name": "Patrick Warren Sr.", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2021, "age": 52, "gender": "male", "city": "Killeen", "county": "Bell", "state": "TX", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-17", "summary": "Patrick Lynn Warren Sr., 52, was shot and killed by Killeen, Texas Police Officer Reynaldo Contreras on January 10, 2021, after officers responded to a 911 call specifically requesting a mental health check. Contreras first deployed his Taser, which had no effect on Warren, who was described as emotionally distressed and yelling in his own front yard; when Warren continued to advance, Contreras drew his firearm and fired. Body camera video released by the family's attorney, civil rights lawyer Lee Merritt, captured a bystander repeatedly saying, \u201cI told you, don't use a gun.\u201d Warren's family disputed the department's account, alleging Contreras briefly redirected his weapon toward Warren's wife before returning it to Warren and continuing to fire. A Bell County grand jury declined to indict Contreras in May 2021, four months after the shooting. No one has ever been charged in Warren's death.", "known": [ "The mental health welfare-check call, the Taser deployment, and the shooting, per Killeen Police Department statements and body camera footage the department released publicly.", "Officers were dispatched specifically in response to a 911 call requesting a psychiatric welfare check; upon arrival, Contreras encountered Warren in visible emotional distress outside his home.", "Contreras first used his Taser, which had no effect on Warren; when Warren continued to advance toward him despite commands to stop, Contreras drew his duty weapon and fired.", "Body camera video released by the family's attorney captured a bystander repeatedly telling the officer afterward, \u201cI told you, don't use a gun.\u201d", "Warren's family, represented by civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, alleged Contreras \u201credirected his weapon towards Patrick's wife\u201d after the first shot before turning back to Warren and continuing to fire; Killeen Police Chief Charles Kimble publicly disputed this account as \u201csignificantly false\u201d and released the department's full unedited video in response.", "The Texas Rangers independently investigated the shooting alongside a separate Killeen Police Department internal affairs review.", "A Bell County grand jury reviewed the Texas Rangers' investigation and declined to indict Contreras on May 19, 2021, four months after the shooting; Contreras had already returned to administrative duty in April.", "Warren's family publicly stated their intention to pursue federal civil rights charges following the grand jury's decision not to indict." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Contreras's account of Warren continuing to advance despite commands, and the family's disputed account of the weapon being briefly redirected toward Warren's wife, can both be reconciled with the same underlying video, given each side characterized the same footage differently, was never resolved by any criminal trial since the grand jury declined to indict.", "The specific findings of Killeen Police Department's separate internal affairs investigation, distinct from the Texas Rangers' criminal investigation, have not been made comprehensively public.", "Whether federal civil rights charges were ever formally pursued following the family's stated intention to seek them has not been confirmed in the sources reviewed for this summary." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did a call specifically requesting a mental health welfare check end in gunfire within minutes of officers arriving?", "Why do the family's and the department's accounts of the same body camera footage directly conflict regarding whether the officer's weapon was briefly aimed at Warren's wife?", "What became of Warren's family's stated intention to pursue federal civil rights charges after the state grand jury declined to indict?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "KWTX \u2014 \u201cGrand jury clears officer who shot unarmed Central Texas man with mental health issues\u201d", "url": "https://www.kwtx.com/2021/05/21/grand-jury-clears-officer-who-shot-unarmed-central-texas-man-with-mental-health-issues/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Law & Crime \u2014 \u201cNo State Charges Against Reynaldo Contreras in Death of Patrick Lynn Warren Sr.\u201d", "url": "https://lawandcrime.com/crime/no-state-charges-for-officer-who-shot-and-killed-man-during-mental-health-crisis/", "verified": true }, { "name": "KXXV \u2014 \u201c'There's a protocol that he did not follow': Warren family pursuing federal charges after KPD officer not indicted by a Bell County Grand Jury\u201d", "url": "https://www.kxxv.com/hometown/bell-county/theres-a-protocol-that-he-did-not-follow-warren-family-pursuing-federal-charges-after-kpd-officer-not-indicted-by-a-bell-county-grand-jury", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "jordan-neely", "caseNumber": "247", "name": "Jordan Neely", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2023, "age": 30, "gender": "male", "city": "New York", "county": "New York County", "state": "NY", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-22", "summary": "Jordan Neely, 30, a homeless Michael Jackson impersonator with a documented history of mental illness, died after being placed in a chokehold by Daniel Penny, a 26-year-old former Marine, aboard a New York City subway car on May 1, 2023. Neely had boarded the train agitated and yelling that he was hungry and thirsty and didn't care if he went to jail or died; Penny, seated nearby, approached him from behind and held him in a chokehold for roughly six minutes, continuing even after Neely stopped moving, until police arrived. The medical examiner ruled Neely's death a homicide by compression of the neck. Penny was indicted on manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges; at trial in December 2024, the manslaughter charge was dismissed after the jury deadlocked, and Penny was acquitted on the remaining negligent homicide charge. No one has ever been convicted in Neely's death.", "known": [ "The chokehold and Neely's death, per body camera and bystander video, the medical examiner's report, and testimony at Penny's criminal trial.", "Neely boarded an F train at the Second Avenue station visibly agitated, yelling that he was hungry, thirsty, and didn't care whether he went to jail or died; several passengers on the crowded car said they felt threatened, though Neely did not physically touch anyone before Penny intervened.", "Penny, seated behind Neely, approached him and applied a chokehold, bringing him to the floor of the train car and maintaining the hold for approximately six minutes as the train continued to the next station; two other passengers helped restrain Neely's arms during part of the encounter.", "Bystander video captured passengers telling Penny that Neely had stopped moving and that he was going to kill him; Penny continued the hold until police arrived.", "Penny submitted to voluntary police questioning and was released without charge the same day; two days later, the medical examiner ruled Neely's death a homicide by compression of the neck.", "Penny was charged with second-degree manslaughter a week after the death and later indicted by a grand jury on an added, lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide; he pleaded not guilty to both.", "At trial in December 2024, jurors deadlocked on the manslaughter charge; at the prosecution's request, the judge dismissed it so the jury could consider only the lesser negligent homicide charge, on which Penny was acquitted on December 9, 2024.", "Neely's father, Andre Zachery, separately filed a civil wrongful death lawsuit against Penny alleging assault, battery, and negligence." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Penny's use of a roughly six-minute chokehold, continued after bystanders warned he was killing Neely, constituted a reasonable use of force to protect other passengers, as the defense argued, or reckless conduct that caused an avoidable death, as prosecutors argued, was the central dispute at trial and was not resolved in the prosecution's favor, since the jury deadlocked on the more serious charge and acquitted on the lesser one.", "The specific reasoning behind the jury's deadlock on manslaughter and its unanimous not-guilty verdict on negligent homicide, beyond the public verdict itself, has not been made available, as jury deliberations are not a matter of public record.", "The outcome of Neely's father's separate civil wrongful death lawsuit against Penny had not been resolved in the sources reviewed for this summary." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did Penny continue the chokehold for minutes after bystanders told him Neely had stopped moving and warned that he was going to kill him?", "What specific mental health and homelessness services, if any, had been available to Neely in the period before his death, and what systemic gaps did his death expose?", "What outcome, if any, resulted from Neely's father's civil wrongful death lawsuit against Penny?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "PBS News \u2014 \u201cDaniel Penny acquitted in NYC subway chokehold case over Jordan Neely's death\u201d", "url": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/daniel-penny-acquitted-in-nyc-subway-chokehold-case-over-jordan-neelys-death", "verified": true }, { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cDaniel Penny acquitted of criminally negligent homicide after more serious manslaughter charge was dismissed\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/09/us/daniel-penny-subway-death-trial/index.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Al Jazeera \u2014 \u201cDaniel Penny acquitted in New York subway choking death of Jordan Neely\u201d", "url": "https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/9/daniel-penny-found-acquitted-in-choking-death-of-jordan", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "bennie-edwards", "caseNumber": "248", "name": "Bennie Edwards", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 60, "gender": "male", "city": "Oklahoma City", "county": "Oklahoma", "state": "OK", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-22", "summary": "Bennie Edwards, 60, a homeless flower seller known locally in his neighborhood and diagnosed with mental illness, was shot three times in the back by Oklahoma City Police Sergeant Clifford Holman on December 11, 2020, as he ran away following a confrontation outside a business. Officers had responded to a report that Edwards was bothering customers; police said he held a knife and refused commands to drop it before being Tased and pepper-sprayed, then briefly moved toward an officer before turning to flee, at which point Holman fired. Then-District Attorney David Prater charged Holman with first-degree manslaughter in February 2021, a rare criminal charge against an Oklahoma officer. The original investigating detective later retracted his own sworn affidavit statement, saying he no longer believed the shooting had been unnecessary. In July 2023, a newly elected district attorney dismissed the charge entirely, citing an outside use-of-force expert's review. No one has ever been convicted in Edwards's death.", "known": [ "The confrontation, the Taser and pepper spray deployment, and the shooting, per a police affidavit, bystander video that circulated publicly, and the Oklahoma County District Attorney's charging and later dismissal statements.", "Officers responding to a report of Edwards bothering customers at a north Oklahoma City business found him holding a knife; after he refused to drop it, they used a Taser and pepper spray, which had little effect.", "Bystander video showed Edwards briefly moving toward officers before turning and running away through the parking lot; Sergeant Clifford Holman fired three shots, striking Edwards in the upper back and killing him at the scene.", "An autopsy determined Edwards's death was caused by multiple gunshot wounds and ruled the manner of death a homicide.", "Then-District Attorney David Prater charged Holman with first-degree manslaughter in February 2021, stating Holman's shots were fired \u201cunnecessarily\u201d and \u201cwithout justifiable cause\u201d as Edwards ran away; a second officer at the scene, Keith Duroy, was not charged.", "OKC Police Detective Bryn Carter, who had investigated the shooting and sworn the original affidavit supporting the charge, later told the district attorney's office he could no longer stand by his own statement that Holman's shot had been unnecessary.", "In July 2023, newly elected District Attorney Vicki Behenna dismissed the manslaughter charge against Holman, along with charges against six other Oklahoma City-area officers in two unrelated fatal shootings, after her office hired an out-of-state use-of-force expert to review each case.", "Edwards's family filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against the city and the two officers; the City of Oklahoma City settled the suit for $1.05 million in 2024." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Edwards's turn to flee, after Tasing and pepper spray had already failed to subdue him, justified deadly force as he ran away was directly disputed even within the district attorney's own office \u2014 the original investigating detective retracted his sworn statement that the shooting was unnecessary \u2014 and was never resolved by any criminal trial, since the charge was dismissed before one occurred.", "The specific findings and reasoning of the out-of-state use-of-force expert whose review led to the charge's dismissal have not been made comprehensively public.", "Why the original investigating detective changed his sworn assessment of the shooting has not been fully explained in available public reporting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did a detective who swore an affidavit supporting manslaughter charges later retract his own statement, and what changed his assessment?", "Why did it take a new district attorney's office, elected more than two years after the shooting, to dismiss a charge her predecessor had personally filed and defended?", "What specific policy changes, if any, has the Oklahoma City Police Department made to its response protocols for encounters involving people experiencing a mental health crisis since Edwards's death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "ABC News \u2014 \u201cManslaughter charges dropped against 7 Oklahoma police officers\u201d", "url": "https://abcnews.go.com/US/manslaughter-charges-dropped-7-oklahoma-police-officers/story?id=101785593", "verified": true }, { "name": "KGOU \u2014 \u201cOklahoma County DA dismisses criminal charges of 7 police officers who shot and killed three people\u201d", "url": "https://www.kgou.org/criminal-justice/2023-07-31/oklahoma-county-da-dismisses-criminal-charges-of-7-police-officers-who-shot-and-killed-three-people", "verified": true }, { "name": "NonDoc \u2014 \u201cLegal roundup: Teacher impersonator pleads, OKC settles Bennie Edwards lawsuit, recusal rules amended\u201d", "url": "https://nondoc.com/2024/11/25/roundup-casee-hughes-pleads-clinton-teacher-case-okc-settles-bennie-edwards-lawsuit/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "desman-laduke", "caseNumber": "249", "name": "Desman LaDuke", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2022, "age": 22, "gender": "male", "city": "Nicholasville", "county": "Jessamine", "state": "KY", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-22", "summary": "Desman LaDuke, 22, was shot and killed by Nicholasville, Kentucky Police Officer Joseph Horton on October 22, 2022, after his aunt called 911 for a welfare check, fearing he was suicidal. Nine officers in tactical gear surrounded LaDuke's home with rifles drawn during a standoff; police say LaDuke brandished two firearms at a bedroom window and pointed them toward officers, prompting Horton to fire through the window from outside. LaDuke's family disputed the account, saying he was alone in his bedroom and that no officers ever entered the home as police initially suggested. A Jessamine County grand jury declined to indict Horton in August 2023, nearly a year after the shooting. No one has ever been charged in LaDuke's death.", "known": [ "The welfare-check call, the standoff, and the shooting, per Kentucky State Police's investigative file, released body camera footage, and public statements from LaDuke's family.", "LaDuke's aunt called 911 at 10:40 a.m. to report he was suicidal and armed; his girlfriend had reported taking a gun away from him earlier before he retrieved a knife and then the gun again.", "Nicholasville's Special Response Team surrounded LaDuke's home with rifles pointed at doors and windows; LaDuke's aunt said she arrived at the scene and asked to be allowed inside to talk to him but was denied.", "Police said LaDuke \u201cbrandished two firearms while inside the residence in front of a bedroom window\u201d and pointed them toward officers, prompting Officer Joseph Horton to fire through the window from his position outside; LaDuke was struck and died at a hospital that evening.", "LaDuke's family disputed the department's initial suggestion that officers had entered the home and were threatened at close range, stating in a public statement that he was alone in his bedroom the entire time and that officers never made entry before the shooting.", "A Jessamine County grand jury, presented evidence gathered by Kentucky State Police, declined to indict Horton on August 24, 2023, nearly ten months after the shooting.", "LaDuke's family and community members held repeated protests and public meetings afterward, specifically calling for reformed mental health crisis response policies rather than a tactical rifle response to a family's request for help, and filed a federal lawsuit alleging the Special Response Team handled the crisis \u201clike a hostage rescue.\u201d" ], "unknown": [ "Whether LaDuke in fact pointed a firearm at officers through the window, as police maintained, or was alone and non-threatening as his family has stated, was never independently resolved at any criminal trial since the grand jury declined to indict.", "The specific content of the body camera footage and audio-recorded witness interviews in the full Kentucky State Police investigative file, beyond what has been publicly summarized, has not been comprehensively reported.", "Why the department's initial public account suggested a different set of circumstances than what the family has described has not been fully reconciled in available public reporting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did a family's call for help during a mental health crisis result in nine officers surrounding the home with rifles rather than a crisis-intervention response?", "Why was LaDuke's aunt, who raised him and asked to help de-escalate the situation in person, denied the chance to do so before the standoff ended in gunfire?", "What became of the family's lawsuit alleging the Special Response Team's tactics escalated rather than resolved the crisis?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Register-Herald (AP) \u2014 \u201cGrand jury declines to indict officer in fatal Kentucky police shooting of armed Black man\u201d", "url": "https://www.register-herald.com/news/nation_world/grand-jury-declines-to-indict-officer-in-fatal-kentucky-police-shooting-of-armed-black-man/article_81efb6fc-dd01-5469-bd3d-3342be2c8828.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "LEX 18 \u2014 \u201cA closer look at the fatal Nicholasville police shooting of Desman LaDuke\u201d", "url": "https://www.lex18.com/news/lex-18-investigates/a-closer-look-at-the-fatal-nicholasville-police-shooting-of-desman-laduke", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Black Wall Street Times \u2014 \u201cKentucky Police Kill Desman LaDuke After Mental Wellness Check\u201d", "url": "https://theblackwallsttimes.com/2022/10/28/kentucky-police-kill-desman-laduke-after-mental-wellness-check/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "fanta-bility", "caseNumber": "250", "name": "Fanta Bility", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2021, "age": 8, "gender": "female", "city": "Sharon Hill", "county": "Delaware", "state": "PA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-22", "summary": "Fanta Bility, 8, was shot and killed by Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania police officers outside a high school football game on August 27, 2021, when three officers fired 25 rounds into a car they mistakenly believed was the source of gunfire that had broken out roughly 140 feet away. Two Black teenagers who had actually exchanged gunfire nearby were initially charged with first-degree murder in her death under a transferred-intent theory, even though evidence already showed police bullets had killed her; those charges were withdrawn after public outcry. A grand jury then recommended manslaughter charges against the three officers, Brian Devaney, Sean Dolan, and Devon Smith, who instead pleaded guilty in November 2022 to 10 counts each of the lesser charge of reckless endangerment and were sentenced to five years' probation, the first 11 months on house arrest. Investigators said they could not determine which officer's bullet killed her. No one has ever been convicted of causing Fanta Bility's death.", "known": [ "The nearby gunfire, the officers' shots into the car, and Fanta's death, per a Delaware County grand jury presentment and Philadelphia Inquirer reporting on the criminal case.", "Two teenagers, Hasein Strand and Angelo Ford, exchanged gunfire about 140 feet from the stadium exit after an argument at the game; the crowd leaving the stadium scattered, and a car driven by Assiyah Easley stopped abruptly in front of three Sharon Hill officers monitoring the crowd.", "The officers, believing the car's occupants had fired at them, fired a combined 25 shots at the vehicle; one stray round flew beyond the car and struck Fanta, killing her, and wounded three other people including her 12-year-old sister.", "Strand and Ford were initially charged with first-degree murder in Fanta's death under a transferred-intent legal theory, despite the district attorney's own office acknowledging evidence showed police gunfire had killed her; the charges drew significant public backlash and were withdrawn after a grand jury investigation into the officers concluded, with Strand later pleading guilty only to aggravated assault and gun offenses related to the original gunfight.", "A Delaware County grand jury recommended manslaughter and reckless endangerment charges against Devaney, Dolan, and Smith in January 2022; the three were fired by the Sharon Hill Borough Council days later.", "Neither Dolan nor Smith activated their body cameras during the incident, and Devaney was not wearing one; investigators said the fatal bullet was too damaged to trace to a specific officer's weapon.", "In November 2022, all three officers pleaded guilty to 10 counts each of reckless endangerment, avoiding the more serious manslaughter charges entirely; in May 2023, a judge sentenced each to five years of probation, with the first 11 months served on house arrest rather than prison.", "Fanta's family filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against the three officers and the Sharon Hill Police Department alleging inadequate training and excessive force." ], "unknown": [ "Which specific officer's bullet killed Fanta was never determined, according to investigators, meaning individual responsibility among the three was never established even within the plea agreement all three accepted.", "Why two teenagers were initially charged with first-degree murder in a death the prosecutor's own office already knew was caused by police gunfire has not been fully explained beyond the transferred-intent legal theory cited at the time.", "The specific reasoning behind the plea agreement that allowed all three officers to avoid manslaughter charges and any prison time has not been made fully public beyond the prosecutor's general statements." ], "unanswered": [ "Why were two Black teenagers charged with first-degree murder for a death the prosecutor's office already knew was caused by police bullets, before public outcry forced those charges to be withdrawn?", "Why did none of the officers' body cameras capture the shooting, despite department policy, and what accountability followed that failure?", "Why did three officers who killed a child and wounded three others ultimately serve no prison time at all?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Philadelphia Inquirer \u2014 \u201cThree former Sharon Hill police officers sentenced to probation in the shooting death of 8-year-old Fanta Bility\u201d", "url": "https://www.inquirer.com/crime/fanta-bility-shooting-trial-sentencing-sharon-hill-police-20230505.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "WHYY \u2014 \u201cFormer Sharon Hill officers get house arrest for Fanta Bility's shooting death\u201d", "url": "https://whyy.org/articles/fanta-bility-officers-sentencing-sharon-hill/", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Philadelphia Inquirer \u2014 \u201cThe Sharon Hill Police officers who killed Fanta Bility have been charged in her death\u201d", "url": "https://www.inquirer.com/news/fanta-bility-sharon-hill-police-criminal-charges-grand-jury-20220118.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "ed-johnson", "caseNumber": "251", "name": "Ed Johnson", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1906, "age": 19, "gender": "male", "city": "Chattanooga", "county": "Hamilton County", "state": "TN", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-22", "summary": "Ed Johnson, 19, a carpenter, was lynched from the Walnut Street Bridge in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on March 19, 1906, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court had granted a stay of his execution. Johnson had been convicted of raping a white woman, Nevada Taylor, by an all-white jury after a rushed trial built on weak, circumstantial evidence; two local Black attorneys took his appeal directly to the Supreme Court, where Justice John Marshall Harlan issued a stay hours before the scheduled hanging. Sheriff Joseph Shipp, informed of the stay, sent his deputies home for the night, leaving Johnson guarded only by an elderly jailer; a mob broke into the jail that night, dragged Johnson to the bridge, and shot him to death after the rope broke. His final words, carved on his tombstone, read: \u201cGod Bless you all. I AM A Innocent Man.\u201d The Supreme Court, in a rare direct response, tried Shipp and five others for contempt of court \u2014 the only criminal trial ever held by the U.S. Supreme Court itself \u2014 and found them guilty in 1909. That contempt conviction addressed defying the Court's order, not the killing itself; no one has ever been charged with or convicted of lynching Ed Johnson.", "known": [ "The trial, the Supreme Court's stay of execution, and the lynching, per the U.S. Supreme Court's own opinion in United States v. Shipp (1906, 1909) and contemporaneous court records.", "Johnson was arrested for the assault of Nevada Taylor on January 23, 1906; an all-white jury deliberated for hours and split 8-4 in favor of innocence before reaching a guilty verdict the following day, after jurors' names had already been published in the local newspaper, exposing them to public pressure.", "Two local Black attorneys, Styles Hutchins and Noah Parden, took Johnson's appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court after failing to obtain relief in lower courts; Justice John Marshall Harlan granted a writ of habeas corpus and a stay of execution on March 19, 1906, moving the case to the top of the Court's docket.", "Sheriff Joseph Shipp and Chattanooga officials were notified of the stay by telegram the same day; Shipp gave his deputies the night off despite a mob having already formed after Johnson's arrest, leaving only an elderly jailer to guard him.", "A mob broke into the jail that night, seized Johnson, and dragged him to the Walnut Street Bridge, where he was hanged; when the rope broke, mob members shot him to death. He was the second Black man lynched from that same bridge, after Alfred Blount in 1893.", "The Supreme Court took the rare step of trying Shipp and 25 others for contempt of court for defying its stay order; in United States v. Shipp, decided in 1909, the Court found Shipp and five others guilty and sentenced them to short prison terms \u2014 the only criminal trial the U.S. Supreme Court has ever conducted itself.", "The contempt conviction addressed only Shipp's defiance of the Court's order, not the killing of Johnson himself; no one was ever separately charged with or convicted of his murder.", "Johnson was posthumously exonerated by a Hamilton County judge in 2000, and the Chattanooga City Council formally apologized for his lynching in 2021." ], "unknown": [ "The identities of the mob members who carried out the lynching itself, distinct from Shipp and the deputies later tried for contempt, were never conclusively established or prosecuted.", "Whether Johnson committed the assault of Nevada Taylor was never established through any trial free of the coercion and public pressure surrounding the original 1906 proceeding; a Hamilton County judge's 2000 exoneration order found the original conviction could not stand.", "The full extent of Sheriff Shipp's advance knowledge of the mob's plans, beyond sending his deputies home the same night the stay was announced, has been debated by historians but never conclusively resolved." ], "unanswered": [ "Why has no one ever been charged with the actual killing of Ed Johnson, when the U.S. Supreme Court itself found Sheriff Shipp criminally responsible for enabling it?", "What specifically did Sheriff Shipp know about the mob's plans when he sent his deputies home for the night, hours after the stay of execution was announced?", "What lasting effect did United States v. Shipp \u2014 still the only criminal trial in Supreme Court history \u2014 have on federal courts' willingness to intervene in state criminal proceedings in the decades that followed?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Supreme Court Historical Society \u2014 \u201cUnited States v. Shipp\u201d", "url": "https://civics.supremecourthistory.org/article/united-states-v-shipp/", "verified": true }, { "name": "National Endowment for the Humanities \u2014 \u201cChattanooga versus the Supreme Court\u201d", "url": "https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/novemberdecember/feature/chattanooga-versus-the-supreme-court", "verified": true }, { "name": "Friends of the Ed Johnson Memorial \u2014 \u201cHistory\u201d", "url": "https://www.edjohnsonproject.com/history", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "pitts-mcfarland-marshall", "caseNumber": "252", "name": "Albert Pitts Jr., David Lee Pitts, Earnest McFarland & Alfred \u201cMonk\u201d Marshall", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 1960, "age": null, "gender": "male", "city": "Monroe", "county": "Ouachita Parish", "state": "LA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-22", "summary": "Albert Pitts Jr., 21, his brother David Lee Pitts, 24, their cousin Earnest McFarland, 19, and fellow worker Alfred \u201cMonk\u201d Marshall were shot to death by their employer, Zennie William \u201cRobert\u201d Fuller, outside his home in Monroe, Louisiana on July 26, 1960, after the men came to collect wages Fuller had long withheld. A fifth worker, Charlie \u201cCat\u201d Willis, survived despite being shot in the back. Fuller, who had a history of underpaying his largely Black workforce, claimed the men attacked him with knives and that he shot and reloaded his shotgun three times before they could reach him; a witness who arrived immediately afterward said she saw no knives at the scene until after police arrived. An all-white grand jury refused to indict Fuller and instead indicted Willis, the wounded survivor, for attempting to murder Fuller. Fuller went on to become a statewide leader of the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. No one has ever been charged in the deaths of Pitts, Pitts, McFarland, or Marshall.", "known": [ "The shooting and the grand jury's decisions, per contemporaneous Ouachita Parish court and coroner's records located in the parish courthouse basement, and a five-part LSU Cold Case Project investigation later recognized as a Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting semifinalist.", "Fuller, sole owner of a sanitation business staffed mostly by young Black men, had a reputation for paying his workers little or not at all; witnesses told LSU Cold Case researchers the men came to Fuller's home on July 26, 1960 specifically to collect wages he owed them, after Fuller himself had invited them the day before.", "Fuller told police and reporters the five men charged him with knives and that he shot and reloaded a double-barrel shotgun three times before they could reach him; three men died at the scene, a fourth died hours later at the hospital, and Willis survived after being shot in the back.", "Patricia Sherman, a neighbor who walked onto the scene immediately after the shooting, later told LSU Cold Case reporters she saw no knives near the bodies at that time, though police reported finding three knives beside the men once they arrived.", "The Ouachita Parish coroner ruled the deaths of the three men who died at the scene homicides resulting from \u201ca fight,\u201d despite no contemporaneous evidence that a fight had occurred.", "An all-white grand jury declined to indict Fuller, and on the same day indicted Willis, the wounded survivor, for the attempted murder of Fuller; facing threats from Fuller, Willis pleaded guilty and received five years' probation, later serving time in a state correctional facility after a probation violation.", "Months after the shooting, Fuller joined the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and rose to become the group's statewide Klan Bureau of Investigation director, organizing violent \u201cwrecking\u201d missions against Black residents and civil rights workers across Louisiana through the 1960s.", "An FBI review opened after the 2007 Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act found a witness account that one of Fuller's sons shot several of the men \u201cto finish them off,\u201d but the bureau closed the case in 2010 after concluding the men it believed responsible had already died \u2014 apparently unaware that Fuller's eldest son, a listed witness to the shooting, was still alive at the time and would not die until 2016." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the knives police reported finding beside the bodies were present during the shooting itself or placed afterward, as witness Patricia Sherman's account to LSU Cold Case researchers suggested, was never resolved by any prosecution, since the grand jury declined to indict Fuller at all.", "Whether more than one shooter was involved, as multiple witnesses interviewed decades later by LSU Cold Case researchers suggested regarding one of Fuller's sons, was never investigated at the time and could not be conclusively established by the later FBI or university reviews.", "Why the FBI's 2010 case closure concluded no potential suspect remained alive, despite public court records identifying Fuller's eldest son as a listed witness who in fact lived until 2016, has not been explained by the bureau." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did an all-white grand jury decline to indict a man who admitted shooting four people to death, while indicting the one survivor for allegedly trying to kill his own shooter?", "Why did investigating officers report finding knives at the scene that a witness who arrived earlier says were not there?", "How did the FBI's 2010 review conclude no living suspect remained when public records identified a witness who was, in fact, still alive?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "LSU Cold Case Project \u2014 \u201cRobert Fuller: The 1960 Murder of Albert Pitts Jr., David Lee Pitts, Earnest McFarland and Alfred \u2018Monk\u2019 Marshall and Wounding of Charlie Willis\u201d", "url": "https://lsucoldcaseproject.com/case/robert-fuller/", "verified": true }, { "name": "LSU Cold Case Project \u2014 \u201cA case that \u2018flips justice on its head\u2019: Victim, not shooter, convicted in 1960 bloodbath\u201d", "url": "https://lsucoldcaseproject.com/a-case-that-flips-justice-on-its-head-victim-not-shooter-convicted-in-1960-bloodbath/", "verified": true }, { "name": "LSU Cold Case Project \u2014 \u201cA man the FBI thought was dead recalls details of 1960 murders\u201d", "url": "https://lsucoldcaseproject.com/a-man-the-fbi-thought-was-dead-recalls-details-of-1960-murders/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "ariane-mccree", "caseNumber": "253", "name": "Ariane McCree", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2019, "age": 28, "gender": "male", "city": "Chester", "county": "Chester County", "state": "SC", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-22", "summary": "Ariane McCree, 28, was shot and killed by a Chester, South Carolina police officer working off-duty security in a Walmart parking lot on November 23, 2019, after being detained for shoplifting a $46 door handle. Officers said McCree, handcuffed behind his back, assaulted an officer, ran to his car, retrieved a gun, and pointed it at officers before they fired roughly two dozen shots; McCree's family disputed this account, saying he was still handcuffed with his hands behind his back when he was killed. The officer who fired was working security off-duty and was not wearing a body camera, and no store surveillance footage captured the shooting itself. The South Carolina Attorney General's Office cleared the officers of state charges in March 2020, and a subsequent federal civil rights review closed without any charges being announced. The involved officers' names were never publicly released, specifically because they were never criminally charged. No one has ever been charged in McCree's death.", "known": [ "The shoplifting detention, the alleged escape, and the shooting, per the South Carolina Attorney General's Office's public findings and body camera footage the Chester Police Department released roughly six months after the shooting.", "A Walmart cashier told investigators McCree took a $46 door handle without paying for it and left, then returned to the store later that morning, where off-duty Chester officers working store security detained and handcuffed him behind his back for shoplifting.", "The Attorney General's Office stated McCree assaulted the detaining officer, ran to his vehicle, and retrieved a firearm despite being handcuffed, then pointed it at the officer, who fired several shots; a second officer arriving to transport McCree to jail also fired after hearing shots and radioed reports of a gun.", "The officer who fired the initial shots was working off-duty as store security and was not wearing a body camera; no Walmart surveillance footage captured the shooting confrontation itself, and investigators relied primarily on officer and witness statements.", "McCree's family and civil rights advocates publicly disputed the official account, maintaining he was still handcuffed with his hands behind his back at the moment he was shot.", "The South Carolina Attorney General's Office announced in March 2020 that its review found the officers acted in self-defense and cleared them of state charges; the officers' names were never publicly released, which the department said was because they faced no criminal charges.", "South Carolina's attorney general separately requested a federal civil rights review by the U.S. Attorney's Office; reporting by the Post and Courier in late 2020 found prosecutors had gone silent on the review's findings, a silence the paper's investigation said suggested the officers would not be federally charged either.", "One of the two officers, later identified in reporting as Harris, was internally disciplined only for failing to activate his body camera during the encounter, not for the shooting itself; both officers remained with the department, and McCree's family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the department." ], "unknown": [ "Whether McCree was still handcuffed at the moment he was shot, as his family has maintained, or had freed himself and retrieved a weapon, as the officers stated, was never resolved by any independent video evidence, since no body camera or store surveillance footage captured the shooting itself, and was never tested at any criminal trial since none was brought.", "The specific findings of the federal civil rights review referenced by South Carolina's attorney general have never been made public, and reporters were unable to obtain a formal statement of its outcome beyond an inference drawn from prosecutors' silence.", "The full internal disciplinary record for both officers, beyond the one body-camera violation publicly reported, has not been made comprehensively available." ], "unanswered": [ "Why were no body cameras or store surveillance cameras capturing the actual shooting, despite one officer being on duty and the incident occurring inside a major retail chain's parking lot?", "Why have the involved officers' names never been publicly released, and why did the department's disciplinary review address only a body-camera policy violation rather than the shooting itself?", "What became of the federal civil rights review South Carolina's own attorney general requested, given prosecutors never issued a public statement of its conclusion?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "South Carolina Attorney General's Office \u2014 \u201cOfficers cleared in Chester Walmart shooting last November\u201d", "url": "https://www.scag.gov/about-the-office/news/officers-cleared-in-chester-walmart-shooting-last-november/", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Post and Courier \u2014 \u201cProsecutors silent on federal review of Chester police shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.postandcourier.com/news/prosecutors-silent-on-federal-review-of-chester-police-shooting/article_a912a894-2464-11eb-a103-6314ed86612b.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "WCNC Charlotte \u2014 \u201cChester Police Chief aims for transparency in fatal officer-involved shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/investigations/chester-police-chief-aims-for-transparency-in-fatal-officer-involved-shooting/275-193e4c9d-6eb6-413e-bfe4-f5ed382616db", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "terrance-franklin", "caseNumber": "254", "name": "Terrance Franklin", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2013, "age": 22, "gender": "male", "city": "Minneapolis", "county": "Hennepin", "state": "MN", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-22", "summary": "Terrance Franklin, 22, was shot ten times, including five times in the head, by Minneapolis SWAT officers in the basement of a South Side home on May 10, 2013, after a roughly 90-minute police chase that began with a burglary report. Police said Franklin fought officers and a K9 in the darkened basement, wrestled a submachine gun from one officer, and shot and wounded two others before the remaining officers returned fire; Franklin's family has long maintained he had surrendered. No body camera footage existed, and the only witnesses to the shooting itself were the five officers involved. A grand jury declined to indict any officer in September 2013, and an internal police investigation cleared them as well. In 2021, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said newly analyzed video evidence warranted reopening the case, but the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension declined to reinvestigate, finding no new evidence requiring it. No one has ever been charged in Franklin's death.", "known": [ "The burglary report, the chase, and the shooting, per the Minneapolis Police Department's own investigation, grand jury proceedings, and later reporting including a 2021 TIME magazine investigation and a Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension letter declining reinvestigation.", "Officers responding to a report of a burglary suspect pursued Franklin's vehicle after he drove around an officer and struck a squad car door; during the roughly 90-minute chase that followed, a motorcyclist was separately struck and killed by a police squad car pursuing Franklin.", "Franklin fled on foot and hid in the basement of a house on Bryant Avenue South; five SWAT officers \u2014 Andrew Stender, Ricardo Muro, Mark Durand, Michael Meath, and Lucas Peterson \u2014 entered the basement and released a police dog on him.", "Police said Franklin gained control of a submachine gun during a struggle in the confined basement and shot and wounded two officers before the remaining officers returned fire, striking Franklin ten times, five of them to the head; the department's account described the entire fatal encounter as lasting only seconds.", "No body camera footage existed of the shooting itself; a bystander's cell phone video captured only the aftermath, beginning after officers said Franklin was already dead, and Franklin's family's investigators say officers can be heard on that recording using a racial slur.", "A Hennepin County grand jury declined to indict any officer in September 2013, and a separate internal Minneapolis Police Department investigation concluded the officers had acted appropriately; Police Chief Janee Harteau publicly stated she \u201cfully support[ed]\u201d the officers' actions.", "The City of Minneapolis reached a $795,000 settlement with Franklin's family in a federal wrongful death lawsuit in 2020, without admitting wrongdoing.", "In 2021, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said expert analysis of the bystander video not previously considered warranted a new review by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension; the BCA responded that it found no new evidence requiring reinvestigation and returned the matter to the county attorney's office, where it has not been reopened.", "One of the five officers, Lucas Peterson, went on to serve as a field training officer for several Minneapolis officers, including Derek Chauvin, who was later convicted of murdering George Floyd." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Franklin gained control of an officer's weapon and fired on officers, as police maintained, or had already surrendered, as his family has long stated, was never independently established, since no body camera footage existed and the only witnesses to the shooting itself were the officers involved; the question was never tested at any criminal trial, since the grand jury declined to indict.", "The specific content of the expert video analysis that led Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to call for reopening the case in 2021 has not been made fully public, nor has the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's own reasoning for declining to act on it beyond its brief letter.", "The full extent of any racial language used by officers during the encounter, as alleged by the family's hired investigators based on the bystander video, has not been independently verified or addressed in any official public accounting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did a county attorney's own public statement that new video evidence warranted reopening the case in 2021 not result in any actual reinvestigation?", "Why did the only account of what happened in that basement come entirely from the five officers involved, with no independent recording of the shooting itself?", "What does it mean for the Minneapolis Police Department's own use-of-force training legacy that one of the officers who killed Franklin went on to train Derek Chauvin?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "TIME \u2014 \u201cMinneapolis Police Were Cleared in the 2013 Killing of Terrance Franklin. A Video Complicates the Story\u2014and Now the Case May Be Reopened\u201d", "url": "https://time.com/6075094/terrance-franklin-shooting/", "verified": true }, { "name": "MPR News \u2014 \u201cNo charges against Minneapolis police officers in Franklin case\u201d", "url": "https://www.mprnews.org/story/2013/09/19/no-charges-against-minneapolis-police-officers-in-franklin-case", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News Minnesota (WCCO) \u2014 \u201cTerrance Franklin Killing: BCA Says It Won't Investigate Deadly 2013 Minneapolis Police Shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/minnesota/news/terrence-franklin-killing-minneapolis-police-investigation-bca-hennepin-county-attorney", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "bobby-james-brown", "caseNumber": "255", "name": "Bobby James Brown", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2022, "age": 41, "gender": "male", "city": "Jacksonville", "county": "Duval", "state": "FL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-22", "summary": "Bobby James Brown, 41, was shot and killed by a Jacksonville, Florida police officer on July 30, 2022, at the end of an hour-long standoff at a relative's home after Brown, reportedly under the influence of drugs, had been banging on neighbors' doors while holding two knives. Officers used a Taser on Brown as he emerged from a bathroom still holding the knives, and one officer fired a single shot, striking him in the chest. Roughly five months later, the State Attorney's Office announced its review had determined the shot was the result of an \u201cunintentional firearm discharge\u201d by the officer \u2014 not an intentional use of deadly force \u2014 and that the discharge was not criminal. No charges were filed. No one has ever been charged in Brown's death.", "known": [ "The standoff, the Taser deployment, and the shooting, per Jacksonville Sheriff's Office statements and the State Attorney's Office's letter to JSO leadership announcing its findings.", "Officers responded around 4:30 a.m. to reports of a man, later identified as Brown, banging on doors in a Northwest Jacksonville neighborhood while armed with two knives and appearing to be under the influence of drugs.", "Brown made his way to a relative's home, was allowed inside, then threatened to harm himself and others in the house before locking himself in a bathroom; officers safely evacuated the rest of the household and spent 45 to 60 minutes trying to talk him out.", "When Brown emerged still holding the knives and came within roughly 25 feet of officers, two used a Taser on him while a third officer fired a single shot, striking him in the chest; officers performed emergency first aid before he was taken to a hospital, where he died.", "The officer who fired was placed on administrative leave pending the State Attorney's Office's independent review, a standard practice for officer-involved shootings in the jurisdiction.", "In a letter to Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Chief Paul Restivo roughly five months after the shooting, Assistant State Attorney Mark Caliel stated the office's review had \u201cdetermined Mr. Brown's death was the result of an unintentional firearm discharge by the shooting officer\u201d and that \u201cthe discharge of the firearm was not criminal,\u201d resulting in no charges.", "Body-worn camera footage of the shooting exists and, per the State Attorney's letter, its release would not compromise the review, though the footage's full contents beyond the office's summary were not made part of widely available public reporting." ], "unknown": [ "The specific mechanism by which the officer's firearm discharged unintentionally, as opposed to being fired as a deliberate response to Brown's approach, was described only in summary form in the State Attorney's letter and was never tested at any public hearing or trial, since no charges were filed.", "Whether an unintentional discharge in these circumstances \u2014 during an active Taser deployment against a man holding knives \u2014 reflects a training or equipment-handling issue distinct from a deliberate use-of-force decision has not been addressed in any public departmental review located in the sources reviewed for this summary.", "The full contents of the body-worn camera footage referenced in the State Attorney's letter have not been made comprehensively available in public reporting." ], "unanswered": [ "What specifically caused the officer's firearm to discharge \u201cunintentionally\u201d during an active Taser deployment, and what does that finding mean for the department's own firearms-handling training?", "Why did the review take roughly five months to conclude, and what specific evidence led investigators to the unintentional-discharge finding rather than treating the shot as a deliberate use of force?", "Has the body-worn camera footage of the incident ever been released publicly in full, and if so, does it corroborate the unintentional-discharge account?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Action News Jax (WJAX) \u2014 \u201cJacksonville officer's gun firing was \u2018unintentional\u2019 in July shooting that killed man, SAO finds\u201d", "url": "https://news.yahoo.com/jacksonville-officer-gun-firing-unintentional-215415499.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Florida Times-Union (via Yahoo News) \u2014 \u201cSAO: It was an \u2018unintentional\u2019 gunshot by Jacksonville police that killed suspect on July 30\u201d", "url": "https://news.yahoo.com/sao-unintentional-gunshot-jacksonville-police-173816338.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Florida Times-Union (via Yahoo News) \u2014 \u201cJacksonville police shoot, kill man officers say came at them armed with knives Saturday morning\u201d", "url": "https://news.yahoo.com/jacksonville-police-shoot-kill-man-161445676.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "dante-kittrell", "caseNumber": "256", "name": "Dante Kittrell", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2022, "age": 51, "gender": "male", "city": "South Bend", "county": "St. Joseph County", "state": "IN", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-22", "summary": "Dante Kittrell, 51, was shot three times and killed by South Bend, Indiana police officers on July 29, 2022, during a roughly 45-minute standoff near Coquillard Elementary School after a school employee called 911 to report an armed man threatening to commit suicide. Kittrell, in the midst of what his family's attorney described as a mental health crisis, repeatedly told officers things like \u201cI'm ready to die\u201d and \u201cif I point my weapon at you, you have to do your job, right?\u201d before pulling out what appeared to be a handgun; four of the 18 responding officers opened fire. The object was later found to be a highly detailed replica of a Glock 19. The St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office ruled the shooting a justifiable homicide in August 2022, finding it could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that officers had not acted in self-defense. No one has ever been charged in Kittrell's death.", "known": [ "The 911 call, the standoff, and the shooting, per the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office's public findings and body and in-car camera footage the South Bend Police Department released publicly.", "A Coquillard School employee called 911 at 11:36 a.m. reporting an armed man threatening suicide near the school's baseball fields; officers arrived within four minutes but did not initially see a weapon, and two crisis negotiators were requested to the scene.", "Over roughly 45 minutes, Kittrell told officers he wanted to die and made statements including \u201cend this,\u201d \u201cfire it,\u201d and asking whether officers would be forced to act if he pointed his weapon at them, before pulling out what appeared to be a handgun at 12:29 p.m.", "Four of the 18 officers who responded \u2014 Randall Goering, Joseph Mitchell, Anthony Dertz, and Neil Graber \u2014 fired their weapons, striking Kittrell three times: a graze wound to the head, a wound to the torso, and a wound to the hip.", "The item Kittrell pointed at officers was recovered and examined afterward, revealing it to be a highly detailed replica airsoft version of a tan Glock 19 9mm handgun, not a functional firearm.", "A joint investigation by the St. Joseph County and Mishawaka Police Departments, including ballistics testing, witness interviews, and body and in-car camera footage, was turned over to the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office.", "The prosecutor's office ruled the shooting a justifiable homicide in August 2022, finding it could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers were not acting in self-defense or the defense of others, since they had no way of knowing the replica was not a real firearm; no charges were filed.", "The family's attorney, Sean Drew, publicly stated that officers with proper mental health crisis training should have recognized Kittrell's statements and behavior as a suicidal crisis rather than a homicidal threat, and criticized the number of officers who responded as overwhelming for that kind of encounter." ], "unknown": [ "Whether a smaller, more specifically crisis-trained response could have de-escalated the encounter without gunfire, as the family's attorney has argued, was never independently tested or addressed in the prosecutor's justifiable-homicide finding, which focused only on whether the officers' subjective belief in a threat was reasonable at the moment they fired.", "The specific individual roles and split-second decisions of each of the four officers who fired, as opposed to the general finding that the group's action was justified, have not been broken out in available public reporting.", "Why 18 officers, including two dedicated crisis negotiators, were unable to de-escalate a declared suicidal crisis without gunfire in 45 minutes has not been addressed in any public departmental policy review located in the sources reviewed for this summary." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did a response that included two dedicated crisis negotiators end in gunfire rather than a successful de-escalation of a man who had repeatedly stated he wanted to die, not to hurt others?", "What specific number and type of officers responding to a declared mental health crisis is considered appropriate by the department's own training standards, given community criticism that 18 officers was overwhelming for this kind of call?", "What policy changes, if any, has the South Bend Police Department made to its mental health crisis response protocol since Kittrell's death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "WNDU \u2014 \u201cDeadly shooting of Dante Kittrell deemed police justifiable\u201d", "url": "https://www.wndu.com/2022/08/24/deadly-shooting-dante-kittrell-deemed-police-justifiable/", "verified": true }, { "name": "ABC57 \u2014 \u201cShooting of Dante Kittrell by police ruled justifiable homicide\u201d", "url": "https://www.abc57.com/news/shooting-of-dante-kittrell-by-police-ruled-justifiable-homicide", "verified": true }, { "name": "WVPE (NPR Michiana) \u2014 \u201cFatal July police shooting of Dante Kittrell ruled justified, prosecutor's office says\u201d", "url": "https://www.wvpe.org/wvpe-news/2022-08-24/fatal-july-police-shooting-of-dante-kittrell-ruled-justified-prosecutors-office-says", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "mubarak-soulemane", "caseNumber": "257", "name": "Mubarak Soulemane", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 19, "gender": "male", "city": "West Haven", "county": "New Haven County", "state": "CT", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-25", "summary": "Mubarak Soulemane, 19, a community college student in the midst of a mental health crisis, was shot and killed by Connecticut State Trooper Brian North on January 15, 2020, while sitting behind the wheel of a stopped, suspected stolen car in West Haven. Police had pursued the vehicle after a report that Soulemane displayed a knife during an earlier carjacking; when the car came to a stop, North broke the driver's side window and fired seven shots through it, killing Soulemane, who was holding a kitchen knife but remained seated inside the car with the window rolled up at the moment he was shot. Connecticut's Inspector General found the shooting should not have happened, since North and other officers were not in imminent danger, and charged North with first-degree manslaughter, a charge carrying up to 40 years in prison. A jury acquitted North of that charge and two lesser counts in March 2024. No one has ever been convicted in Soulemane's death.", "known": [ "The carjacking report, the pursuit, and the shooting, per the Connecticut Office of the Inspector General's investigative report and body camera footage introduced at trial.", "Police began pursuing Soulemane's vehicle after a report that he had displayed a knife during an earlier carjacking in Norwalk; the pursuit ended when the car became boxed in by traffic in West Haven.", "Trooper Brian North broke the driver's side window with his baton and fired seven shots through it in rapid succession, striking and killing Soulemane, who remained seated in the car holding a kitchen knife with the window rolled up at the time of the shooting.", "Connecticut Inspector General Robert Devlin's office, in a rare independent finding, concluded the shooting should not have occurred because North and the other officers present were not in imminent danger given Soulemane's position inside the closed vehicle, and charged North with first-degree manslaughter in December 2021.", "North's trial began in early 2024; the defense argued North reasonably believed Soulemane posed a lethal threat and might have used the knife or driven the car at officers.", "A six-person jury in Milford acquitted North of first-degree manslaughter, second-degree manslaughter, and negligent homicide on March 15, 2024, after roughly a day and a half of deliberation.", "Soulemane's family, who said they were devastated by the verdict, separately pursued a civil lawsuit against North and the other officers present at the scene." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Soulemane, seated inside the car with the window rolled up, posed the kind of imminent threat that would justify deadly force was directly disputed even within state government \u2014 the state's own Inspector General concluded the shooting should not have happened \u2014 yet a jury reached the opposite conclusion at trial, and the discrepancy between those two findings has never been reconciled.", "The specific reasoning behind the jury's acquittal, beyond the public verdict itself, has not been made available, as jury deliberations are not a matter of public record.", "The outcome of the Soulemane family's separate civil lawsuit against North and the other officers present was not confirmed in the sources reviewed for this summary." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did a jury reach the opposite conclusion from the state's own Inspector General, who had already formally found the shooting unjustified before charges were even filed?", "Why did Trooper North break the car window and fire seven shots at a man seated inside a stopped vehicle with the window rolled up, rather than pursue other options to end the standoff?", "What, if any, disciplinary consequences did North face within the Connecticut State Police following his acquittal?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Associated Press (via Press Reader) \u2014 \u201cTrooper acquitted in shooting death of Black college student\u201d", "url": "https://www.pressreader.com/usa/marin-independent-journal/20240316/281663964989555", "verified": true }, { "name": "CT Insider \u2014 \u201cCT trooper acquitted in fatal shooting of Mubarak Soulemane\u201d", "url": "https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/soulemane-north-verdict-trooper-trial-18730575.php", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News \u2014 \u201cConnecticut state trooper acquitted in fatal shooting of Mubarak Soulemane\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/mubarak-soulemane-trooper-brian-north-verdict/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "jamarion-robinson", "caseNumber": "258", "name": "Jamarion Robinson", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2016, "age": 26, "gender": "male", "city": "East Point", "county": "Fulton", "state": "GA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-25", "summary": "Jamarion Robinson, 26, a former college football player diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was shot 59 times, leaving 76 wounds, by members of a U.S. Marshals-led fugitive task force serving an arrest warrant at his girlfriend's East Point, Georgia apartment on August 5, 2016. At least 14 heavily armed officers from seven agencies forced entry after Robinson refused to come out; no body camera footage exists, since U.S. Marshals were not permitted to wear them at the time, and the East Point vehicles present that day had no dash cameras installed. A Fulton County grand jury indicted task force members Eric Heinze and Kristopher Hutchens on felony murder and related charges in October 2021, five years after the shooting. The case was removed to federal court, where a judge ultimately dismissed the charges entirely in 2026, ruling the officers were immune from state prosecution because they were acting within federal duties; a federal appeals court separately rejected prosecutors' bid to bring the case back. No one has ever been convicted in Robinson's death.", "known": [ "The warrant service, the raid, and the shooting, per Wikipedia's sourced case history, Fulton County grand jury records, and reporting from Fox 5 Atlanta, Vice News, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.", "The warrant was obtained after Robinson, a Tuskegee University and Clark Atlanta University student who had paused his education, allegedly fired at an Atlanta police officer during a prior encounter days earlier.", "At least 14 officers from seven different agencies, led by the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force and heavily armed including with submachine guns, forced entry into the apartment after Robinson refused to come out; a bystander's cellphone video captured nearly three minutes of continuous gunfire.", "A medical examiner's report found Robinson was shot 59 times, causing 76 total wounds; the family's civil suit stated the gun police said Robinson fired was inoperable and had no fingerprints on it, and a private investigator hired by the family found evidence someone shot Robinson twice more while standing over him.", "No body camera footage exists of the shooting, since U.S. Marshals were not permitted to wear them at the time, and the East Point police vehicles present that day were new models that had not yet had dash cameras installed.", "A Fulton County grand jury indicted task force members Eric Heinze and Kristopher Hutchens on felony murder, burglary, aggravated assault, and making false statements in October 2021, five years after the shooting; both pleaded not guilty.", "The case was removed to federal court after a judge determined Heinze and Hutchens were acting in their federal capacity at the time of the shooting; in 2026, a federal district judge granted their motions to dismiss the charges entirely, ruling they were immune from state prosecution.", "Georgia prosecutors sought a limited remand to state court to pursue a superseding indictment; the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that request in 2026, finding it lacked jurisdiction over the state's appeal." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Robinson in fact fired the recovered handgun at officers, given the family's civil suit alleges the weapon was inoperable and bore no fingerprints, was never resolved at any criminal trial, since the case was dismissed before reaching one.", "Whether Robinson was shot additional times by an officer standing over him after the initial gunfire, as a private investigator hired by the family found evidence to suggest, has never been independently confirmed or refuted by any official investigation.", "The full reasoning behind the roughly five-year delay between the 2016 shooting and the 2021 indictment has been attributed by the family's advocates to federal resistance in turning over records, but has not been comprehensively documented in a single official accounting." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did it take five years to secure an indictment, and why were the resulting charges then dismissed entirely on immunity grounds a decade after the shooting?", "Why did neither the U.S. Marshals task force members nor the East Point police vehicles present that day have any camera equipment capturing the shooting itself?", "What specific policy changes, if any, has the U.S. Marshals Service made regarding body camera use on fugitive task force operations since Robinson's death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Wikipedia \u2014 \u201cShooting of Jamarion Robinson\u201d (sourced case history)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Jamarion_Robinson", "verified": true }, { "name": "Courthouse News Service \u2014 \u201c11th Circuit rejects additional charges for officers who shot Black man 76 times\u201d", "url": "https://www.courthousenews.com/11th-circuit-rejects-additional-charges-for-officers-who-shot-black-man-76-times/", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution \u2014 \u201cJudge dismisses case against officers charged in man's 2016 death in Fulton\u201d", "url": "https://www.ajc.com/news/2026/08/judge-tosses-criminal-case-against-task-force-officers-in-shooting-death/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "maurice-gordon", "caseNumber": "259", "name": "Maurice Gordon", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 28, "gender": "male", "city": "Bass River", "county": "Burlington", "state": "NJ", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-25", "summary": "Maurice Gordon, 28, a Jamaican-born chemistry student experiencing a mental health crisis, was shot six times and killed by New Jersey State Police Sergeant Randall Wetzel on the Garden State Parkway on May 23, 2020, two days before the murder of George Floyd. Over roughly four hours that morning, Gordon had five separate encounters with law enforcement across New Jersey after his car repeatedly stalled; a friend had called 911 the day before to report him missing and in a \u201cpanicked state.\u201d Wetzel, the fifth officer to stop him, let Gordon wait in the back of his patrol car for a tow truck; when Gordon got out and tried twice to get into the driver's seat of the cruiser, Wetzel pepper-sprayed him, then shot him six times during a physical struggle. A state grand jury declined to indict Wetzel in May 2022. No one has ever been charged in Gordon's death.", "known": [ "Gordon's five separate law enforcement encounters over roughly four hours and the shooting itself, per more than a dozen video and audio recordings the New Jersey Attorney General's Office released publicly in June 2020.", "A friend of Gordon's called 911 on May 22, 2020 to report him missing from his home in Poughkeepsie, New York and in a \u201cpanicked state\u201d; an investigation later found Gordon had driven from New York through Connecticut into New Jersey overnight.", "Gordon was stopped four times earlier that morning after his car ran out of gas or stalled; officers on each occasion arranged for a tow and let him go on his way without incident.", "Sergeant Randall Wetzel stopped Gordon a fifth time at 6:26 a.m. for driving over 100 mph on the Garden State Parkway in Bass River; when Gordon's car would not restart, Wetzel patted him down and let him wait in the back seat of the patrol car for a tow truck, asking him more than 70 questions during the wait, to which Gordon gave few audible responses.", "After roughly 21 minutes, Gordon got out of the patrol car and twice attempted to get into its driver's seat; Wetzel pepper-sprayed him on the first attempt, and during the second attempt a physical struggle broke out during which Wetzel fired six shots, killing Gordon at the scene.", "Gordon's family said he had no criminal record and was suffering from psychiatric difficulties at the time of his death; the shooting drew national attention when video was released in June 2020, days after George Floyd's murder had already sparked nationwide protests.", "A state grand jury declined to indict Wetzel on May 17, 2022, nearly two years after the shooting; the family's attorney said the outcome was \u201cnot a surprise\u201d given New Jersey's own data showing police used force against Black people at roughly eight times the rate used against white people in comparable encounters.", "Gordon's parents filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in March 2021 alleging race was a factor in his death; a subsequent investigation, per Gothamist reporting, examined whether officers along Gordon's route that morning were adequately trained to recognize and respond to a mental health crisis." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Wetzel's account of the physical struggle justified deadly force, as opposed to de-escalation options given Gordon's documented psychiatric crisis and the roughly four hours of prior, incident-free encounters with other officers that morning, was never tested at any criminal trial since the grand jury declined to indict.", "Whether any of the five separate law enforcement agencies that encountered Gordon that morning identified or flagged signs of a mental health crisis before Wetzel's fatal stop has not been comprehensively addressed in available public reporting.", "The full reasoning behind the grand jury's decision not to indict, beyond the state attorney general's public announcement, has not been made available, as grand jury proceedings are sealed under New Jersey law." ], "unanswered": [ "Why, across five separate law enforcement encounters spanning roughly four hours and multiple documented signs of psychiatric distress, did the fifth encounter end in gunfire rather than the crisis-appropriate response the prior four had provided?", "Why did it take nearly two years for a charging decision to be reached despite extensive video and audio evidence being available from the outset?", "What outcome, if any, resulted from the Gordon family's federal civil rights lawsuit alleging race was a factor in his death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cVideo released in fatal shooting of unarmed Black man by N.J. state trooper\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/video-released-fatal-shooting-unarmed-black-man-n-j-state-n1228211", "verified": true }, { "name": "Gothamist \u2014 \u201cA NJ State Trooper Fatally Shot A Black Man. Now The Case Raises Questions About Mental Health Training for Officers\u201d", "url": "https://gothamist.com/news/nj-state-trooper-fatal-shooting-maurice-gordon", "verified": true }, { "name": "Newsweek \u2014 \u201cNo Charges for Cop Randy Wetzel, Who Shot Unarmed Black Man Maurice Gordon\u201d", "url": "https://www.newsweek.com/no-charges-cop-randy-wetzel-who-shot-unarmed-black-man-maurice-gordon-1707623", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "jaquyn-light", "caseNumber": "260", "name": "Jaquyn O'Neill Light", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 20, "gender": "male", "city": "Graham", "county": "Alamance", "state": "NC", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-25", "summary": "Jaquyn O'Neill Light, 20, was shot and killed by Graham, North Carolina Police Officer Marcus Pollock on January 28, 2020, while officers were attempting to serve arrest warrants for misdemeanor assault and a felony probation violation at a residence where Light was believed to be staying. Light ran out the front door, unintentionally colliding with Pollock, who fired a single shot that struck Light in the abdomen; Light was unarmed, and no weapon was ever found on him. Pollock's body camera was not recording. Alamance County District Attorney Sean Boone announced in July 2020 that the shooting was either accidental or in self-defense, and that both explanations were consistent with the evidence, declining to file charges. No one has ever been charged in Light's death.", "known": [ "The attempted warrant service, the collision, and the shooting, per Alamance County District Attorney Sean Boone's July 2020 public findings and a subsequent federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Light's estate.", "Officers Brandon Land, Marcus Pollock, and Keith Scoggins arrived to serve warrants for misdemeanor assault and a felony probation violation for absconding; the front porch of the residence was covered in black plastic draping that blocked the entrance.", "District Attorney Boone's investigation concluded Light likely heard officers inside the home and ran out the front door believing no police were positioned there, unintentionally colliding with Officer Pollock as he exited.", "Pollock's gun discharged during or immediately after the collision, striking Light once in the left side of his abdomen; an autopsy by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner found he died from blood loss caused by the single gunshot wound. Light was not shot in the back, Boone said, and no weapon was found on him.", "Pollock's body camera was not recording during the encounter, a fact Light's mother said left her without a clear account of what actually happened despite the district attorney's briefing.", "District Attorney Boone announced on July 17, 2020 that no criminal charges would be filed, stating the shooting was consistent with the evidence as either an accident or self-defense, and that he believed an accidental discharge to be the more likely explanation.", "The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation separately reviewed the shooting and reached the same conclusion in 2022, finding no evidence Pollock broke the law.", "Light's estate filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Graham, then-Police Chief Jeff Prichard, and Officer Pollock; the city agreed in 2024 to a $725,000 settlement, with funds set aside for Light's daughter, born the same year he died." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the shooting was in fact an accidental discharge during a physical collision, as the district attorney concluded was most likely, or a deliberate act of self-defense, the other explanation the district attorney said was equally consistent with the evidence, was never resolved with certainty, and neither explanation was tested at any criminal trial since none was brought.", "Why Officer Pollock's body camera was not recording during an attempted warrant service, despite department policy, has not been fully explained in available public reporting.", "The full contents of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation's independent 2022 review, beyond its conclusion, have not been made comprehensively public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was Officer Pollock's body camera not recording during a planned warrant service, and what policy, if any, was violated by that failure?", "Why did the district attorney present two different explanations for the shooting \u2014 accident or self-defense \u2014 as equally consistent with the evidence, rather than determining which had actually occurred?", "Why did it take roughly two years for the State Bureau of Investigation to complete its own independent review of the shooting?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "FOX8 WGHP \u2014 \u201cOfficer shot Graham man accidentally or in self-defense, district attorney says; suspect was not armed\u201d", "url": "https://myfox8.com/news/officer-shot-graham-man-accidentally-or-in-self-defense-district-attorney-says-suspect-was-not-armed/", "verified": true }, { "name": "FOX8 WGHP \u2014 \u201cGraham officer did not break law by shooting, killing Jaquyn Light, SBI says\u201d", "url": "https://myfox8.com/news/north-carolina/piedmont-triad/graham-officer-did-not-break-law-by-shooting-killing-jaquyn-light-sbi-says/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Alamance News \u2014 \u201cCity of Graham ordered to pay $725K to settle wrongful death suit\u201d", "url": "https://alamancenews.com/city-of-graham-ordered-to-pay-725k-to-settle-wrongful-death-suit/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "calvin-toney", "caseNumber": "261", "name": "Calvin Toney", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2017, "age": 24, "gender": "male", "city": "Baton Rouge", "county": "East Baton Rouge", "state": "LA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-25", "summary": "Calvin Toney, 24, was shot and killed by Baton Rouge Police Officer Darrell Carter Jr. on November 13, 2017, when Carter accompanied a state child welfare caseworker to Toney's apartment to investigate abuse allegations. Officers said Toney tried to flee, fought Carter during a struggle that lasted several minutes, and grabbed for the officer's Taser before Carter shot him once in the chest. Nearly two years later, East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore III cleared Carter of any charges, and the department later awarded him a Medal of Valor for the encounter. Toney's family said police seized apartment complex surveillance footage of the shooting and never shared it with them, leaving them without an independent account of what happened. No one has ever been charged in Toney's death.", "known": [ "The child-welfare escort, the struggle, and the shooting, per East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore III's October 2019 public findings and contemporaneous Louisiana State Police statements.", "A Department of Children and Family Services caseworker requested a police escort to interview Toney, whose prior record included a child abuse conviction, at the apartment he shared with his girlfriend; Toney's girlfriend had separately been arrested on child cruelty charges days earlier.", "Officer Darrell Carter Jr. said Toney tried to flee as soon as he opened the door and saw the officer; a struggle followed that District Attorney Moore described as lasting several minutes and involving Carter's Taser, which Toney allegedly grabbed for.", "Carter shot Toney once in the chest; Toney briefly fled again before being subdued and handcuffed, and died at the scene.", "Louisiana State Police investigated the shooting, as is standard protocol for Baton Rouge Police Department-involved shootings, and turned its findings over to the district attorney's office.", "District Attorney Hillar Moore III announced in October 2019, nearly two years after the shooting, that Carter would not face charges, characterizing the encounter as a chaotic struggle in which Toney reached for the officer's Taser.", "Carter was later given the Baton Rouge Police Department's Medal of Valor for his actions during the encounter.", "Toney's mother told The Appeal that apartment complex surveillance cameras had captured the shooting, but that police seized the footage and never released or shared it with the family, leaving them without any independent account of the incident a year after his death." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Toney in fact grabbed for the officer's Taser during the struggle, as the district attorney's account states, was never independently verified through the apartment complex's own surveillance footage, which police seized but the family says was never shared with them or made public.", "The specific contents of Officer Carter's body camera footage from the encounter, reviewed by the district attorney but not made broadly public in the sources reviewed for this summary, remain largely undisclosed.", "Why the charging decision took nearly two years to reach has not been fully explained beyond the general timeline of the state police investigation and district attorney review." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did police seize apartment complex surveillance footage of the shooting and never share or release it to Toney's family?", "Why did the district attorney's charging decision take nearly two years, and what specifically was under review for that length of time?", "Why was Officer Carter given a departmental award for valor for an encounter that killed an unarmed man during what began as a child-welfare check?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Appeal \u2014 \u201cA Year After Police Shot Calvin Toney, His Family Still Doesn't Know What Happened\u201d", "url": "https://theappeal.org/a-year-after-police-shot-calvin-toney-his-family-still-doesnt-know-what-happened/", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Advocate (Baton Rouge) \u2014 \u201cBaton Rouge officer won't face charges for fatally shooting man amid 2017 child abuse investigation\u201d", "url": "https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/crime_police/article_487d8352-fb3c-11e9-84e6-ff58903d295b.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "WBRZ \u2014 \u201cDistrict Attorney Hillar Moore clears officer involved in shooting death of Calvin Toney\u201d", "url": "https://www.wbrz.com/news/district-attorney-hillar-moore-clears-officer-involved-in-shooting-death-of-calvin-toney/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "bernard-monroe", "caseNumber": "262", "name": "Bernard Monroe", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2009, "age": 73, "gender": "male", "city": "Homer", "county": "Claiborne Parish", "state": "LA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-25", "summary": "Bernard Monroe Sr., 73, a retired power company lineman who had lost his voice to throat cancer, was shot and killed by Homer, Louisiana Police Officer Tim Cox on his own front porch during a family cookout on February 20, 2009. Two white officers had entered the Monroe family's property chasing Monroe's son, who was not wanted for any crime; as Monroe walked toward his front door to check on his elderly wife, Cox fired several shots through the screen door from inside the house, killing him. Multiple witnesses told reporters they saw the second officer pick up a handgun Monroe kept visibly on the porch and move it, using a latex glove, to a position near Monroe's body. A Claiborne Parish grand jury declined to indict Cox in 2010, and both officers subsequently resigned. No one has ever been charged in Monroe's death.", "known": [ "The pursuit onto the Monroe property and the shooting, per contemporaneous reporting by the Chicago Tribune and NBC News, and the Southern Poverty Law Center's subsequent civil lawsuit.", "Officers Tim Cox and Joseph Henry, both white, entered the Monroe family's property during a cookout attended by a dozen family members and grandchildren while chasing Monroe's son, Shaun Monroe, who was not wanted for any crime and was not arrested; witnesses said Homer police had a practice of targeting Shaun Monroe for stops without legal cause.", "Henry shot Shaun Monroe in the back with a Taser as officers pursued him into the family home; the elder Monroe, unable to speak due to his cancer, walked toward his front door to check on his wife inside.", "Cox, positioned inside the house, fired several shots through the screen door at Monroe without warning, according to the family's lawsuit; Monroe's wife, Louise, came out to find her husband alive but bleeding on the sidewalk, where he died.", "Multiple witnesses at the scene told reporters they saw Officer Henry pick up a handgun Monroe kept visibly on the porch for protection, using a latex glove, and that the gun was later found next to Monroe's body; witnesses disputed the officers' account that Monroe had been armed and threatening.", "The shooting drew the Louisiana State Police, the FBI, and the U.S. Department of Justice to the town, and prompted a march led by the Rev. Al Sharpton protesting the killing.", "A Claiborne Parish grand jury, whose proceedings were handled by the state attorney general's office rather than the local district attorney, returned a \u201cno true bill\u201d in 2010, declining to indict Cox on any of the charges considered, including first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter, and negligent homicide.", "Both Cox and Henry resigned from the Homer Police Department following the shooting; the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of Monroe's family, which was settled with the town in August 2010." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Monroe was in fact armed and threatening, as the officers maintained, or whether a weapon was moved to the scene after the shooting, as multiple witnesses told reporters they saw happen, was never resolved by any criminal trial, since the grand jury declined to indict.", "Whether Homer Police Department's documented practice of targeting Shaun Monroe for warrantless stops was itself ever formally reviewed or disciplined beyond the resignations of the two officers involved in his father's death has not been made public.", "The full findings of the joint Louisiana State Police, FBI, and Department of Justice review of the shooting, beyond the state grand jury's declination, have not been made comprehensively public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did multiple witnesses report seeing an officer move a handgun to the scene after the shooting, and was that allegation ever formally investigated?", "Why were two officers pursuing Monroe's son onto private property during a family gathering in the first place, given he was wanted for no crime?", "What specific findings, if any, did the FBI and Department of Justice reach in their separate review of the shooting, beyond the state grand jury's declination to indict?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Southern Poverty Law Center \u2014 \u201cSPLC Sues Homer, La., and Former Police Officers in Fatal Shooting of Elderly Black Man\u201d", "url": "https://www.splcenter.org/resources/stories/splc-sues-homer-la-and-former-police-officers-fatal-shooting-elderly-black-man/", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cKilling of black man by police shakes La. town\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna30153011", "verified": true }, { "name": "Fox News \u2014 \u201cGrand Jury Refuses to Indict White Cop Who Killed Black Man\u201d", "url": "https://foxnews.com/story/grand-jury-refuses-to-indict-white-cop-who-killed-black-man.amp", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "kevin-matthews", "caseNumber": "263", "name": "Kevin Matthews", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2015, "age": 35, "gender": "male", "city": "Detroit", "county": "Wayne", "state": "MI", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-25", "summary": "Kevin Matthews, 35, who lived with mental illness and was recovering from a broken arm, was shot nine times and killed by Dearborn, Michigan Police Officer Christopher Hampton on December 23, 2015, after being accused of stealing an energy drink from a gas station. Hampton chased Matthews on foot from Dearborn into a Detroit backyard, where police say the two became engaged in a physical struggle that ended with Matthews standing over the officer and pulling an ammunition magazine from his belt; Hampton, on his back, fired nine shots, killing him. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy declined to charge Hampton roughly a year later, citing self-defense. Forensic experts hired by Matthews's family found two bullets beneath his body, which they said indicated Hampton had been firing downward rather than from his back as he described. The City of Dearborn settled the family's federal lawsuit for $1.25 million in 2021. No one has ever been charged in Matthews's death.", "known": [ "The gas station theft allegation, the foot chase, and the shooting, per Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's December 2016 charging decision and subsequent federal civil rights litigation records.", "Officer Christopher Hampton recognized Matthews from prior encounters and pursued him on foot after being told he had been involved in a theft and altercation at a gas station earlier that day; Matthews fled and climbed a fence into a residential backyard on Whitcomb Street.", "Police said Matthews and Hampton engaged in an intense physical struggle that continued from the yard into the rear of a house, ending when Matthews, standing over Hampton, pulled the ammunition magazine from the officer's duty belt.", "Hampton, on his back at that point, fired nine shots, killing Matthews; toxicology found hydrocodone in his system but no other drugs or alcohol.", "Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced roughly a year after the shooting, in December 2016, that she would not charge Hampton, stating the case could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt under Michigan's self-defense laws.", "Forensic experts hired by Matthews's family, who was shorter and 75 pounds lighter than Hampton, found two bullets underneath Matthews's body, which they said indicated Hampton had been shooting downward at Matthews rather than firing upward from his back as the officer described.", "No body camera or dash camera footage existed of the encounter; the family's attorney, Milt Greenman, said publicly that footage would very likely have led to Hampton's prosecution had it existed.", "The Matthews family filed a $10 million federal civil rights lawsuit alleging excessive force; the City of Dearborn settled the case for $1.25 million in 2021, by which point Officer Hampton had died." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Hampton fired from his back during a genuine struggle for his weapon, as he described, or was shooting downward at Matthews, as forensic evidence of bullets found beneath the body suggested to the family's hired experts, was never resolved at any criminal trial, since the prosecutor declined to bring charges.", "Whether Matthews in fact posed the threat described in the officer's account, given his documented mental illness, recent broken arm, and considerably smaller size relative to Hampton, was never independently tested in court.", "The full circumstances of Officer Hampton's death, referenced by the family's attorney as a factor in how the civil case was ultimately resolved, have not been made public in the sources reviewed for this summary." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did forensic evidence showing bullets found beneath Matthews's body, which the family's experts said indicated a downward trajectory inconsistent with the officer's account, not affect the prosecutor's charging decision?", "Why did it take roughly a year for the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office to reach a charging decision in a case with five civilian witnesses at the scene?", "What policy, if any, has the Dearborn Police Department adopted regarding body camera use during foot pursuits since Matthews's death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Arab American News \u2014 \u201cDearborn agrees to $1.25M settlement in death of Black man\u201d", "url": "https://arabamericannews.com/2021/03/10/dearborn-agrees-to-1-25m-deal-in-death-of-black-man/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Fox 2 Detroit (WJBK) \u2014 \u201cProsecutor: 'insufficient evidence' to convict Dearborn officer in shooting of Kevin Matthews\u201d", "url": "https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/prosecutor-insufficient-evidence-to-convict-dearborn-officer-in-shooting-of-kevin-matthews", "verified": true }, { "name": "WXYZ-TV Detroit \u2014 \u201cNo charges for Dearborn cops in deadly shootings\u201d", "url": "https://www.wxyz.com/news/dearborn-police-officers-wont-face-charges-for-shooting-deaths-of-kevin-matthews-janet-wilson", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "marquise-jones", "caseNumber": "264", "name": "Marquise Jones", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2014, "age": 23, "gender": "male", "city": "San Antonio", "county": "Bexar", "state": "TX", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-25", "summary": "Marquise Jones, 23, was shot in the back and killed by off-duty San Antonio Police Officer Robert Encina on February 28, 2014, in the parking lot of a Chacho's restaurant after the car Jones was riding in rear-ended another vehicle in the drive-thru line. Encina, working private security at the restaurant, approached the car; Jones ran, and Encina fired several shots from roughly 100 feet away, killing him as he fled. Encina said Jones had pointed a gun at him; some witnesses supported that account, while others testified they never saw a weapon, and Jones's family maintained he was unarmed. A Bexar County grand jury declined to indict Encina in 2015. A federal civil jury ruled against the family in 2017, finding Encina did not use excessive force. In 2021, after a fresh review by new prosecutors, the Bexar County District Attorney's Office declined to present the case to a second grand jury, citing conflicting evidence about whether Jones had a gun. No one has ever been charged in Jones's death.", "known": [ "The fender-bender, the pursuit, and the shooting, per the Bexar County District Attorney's Office's 2021 closing memorandum and trial testimony from the 2017 federal civil case.", "Encina, working a paid off-duty security shift at Chacho's & Chalucci's restaurant, approached a car after it rear-ended another vehicle in the drive-thru line; Jones, a passenger, ran from the car and Encina fired multiple shots at him from approximately 100 feet away as he fled.", "Jones was struck in the back and died at the scene; Encina said Jones had turned and pointed a gun at him before he fired, and he was not wearing a body camera at the time.", "Witness testimony conflicted directly: some witnesses in the drive-thru line said they saw Jones with a gun that night, while others testified they never saw one; Jones's family maintained throughout that he was unarmed.", "A Bexar County grand jury, under then-District Attorney Nico LaHood, declined to indict Encina in 2015 following an internal San Antonio Police Department investigation that found the shooting justified.", "Jones's family filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit in 2017 against Encina and the City of San Antonio; after a week of testimony, a jury deliberated three hours before ruling Encina had not used excessive or deadly force in violation of Jones's constitutional rights, clearing both the officer and the city of liability. A judge later denied the family's request for a new trial.", "In 2021, Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales assigned two prosecutors who had not previously worked on the case to conduct an independent review; the office ultimately declined to present the case to a second grand jury, writing that it could not disprove Encina's self-defense claim beyond a reasonable doubt given the conflicting evidence about whether Jones had a gun.", "Encina remained an officer with the San Antonio Police Department following the shooting and the civil verdict." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Jones was armed and pointed a weapon at Encina, as the officer and some witnesses stated, or was unarmed and shot while fleeing, as his family and other witnesses maintained, was never resolved with certainty across three separate reviews \u2014 a grand jury, a civil jury, and a subsequent prosecutorial review \u2014 each of which cited the same underlying conflict in the evidence.", "Whether the full San Antonio Police Department investigative file was completely turned over to the original 2015 grand jury was directly disputed by the family's civil attorneys, who argued evidence had been withheld, though this was not independently confirmed in the sources reviewed for this summary.", "What specific prior disciplinary history, if any, Officer Encina had before the shooting was referenced by the family's attorney as excluded from what jurors in the civil trial were permitted to consider, but its contents have not been made comprehensively public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did three separate legal proceedings over seven years \u2014 a criminal grand jury, a civil jury trial, and a renewed prosecutorial review \u2014 all reach the same conclusion despite genuinely conflicting witness testimony about whether Jones was armed?", "Why was evidence of Officer Encina's prior conduct excluded from what the civil jury was allowed to consider, as the family's attorney has stated?", "What would it take, evidentiarily, for a case with this degree of conflicting witness testimony to ever be presented to a jury on the merits of what happened, rather than declined at the charging stage?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "San Antonio Report \u2014 \u201cDistrict attorney closes review of police shooting of Marquise Jones\u201d", "url": "https://sanantonioreport.org/district-attorney-closes-review-of-police-shooting-of-marquise-jones/", "verified": true }, { "name": "San Antonio Report \u2014 \u201cJury Clears City, SAPD Cop in Marquise Jones Wrongful Death Suit\u201d", "url": "https://sanantonioreport.org/jury-clears-city-sapd-cop-in-marquise-jones-wrongful-death-suit/", "verified": true }, { "name": "KSAT \u2014 \u201cAfter review, prosecutors decline to reopen case of Black man killed by San Antonio police officer\u201d", "url": "https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2021/01/13/after-review-prosecutors-decline-to-reopen-case-of-black-man-killed-by-san-antonio-police-officer/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "jamal-sutherland", "caseNumber": "265", "name": "Jamal Sutherland", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2021, "age": 31, "gender": "male", "city": "North Charleston", "county": "Charleston County", "state": "SC", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-25", "summary": "Jamal Sutherland, 31, who had schizophrenia, died on January 5, 2021, at the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center in North Charleston, South Carolina, after two Charleston County detention deputies pepper-sprayed him, used a Taser on him repeatedly, and pinned him to the floor of his cell while trying to forcibly remove him for a bond hearing on a misdemeanor assault charge. Body camera footage later released showed Sutherland saying \u201cI can't breathe\u201d as deputies restrained him; a jail report found staff had taken him off his regular antipsychotic medication and started him on a new one without informing jail personnel, and that contract medical staff never checked on him. The Charleston County Coroner's Office ultimately ruled his death a homicide. Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson declined to charge the two deputies in July 2021, saying they made \u201cgrave mistakes\u201d that did not amount to a provable crime; the U.S. Department of Justice separately declined federal civil rights charges in 2022. No one has ever been convicted in Sutherland's death.", "known": [ "The cell extraction and Sutherland's death, per body camera and surveillance footage the Charleston County Sheriff's Office released publicly, and Solicitor Scarlett Wilson's 23-page public report on the case.", "Sutherland had been arrested hours before his death following an alleged fight at the Palmetto Lowcountry Behavioral Health Center, where he had been admitted for psychiatric treatment the previous month, and was booked into the Al Cannon Detention Center on a misdemeanor third-degree assault and battery charge.", "When Sutherland refused to leave his cell for a scheduled bond hearing, Detention Sergeant Lindsay Fickett and Detention Deputy Brian Houle repeatedly deployed pepper spray and a Taser against him and physically pinned him to the floor while attempting to handcuff him; body camera audio captured him asking \u201cWhat is the meaning of this\u201d and saying \u201cI can't breathe.\u201d", "Solicitor Wilson's investigation found the jail had taken Sutherland off his usual antipsychotic medication and started him on a different one without informing jail personnel, and that the facility's contract medical staff never checked on him during the encounter, among a \u201cdomino effect of mistakes\u201d she said contributed to his death.", "The Charleston County Coroner's Office initially classified Sutherland's manner of death as \u201cundetermined,\u201d then later reclassified it as a homicide, one of the standard categories used when a death is not natural.", "Solicitor Wilson announced in July 2021 that she would not charge Fickett or Houle, stating she could prove the deputies made \u201cgrave mistakes\u201d that played a role in Sutherland's death but that this did not amount to a provable crime under the law.", "Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graziano, who took office the same day Sutherland died, fired both deputies in May 2021 and later announced jail policy changes including allowing remote bond hearings and directing staff to de-escalate and disengage from combative inmates rather than force extractions.", "Charleston County Council unanimously approved a $10 million settlement to Sutherland's family; the U.S. Department of Justice announced in October 2022 that it would not pursue federal criminal civil rights charges against the former deputies, after review of the state investigative file, use-of-force and medical expert analyses, and video of the incident." ], "unknown": [ "Whether the deputies' use of pepper spray, repeated Taser deployment, and physical restraint constituted excessive force sufficient to support criminal charges, as opposed to the \u201cgrave mistakes\u201d the solicitor described, was never tested at any criminal trial since neither the state nor federal government brought charges.", "The specific reasoning behind the coroner's office reclassifying Sutherland's manner of death from undetermined to homicide, and how that formal classification related to the solicitor's ultimate charging decision, has not been fully reconciled in public reporting.", "The full extent of responsibility among jail medical staff, distinct from the two deputies who were fired, for the medication change and lack of monitoring identified in Wilson's report has not been made public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did a coroner's formal homicide ruling not result in criminal charges against either deputy involved in the encounter that caused it?", "Why was Sutherland's antipsychotic medication changed without jail personnel being informed, and why did contract medical staff never check on him?", "What accountability, if any, have the jail's contract medical staff faced, separate from the two deputies who were fired?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "The Post and Courier \u2014 \u201cHicks: Deputies involved in Sutherland death won't be charged. Here's why.\u201d", "url": "https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/commentary/hicks-deputies-involved-in-sutherland-death-wont-be-charged-heres-why/article_7a548224-ee1d-11eb-b9af-730e8097349c.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cNo charges in jail death of Jamal Sutherland, who died after being pepper-sprayed, stunned\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/no-charges-jail-death-jamal-sutherland-who-died-after-being-n1275105", "verified": true }, { "name": "ABC News \u2014 \u201cNo federal charges over in-custody death of Jamal Sutherland, DOJ says\u201d", "url": "https://abcnews.com/US/federal-charges-custody-death-jamal-sutherland-doj/story?id=92136912", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "gregory-hill-jr", "caseNumber": "266", "name": "Gregory Hill Jr.", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2014, "age": 30, "gender": "male", "city": "Fort Pierce", "county": "St. Lucie", "state": "FL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-25", "summary": "Gregory Hill Jr., 30, a father of three, was shot and killed by St. Lucie County, Florida Sheriff's Deputy Christopher Newman on January 14, 2014, after deputies responded to a neighbor's complaint about loud music coming from his garage. Hill raised the garage door to answer deputies, then lowered it again; as it closed, Newman fired four shots through the door, striking Hill three times, including once in the head. An unloaded handgun was later found in Hill's back pocket. A grand jury declined to file criminal charges. Hill's family pursued a federal civil rights lawsuit, and in 2018 a jury found Newman was not liable, assigning Hill himself 99 percent of the responsibility for his own death because he was intoxicated, and the sheriff's office only 1 percent; the resulting award, reduced accordingly, came to four cents. No one has ever been charged in Hill's death.", "known": [ "The noise complaint, the garage door encounter, and the shooting, per court records and contemporaneous reporting from The New York Times, CBC, and the Associated Press.", "A parent picking up a child from a nearby school called in a complaint about loud music coming from Hill's garage; Deputy Christopher Newman and a partner responded to Hill's home in Fort Pierce.", "Hill raised the garage door partway to answer deputies, then lowered it again; as the door was closing, Newman fired four shots through it, striking Hill three times, including once in the head.", "Deputies said they saw Hill holding a weapon; an unloaded handgun was later found in his back pocket. Hill's blood-alcohol content was found to be 0.40, five times the legal driving limit.", "A grand jury reviewed the shooting and declined to file criminal charges against Newman.", "Hill's family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Newman and the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office; a SWAT team that had responded to the scene during the initial standoff was separately accused by the family's attorney of using enough tear gas to render the home permanently uninhabitable.", "After 10 hours of deliberation in May 2018, a federal jury found Newman was not liable for Hill's death and that Sheriff Ken Mascara's office bore only 1 percent of the responsibility, assigning Hill himself 99 percent for his own death due to intoxication.", "Because of the 1 percent liability finding, the jury's damages award, which covered funeral costs and the pain and suffering of Hill's three children, was reduced to four cents total; jurors later told the court they had been confused by the deliberation instructions." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Newman's decision to fire through a closing garage door, without a clear line of sight to whether Hill posed an active threat at that moment, was a reasonable use of deadly force was never resolved at any criminal trial, since the grand jury declined to file charges.", "Why jurors in the 2018 civil trial expressed confusion about the deliberation instructions before reaching their verdict, and whether that confusion affected the outcome, has not been independently examined beyond jurors' own notes submitted to the court.", "The full extent of damage the family's attorney alleged the responding SWAT team caused to the home during the standoff has not been independently confirmed in the sources reviewed for this summary." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did a deputy fire four shots through a closing garage door at a man who had already retreated from view, rather than pursue other options to resolve a noise complaint?", "Why were jurors confused by the deliberation instructions in the civil trial, and did that confusion shape a verdict that reduced a wrongful-death award for three children to four cents?", "What, if anything, changed in St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office use-of-force policy or training in the years following Hill's death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "CBC News \u2014 \u201cFlorida jury awards $0.04 to family of black man fatally shot by police\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/florida-jury-black-man-death-deputy-award-4-cents-gregory-hill-1.4688780", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Washington Informer \u2014 \u201cFlorida Co. Makes $4 Judgment for Fatal Police Shooting of Black Man\u201d", "url": "https://www.washingtoninformer.com/florida-co-makes-4-judgment-for-fatal-police-shooting-of-black-man/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Global News \u2014 \u201cFamily of man shot dead by police in his own garage awarded $4 by jury\u201d", "url": "https://globalnews.ca/news/4246965/man-shot-4-awarded-family-florida-jury/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "alvin-cole", "caseNumber": "267", "name": "Alvin Cole", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2020, "age": 17, "gender": "male", "city": "Wauwatosa", "county": "Milwaukee", "state": "WI", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-25", "summary": "Alvin Cole, 17, was shot and killed by Wauwatosa, Wisconsin Police Officer Joseph Mensah outside Mayfair Mall on February 2, 2020, after officers responded to a report of a man with a gun and pursued Cole and another person fleeing the scene. Police said Cole, who was carrying a stolen 9mm handgun, fired a shot while running from officers and refused commands to drop the weapon before Mensah shot him; Cole's family disputed that he ever fired the gun. No body camera footage exists, since Wauwatosa officers were not yet equipped with them. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm declined to charge Mensah in October 2020, finding he reasonably believed deadly force was necessary. Cole was the third person Mensah had fatally shot in five years as a Wauwatosa officer; an independent investigator hired by the city separately concluded Mensah's continued employment posed an \u201cunnecessary risk\u201d and recommended he be fired. No one has ever been convicted in Cole's death.", "known": [ "The pursuit and the shooting, per District Attorney John Chisholm's 14-page public report and an independent investigation commissioned by the City of Wauwatosa's Police and Fire Commission.", "Officers responded to a report of a man with a gun near Mayfair Mall; Officer Joseph Mensah pursued Cole and another individual as they fled, and Chisholm's report stated evidence showed Cole fired a shot while running and pointed the stolen handgun at Mensah before being shot.", "Cole's family and their attorney, Kimberley Motley, disputed that Cole ever fired his weapon or aimed it at Mensah, stating \u201cAlvin Cole did not shoot Joseph Mensah, did not shoot at Joseph Mensah.\u201d", "No body camera footage of the shooting exists, since Wauwatosa police officers were not equipped with them at the time; the city approved a five-year, $760,000 body camera contract shortly after the shooting.", "District Attorney John Chisholm announced in October 2020 that he would not charge Mensah, writing that \u201cthere is sufficient evidence that Officer Mensah had an actual subjective belief that deadly force was necessary and that belief was objectively reasonable\u201d and that the state could not disprove self-defense.", "Cole was the third person Mensah fatally shot in five years as a Wauwatosa officer, following Antonio Gonzales in 2015 and Jay Anderson Jr. in 2016; the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office ruled all three shootings justified, and special prosecutors separately declined to charge Mensah over the Anderson shooting after the Anderson family pursued a rare legal process called a John Doe proceeding.", "Former U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic, hired by the city to independently review Mensah's record, concluded in an October 2020 report that keeping him on the force \u201ccreates an extraordinary, unwarranted and unnecessary risk to the Wauwatosa Police Department and the City of Wauwatosa\u201d and recommended his firing; Mensah resigned from the department that November before any termination process concluded, and later resigned from a subsequent role at the Waukesha County Sheriff's Office.", "Cole's family separately pursued a federal civil lawsuit against Mensah; as of late 2025, two consecutive federal civil juries had deadlocked without reaching a verdict, with a third civil trial scheduled for May 2026." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Cole in fact fired the stolen handgun and pointed it at Mensah, as the district attorney's report concluded, or never fired or aimed the weapon at all, as his family has maintained, was never resolved at any criminal trial, since no charges were brought; the question has also not been conclusively resolved in the parallel federal civil case, where two consecutive juries have deadlocked.", "Why the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office ruled all three of Mensah's fatal shootings over five years individually justified, without any office-wide review of the pattern itself until the city's own independently commissioned report, has not been fully addressed in available public reporting.", "The outcome of Cole's family's federal civil lawsuit remains unresolved, with a third trial scheduled for May 2026 after two prior juries failed to reach a verdict." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was Officer Mensah permitted to remain on active duty after his second fatal shooting in 2016, allowing a third death to occur in 2020?", "Why did it take an independently commissioned city report, rather than the district attorney's own review process, to formally conclude that Mensah's continued employment posed an unnecessary risk?", "What will two deadlocked federal civil juries, and a third trial still to come, ultimately determine about what happened in the moments before Cole was shot?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Wisconsin Examiner \u2014 \u201cNo charges against Mensah for killing of 17-year-old\u201d", "url": "https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2020/10/07/no-charges-against-mensah-for-killing-of-17-year-old/", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS News \u2014 \u201cNo charges against Wisconsin officer who fatally shot teen\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alvin-cole-shooting-no-charges-officer-joseph-mensah-wisconsin-wauwatosa", "verified": true }, { "name": "Hoodline \u2014 \u201cSecond Deadlock in Federal Civil Trial Over Police Shooting of Alvin Cole in Wauwatosa as Third Trial Set for May 2026\u201d", "url": "https://hoodline.com/2025/09/second-deadlock-in-federal-civil-trial-over-police-shooting-of-alvin-cole-in-wauwatosa-third-trial-set-for-may-2026/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "vincent-belmonte", "caseNumber": "268", "name": "Vincent Belmonte", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2021, "age": 19, "gender": "male", "city": "Cleveland", "county": "Cuyahoga", "state": "OH", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-25", "summary": "Vincent Belmonte, 19, was shot three or four times, including in the back of the head and back, and killed by East Cleveland, Ohio Police Sergeant Larry McDonald on January 8, 2021, after a traffic stop over a loud muffler turned into a foot chase. Belmonte, who was driving a stolen car with two passengers, crashed and fled on foot through neighborhood yards; McDonald said he saw Belmonte reaching for a gun as he ran and fired, striking him mostly from behind. McDonald told investigators his body camera had turned off \u201cinadvertently\u201d during the chase, leaving no video of the shooting itself. A gun was recovered in Belmonte's hoodie pocket. A Cuyahoga County grand jury declined to indict McDonald in October 2021, nearly ten months after the shooting. No one has ever been charged in Belmonte's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop, the chase, and the shooting, per Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost's public announcement of the grand jury's findings and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation's underlying review.", "Sergeant Larry McDonald, training another officer at the time, attempted to stop Belmonte's car, later determined to be stolen, over a loud muffler; Belmonte and two passengers fled in a brief vehicle pursuit before crashing due to damaged tires.", "All three occupants ran on foot; McDonald chased Belmonte through neighborhood yards and over a fence he was unable to climb, and said Belmonte reached for a gun during the pursuit before he fired, striking him three or four times, including in the back of the head, back, forearm, and chest.", "McDonald told investigators his body-worn camera had turned off \u201cinadvertently\u201d as he chased Belmonte, meaning no video exists of the shooting itself; Attorney General Yost said the exact details of the encounter accordingly \u201cremain unclear.\u201d", "A firearm with an extended magazine was recovered from Belmonte's hoodie pocket at the scene.", "A Cuyahoga County grand jury reviewed the Bureau of Criminal Investigation's findings and declined to indict McDonald in October 2021, roughly ten months after the shooting; Yost said the jury found McDonald \u201cacted within the bounds of the law.\u201d", "Belmonte's mother, SheaRon Daniels, and the family's attorney, Tiana Bohanon, publicly disputed the outcome, with Bohanon stating that accountability is generally lacking when Black men are killed by police.", "McDonald remained with the East Cleveland Police Department after the shooting and resigned in 2023 for reasons unrelated to public statements about the Belmonte case." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Belmonte in fact reached for the gun found in his hoodie pocket while running away, as McDonald stated, or whether the shots that struck him mostly from behind reflected a different sequence of events, was never independently resolved by video evidence, since the only body camera that could have captured the shooting was off; the question was never tested at any criminal trial, since the grand jury declined to indict.", "Why McDonald's body camera turned off during the chase, and whether that was accidental as he stated, has never been independently verified beyond his own account.", "The full content of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation's underlying case file, beyond Attorney General Yost's public summary of the grand jury's findings, has not been made comprehensively public." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the only body camera that could have recorded the shooting turn off during the chase, and what verification, if any, was done of the officer's explanation that this was accidental?", "Why was Belmonte struck mostly from behind, including in the back of the head, if he was turning to face the officer with a weapon as described?", "What specific body camera policy changes, if any, has the East Cleveland Police Department made regarding unintentional camera deactivation since Belmonte's death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Ideastream Public Media \u2014 \u201cGrand jury declines to indict E. Cleveland cop who killed Vincent Belmonte\u201d", "url": "https://www.ideastream.org/community/2021-10-22/grand-jury-declines-to-indict-e-cleveland-cop-who-killed-vincent-belmonte", "verified": true }, { "name": "WOIO (Cleveland 19 News) \u2014 \u201cGrand jury declines to indict East Cleveland police officer who fatally shot Vincent Belmonte\u201d", "url": "https://www.cleveland19.com/2021/10/22/attorney-general-updates-investigation-deadly-east-cleveland-police-involved-shooting-vincent-belmonte/", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Marshall Project \u2014 \u201cAfter Police Killed an Ohio Man, His Family Navigates Grief and Healing: Photos\u201d", "url": "https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/07/25/family-photos-cleveland-police-shooting-belmonte", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "randy-martin", "caseNumber": "269", "name": "Randy Martin", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2026, "age": 47, "gender": "male", "city": "Galveston", "county": "Galveston", "state": "TX", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-30", "summary": "Randy Martin, 47, was shot eight times and killed by Galveston, Texas Police Officer Joshua Nino De Guzman during a traffic stop on May 18, 2026, after De Guzman said he saw Martin's car leaving an alley that police had under narcotics surveillance. De Guzman ordered Martin out of the car to frisk him for weapons; a struggle followed in which De Guzman said Martin grabbed for his holstered weapon and raised an object he believed was a gun, prompting him to fire eight rounds. No firearm belonging to Martin was ever recovered. An autopsy found seven entrance wounds, five of them in Martin's upper right back, and the medical examiner ruled his death a homicide. A Galveston County grand jury declined to indict De Guzman in September 2026. No one has ever been charged in Martin's death.", "known": [ "The traffic stop, the struggle, and the shooting, per a 40-page Texas Rangers investigative report and body and dash camera footage the City of Galveston released publicly in September 2026.", "Officer Joshua Nino De Guzman stopped Martin's car on May 18, 2026, saying he had seen it leave an alley near an address police had under narcotics surveillance; De Guzman later told investigators he also believed Martin had run several stop signs, though no video showing that has been released.", "Body camera footage shows De Guzman ordering Martin out of the car to check him for firearms without stating a reason; Martin asked why he had been stopped and said he had not run any stop signs.", "A struggle followed in which dash camera video showed Martin resisting being frisked, putting an arm around the officer's head and neck, and reaching for De Guzman's holstered weapon, according to the Texas Rangers' report; De Guzman separated from Martin and fired eight shots, killing him.", "No firearm belonging to Martin was recovered at the scene; investigators found a plastic container and bags containing a white powdery substance in a nearby driveway. Ashley Parks, who was riding in Martin's car, told investigators Martin had fought with the officer partly because he was trying to get back into the vehicle to discard drugs he had on him.", "An autopsy found seven entrance wounds, five of them in Martin's upper right back, and the medical examiner classified his death a homicide.", "A Galveston County grand jury declined to indict De Guzman, with the district attorney's office announcing the no-bill decision in September 2026; De Guzman remains employed by the Galveston Police Department, reassigned to its Support Services Bureau rather than patrol duty.", "Martin's family is weighing a federal civil lawsuit against the City of Galveston; his mother, Paula Martin Lynch, said publicly, \u201cMy son was murdered,\u201d and a judge separately ordered the city to turn over unredacted body and dash camera footage to the family's attorney." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Martin in fact reached for the officer's weapon or raised an object mistaken for a gun, as De Guzman's account states, is difficult to reconcile with the autopsy finding that five of his seven wounds struck his upper back, and was never tested at any criminal trial, since the grand jury declined to indict.", "Why De Guzman ordered Martin out of the car specifically to frisk him for a weapon before any indication of one, rather than first explaining the basis for the stop, has not been addressed in the official investigative account.", "The full, unredacted body and dash camera footage ordered released to the family's attorney had not been made public in the sources reviewed for this summary." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did five of Martin's seven gunshot wounds strike his upper back, if he was actively grabbing for the officer's holstered weapon and facing him at the moment of the shooting, as the officer's account describes?", "Why did Officer De Guzman order Martin out of his vehicle to frisk him for weapons before explaining the reason for the traffic stop?", "What specific video evidence, beyond the investigators' written descriptions in the Texas Rangers report, does the unredacted footage a judge ordered released to the family actually show?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Atlanta Black Star \u2014 \u201c'My Son Was Murdered': Texas Cop Says He Feared for His Life, But Video Raises Questions After He Fatally Shoots Black Driver and Walks\u201d", "url": "https://atlantablackstar.com/2026/09/25/texas-cop-says-he-feared-for-his-life-but-video-raises-questions-after-he-fatally-shoots-black-driver-and-walks/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Houston Public Media \u2014 \u201cNew details emerge in Texas Rangers' investigation of fatal Galveston police shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/local/galveston/2026/09/30/563250/new-details-emerge-in-texas-rangers-investigation-of-fatal-galveston-police-shooting/", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Galveston County Daily News \u2014 \u201cFamily of man shot by Galveston police seeks unredacted footage, weighs civil suit\u201d", "url": "https://www.galvnews.com/news/family-of-man-shot-by-galveston-police-seeks-unredacted-footage-weighs-civil-suit/article_a33ac9f7-044c-4d36-8caa-b0a78facccb4.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "johnny-hollman", "caseNumber": "270", "name": "Johnny Hollman Sr.", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2023, "age": 62, "gender": "male", "city": "Atlanta", "county": "Fulton", "state": "GA", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-30", "summary": "Deacon Johnny Hollman Sr., 62, died less than two hours after being Tased by Atlanta Police Officer Kiran Kimbrough on August 10, 2023, during a dispute over a traffic citation following a minor car accident Hollman himself had called 911 to report. Hollman, who had just finished Bible study and was bringing dinner home to his wife, asked to speak with a sergeant after being cited; when he refused to sign the ticket, Kimbrough threatened arrest, then Tased him and forced him to the ground. Body camera footage showed Hollman saying \u201cI can't breathe\u201d as many as sixteen times while being restrained, with a tow truck driver at the scene also accused by witnesses of placing a knee on his neck. An autopsy ruled his death a homicide, though the medical examiner found his underlying heart disease also contributed. Kimbrough was fired for violating department procedure but never criminally charged; a Fulton County grand jury declined to indict him on August 4, 2025, two years after Hollman's death. No one has ever been convicted in Hollman's death.", "known": [ "The traffic citation, the Tasing, and Hollman's death, per body camera footage the Atlanta Police Department released publicly in November 2023 and the department's own internal investigation.", "Hollman called 911 himself after a minor car accident on his way home from Bible study; the responding officer found him at fault and issued a citation, which Hollman refused to sign after his request to speak with a sergeant was denied.", "Body camera video showed Officer Kiran Kimbrough threatening to arrest Hollman if he would not sign the citation, then deploying his Taser and forcing him to the ground; Hollman can be heard saying \u201cI can't breathe\u201d as many as sixteen times while being restrained.", "A tow truck driver at the scene, working for a city contractor, was separately accused by witnesses and the family's attorneys of placing his knee on Hollman's neck while helping restrain him; Hollman's family called for that driver to be charged as well.", "Hollman became unresponsive at the scene and was pronounced dead at Grady Memorial Hospital; an autopsy ruled his death a homicide, while also finding that his preexisting heart disease contributed to it.", "The Atlanta Police Department's internal investigation found Kimbrough had violated standard operating procedure during the encounter, and Police Chief Darin Schierbaum fired him in December 2023; Kimbrough's attorney said he used his Taser in a manner consistent with his training and appealed the firing.", "A Fulton County grand jury reviewed the case and declined to indict Kimbrough on August 4, 2025, nearly two years after Hollman's death, finding the shooting justified under the applicable legal standard.", "Hollman's family filed a 63-page federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Atlanta, Police Chief Schierbaum, and Kimbrough, devoting much of the filing to what it described as two decades of patterns of excessive force and inadequate investigations within the department; Hollman's death also became a rallying point in opposition to the city's planned public safety training center, widely known as \u201cCop City.\u201d", "In response to the case, the Atlanta Police Department changed its operating procedure so that officers write \u201crefused to sign\u201d on a citation when someone declines, rather than attempting an arrest over it." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Kimbrough's use of a Taser against a 62-year-old man for refusing to sign a traffic citation was a justified use of force, as the department's own internal review of procedure violations and the subsequent firing would suggest was in dispute, or legally justified, as the grand jury ultimately found, was never resolved at any criminal trial, since the grand jury declined to indict.", "The extent to which the tow truck driver's alleged restraint technique, separate from the Tasing itself, contributed to Hollman's death has not been independently established or addressed in any criminal proceeding, since no charges were brought against him either.", "The relative contribution of the Tasing versus Hollman's preexisting heart disease to his death, both cited in the same homicide ruling, has not been further broken down in public reporting beyond the autopsy's general finding." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was a man who called 911 himself to report his own minor accident, and who was found by the department's own internal review to have had a Taser used on him in violation of procedure, never criminally charged against by prosecutors, despite the officer being fired for the same conduct?", "Why was the tow truck driver accused of placing a knee on Hollman's neck during the restraint never charged or, as far as public reporting shows, formally investigated?", "What does it mean that an internal police investigation and a grand jury, reviewing the same body camera footage, reached opposite conclusions about whether the officer's conduct was improper?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "CBS News \u2014 \u201cAtlanta's police chief fires officer involved in church deacon Johnny Hollman Sr.'s death\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/atlanta-officer-kiran-kimbrough-fired-deacon-johnny-hollman-death/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Fox 5 Atlanta \u2014 \u201cJohnny Hollman death: Family files lawsuit against Atlanta, former officer\u201d", "url": "https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/johnny-hollman-death-lawsuit-atlanta-bodycam", "verified": true }, { "name": "Black Star News \u2014 \u201cFamily Of Black Deacon Killed By Atlanta Police Calls For Justice March Saturday\u201d", "url": "https://blackstarnews.com/family-of-black-deacon-killed-by-atlanta-police-calls-for-justice-march-saturday/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "jabari-peoples", "caseNumber": "271", "name": "Jabari Latrell Peoples", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2025, "age": 18, "gender": "male", "city": "Homewood", "county": "Jefferson", "state": "AL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-09-30", "summary": "Jabari Latrell Peoples, 18, a community college student, was shot in the back and killed by a Homewood, Alabama police officer on June 23, 2025, while sitting in a parked car with his girlfriend at a soccer complex. Police said the officer approached to arrest Peoples for suspected marijuana possession, a struggle followed, and the officer fired after Peoples broke free and grabbed a handgun from the car door; Peoples's family disputed that account entirely, saying he was unarmed and complied with the officer before being taken to the ground and shot within seconds. His family was not notified of his death by law enforcement at all, learning instead from the county coroner's office more than twelve hours later. Under Alabama law, the agency investigating the shooting was barred from releasing the body camera footage to the public or even to Peoples's parents; only his siblings were eventually shown it. Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr announced in August 2025 that no charges would be filed and the case would not be presented to a grand jury. No one has ever been charged in Peoples's death.", "known": [ "The attempted arrest, the struggle, and the shooting, per Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr's August 2025 public announcement and reporting from the Associated Press and Birmingham-area outlets.", "A uniformed Homewood police officer approached Peoples's parked car at the Homewood Soccer Complex around 9:30 p.m. and attempted to detain him after reportedly noticing marijuana and a gun in the car door; police said a struggle ensued in which the officer was knocked to the ground.", "District Attorney Carr said body camera footage and other evidence showed Peoples grabbed the gun from the car door with his right hand after breaking away from the officer, who then fired a single shot that struck Peoples in the back.", "Peoples's family released a public statement disputing the official account entirely, stating he was not armed, that he complied with the officer, and that he was taken to the ground and shot within seconds; they also said no life-saving measures were performed on him at the scene, while police said backup officers began medical aid within 96 seconds of arriving.", "Peoples's family was never directly notified of his death by police or medical personnel; they learned of it when the Jefferson County Coroner's Office contacted them roughly twelve hours after he was pronounced dead.", "Under a 2023 Alabama law governing release of police recordings, only the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), which took over the investigation, was authorized to release the body camera footage; ALEA denied repeated requests from both Peoples's family and the City of Homewood to release it.", "Peoples's mother, represented by attorney Leroy Maxwell Jr., filed a court petition to compel the City of Homewood to release the footage and the identities of officers present; civil rights attorney Ben Crump later joined the family's legal team.", "District Attorney Carr arranged for Peoples's siblings, though not his parents, to view the footage in August 2025 before announcing no charges would be filed and that the case would not be presented to a grand jury at all; his sister said afterward it was not clear from the video that Peoples had a gun, and Crump said Peoples never pointed anything at the officer.", "Regular protests were held in Homewood in the weeks following the shooting, with demonstrators calling for transparency and the video's full public release." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Peoples in fact grabbed a handgun from the car door before being shot, as the district attorney's account states, or was unarmed and compliant, as his family has maintained, was never tested at any criminal trial or even presented to a grand jury, and remains disputed even by family members who have since viewed the footage.", "Whether officers rendered aid to Peoples within 96 seconds, as police stated, or took no life-saving action, as the family's public statement said, has not been independently reconciled in available public reporting.", "The full body camera footage remains legally unreleased to the public as of the sources reviewed for this summary, meaning the only public accounts of its contents come from the district attorney's summary and the differing impressions of family members who were shown it." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was Peoples's family not directly notified of his death by police, learning instead from the county coroner's office more than twelve hours later?", "Why does Alabama law bar the very agency investigating a police shooting from releasing body camera footage to the public, or even to the victim's own parents?", "Why did the district attorney decline to present the case to a grand jury at all, rather than let a jury of residents weigh the same evidence he reviewed alone?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Associated Press (via Yahoo News) \u2014 \u201cFamily seeks body camera footage from fatal police shooting of Jabari Peoples in Homewood\u201d", "url": "https://whnt.com/news/alabama-news/family-seeks-body-camera-footage-from-fatal-police-shooting-of-jabari-peoples-in-homewood/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WVTM13 \u2014 \u201cThe latest in the death of Jabari Peoples: Homewood mayor releases statement after family sees video\u201d", "url": "https://www.wvtm13.com/article/alabama-jabari-peoples-homewood-police-shooting-bodycam/65374781", "verified": true }, { "name": "Birmingham Times \u2014 \u201cDA: Jabari Peoples Reached for Gun Prior to Being Shot by Homewood Police Officer\u201d", "url": "https://www.birminghamtimes.com/2025/08/da-jabari-peoples-reached-for-gun-prior-to-being-shot-by-homewood-police-officer/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "pamela-turner", "caseNumber": "272", "name": "Pamela Turner", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2019, "age": 44, "gender": "female", "city": "Baytown", "county": "Harris", "state": "TX", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-10-05", "summary": "Pamela Turner, 44, a Black woman whose family said she lived with mental illness, was shot five times and killed by Baytown, Texas Police Officer Juan Delacruz on May 13, 2019, in the parking lot of the apartment complex where both lived. Delacruz was attempting to arrest Turner on outstanding warrants; police said she resisted, grabbed his Taser, and used it against him before he opened fire. A bystander's video captured part of the encounter, including Turner shouting that she was pregnant moments before the shots. A Harris County grand jury indicted Delacruz on a first-degree felony charge of aggravated assault by a public servant in September 2020, and after a trial in October 2022, a jury found him not guilty. No one has ever been convicted in Turner's death.", "known": [ "The attempted arrest, the Taser struggle, and the shooting, per Texas Rangers and Harris County District Attorney's Office investigations and trial coverage by KHOU, Click2Houston, and Houston Public Media.", "Delacruz encountered Turner while on patrol and knew she had outstanding warrants; police said she resisted arrest, grabbed his Taser, and used it against him, at which point he fired.", "A bystander's cellphone video shows Delacruz standing over Turner and reaching down for her arms; Turner is heard yelling \u201cI'm pregnant,\u201d and moments later something flashes as she reaches her arm toward the officer, who pulls away and fires five shots.", "Turner's family said she suffered from mental illness; she and Delacruz lived in the same apartment complex.", "Delacruz returned to work within two weeks of the shooting, on administrative duty while the Texas Rangers and the Harris County District Attorney's Civil Rights Division investigated.", "A Harris County grand jury indicted Delacruz on September 14, 2020, on one count of aggravated assault by a public servant, a first-degree felony carrying five years to life in prison, roughly sixteen months after the shooting.", "At the start of the trial, the family's attorney, Ben Crump, said a guilty verdict would be the first time in American history a police officer was convicted in the killing of a Black woman.", "A Harris County jury found Delacruz not guilty on October 11, 2022; District Attorney Kim Ogg said her office respected the verdict, while Turner's family and Crump expressed grief and disappointment." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Turner in fact grabbed and fired the Taser at Delacruz in a way that put his life at risk, as the defense maintained, or the flash visible on the bystander video reflected something less threatening, was contested at trial and resolved only by the not-guilty verdict, not by any conviction.", "How much the jury weighed Turner's documented mental illness, and Delacruz's knowledge of it as her neighbor, in reaching its verdict has not been made public, as jury deliberations are not a matter of public record.", "Whether any administrative or departmental discipline followed the acquittal has not been confirmed in the sources reviewed for this summary." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was Delacruz, who lived in the same complex and had prior encounters with Turner, able to resolve an arrest on outstanding warrants only by deadly force?", "Why did it take sixteen months for a grand jury to be convened, and what accounted for that delay in a case with bystander video?", "What, if anything, changed in Baytown Police Department policy on arresting people known to have mental illness after Turner's death?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Click2Houston (KPRC) \u2014 \u201cHarris County jury finds Baytown officer not guilty in 2019 fatal shooting of Pamela Turner\u201d", "url": "https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2022/10/11/harris-county-jury-finds-baytown-officer-not-guilty-in-2019-fatal-shooting-of-pamela-turner/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Houston Public Media \u2014 \u201cBaytown Police Officer Indicted In 2019 Shooting Death Of Pamela Turner\u201d", "url": "https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/criminal-justice/2020/09/14/381788/baytown-police-officer-indicted-in-2019-shooting-death-of-pamela-turner/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Al Jazeera \u2014 \u201cPamela Turner: Texas charges officer for fatal 2019 US shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/9/14/pamela-turner-texas-charges-officer-for-fatal-2019-us-shooting", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "danny-ray-thomas", "caseNumber": "273", "name": "Danny Ray Thomas", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2018, "age": 34, "gender": "male", "city": "Houston", "county": "Harris", "state": "TX", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-10-05", "summary": "Danny Ray Thomas, 34, an unarmed Black man whose family said he was struggling psychologically, was shot once in the chest and killed by Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Cameron Brewer on March 22, 2018, in Houston's Greenspoint area. Dashcam and bystander video showed Thomas, whose pants were around his ankles, walking toward Brewer as the deputy backed away with his gun aimed at Thomas's chest, shouting at him to get down. Brewer, who was carrying a Taser, fired a single shot. The Sheriff's Office fired Brewer for violating its use-of-force policy, and in October 2018 a Harris County grand jury indicted him on aggravated assault by a public servant, the first such indictment of a peace officer for an on-duty fatal shooting in Harris County in fifteen years. A jury acquitted him in August 2019. No one has ever been convicted in Thomas's death.", "known": [ "The encounter and the shooting, per Houston Police Department investigators, the Harris County Sheriff's Office's released dashcam video, bystander recordings, and trial coverage by the Houston Chronicle and ABC13.", "Brewer stopped his patrol car on Greens Road at Imperial Valley after seeing what appeared to be a fight; Thomas had been involved in an altercation with a driver.", "Video shows Thomas unarmed, with his pants down around his ankles, walking toward Brewer as the deputy retreated with his gun pointed at Thomas's chest, yelling for him to get down several times; Brewer fired once, striking Thomas in the chest.", "Investigators said Brewer was carrying a Taser but chose to use his firearm; Brewer's attorney said the deputy recognized that Thomas appeared to be high on PCP and knew from past encounters that a Taser would not stop someone in that state.", "Sheriff Ed Gonzalez fired Brewer in April 2018 after an internal investigation found he had not followed the Sheriff's Office use-of-force policy.", "A Harris County grand jury indicted Brewer on October 25, 2018, on a first-degree felony charge of aggravated assault by a public servant, which carried a penalty of up to life in prison; it was the first time in fifteen years that Harris County prosecutors secured an indictment of a peace officer for an on-duty fatal shooting.", "Brewer, who is also Black, went on trial in August 2019; a jury found him not guilty on August 9, 2019, and the District Attorney's Office said it respected the verdict.", "In 2020, the Sheriff's Civil Service Commission voted to reinstate Brewer; the Sheriff's Office said it stood behind its decision to terminate him, and it was unclear whether or when he would return to work." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Brewer reasonably believed Thomas posed a lethal threat, as the defense argued, or used deadly force in violation of both the law and his department's policy, as the Sheriff's Office's own termination finding suggested, was resolved at trial only by a not-guilty verdict, and the jury's reasoning has not been made public.", "Whether Thomas was in fact intoxicated on PCP at the time, as Brewer's attorney stated, and how that bore on the use of force, was a defense claim and is not confirmed in the sources reviewed for this summary.", "Whether Brewer ever returned to work for the Sheriff's Office after the Civil Service Commission's reinstatement vote has not been confirmed in the sources reviewed." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did the Sheriff's Office find Brewer violated its own use-of-force policy while a jury found no criminal liability for the same shooting?", "Why had Harris County gone fifteen years without indicting a peace officer for an on-duty fatal shooting before this case?", "Why did an officer carrying a Taser choose his firearm against an unarmed man who was visibly in distress and walking with his pants around his ankles?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Houston Chronicle \u2014 \u201cFormer deputy found not guilty in shooting of Danny Ray Thomas\u201d", "url": "https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Jurors-deliberating-verdict-in-shooting-of-Danny-14291506.php", "verified": true }, { "name": "ABC13 (KTRK) \u2014 \u201cJury acquits ex-Harris County deputy in killing of unarmed man\u201d", "url": "https://abc13.com/post/jury-acquits-ex-harris-county-deputy-in-killing-of-unarmed-man/5453747/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Houston Public Media \u2014 \u201cGrand Jury Indicts Former Sheriff's Deputy for Death of Danny Ray Thomas\u201d", "url": "https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2018/10/25/309368/grand-jury-indicts-former-sheriffs-deputy-for-death-of-danny-ray-thomas/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Houston Chronicle \u2014 \u201cCommission votes to reinstate Harris County deputy who shot, killed Danny Ray Thomas\u201d", "url": "https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Commission-votes-to-reinstate-Harris-County-15423984.php", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "tanisha-anderson", "caseNumber": "274", "name": "Tanisha Anderson", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2014, "age": 37, "gender": "female", "city": "Cleveland", "county": "Cuyahoga", "state": "OH", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-10-05", "summary": "Tanisha Anderson, 37, a Black woman with bipolar disorder who had been discharged from a behavioral health facility weeks earlier, died on the night of November 12\u201313, 2014, after Cleveland police officers Scott Aldridge and Bryan Myers handcuffed her and took her to the ground outside her family's home. Her family had called police for help during a mental health episode; officers agreed to take her to a hospital for evaluation, but she became distressed at the patrol car and a struggle followed, ending with her prone on the ground in handcuffs. She lost consciousness and died. The county medical examiner first ruled her death a homicide associated with prone restraint, a finding later complicated by a second autopsy. The City of Cleveland settled a wrongful death suit for $2.25 million in 2017, and in February 2018 a Cuyahoga County grand jury, hearing a case led by a special prosecutor from the Ohio Attorney General's office, declined to charge either officer. No one has ever been charged in Anderson's death.", "known": [ "The 911 calls, the encounter, and Anderson's death, per the Ohio Attorney General's review, the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's investigative file, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's reports, and reporting by the Associated Press, Ideastream, and Mother Jones.", "Anderson's brother called police around 8:15 p.m. on November 12, 2014, after she left the Windsor Laurelwood Center for Behavioral Medicine; a second call came about 45 minutes later saying she was trying to leave the house in a nightgown. Officers Scott Aldridge, a training officer, and Bryan Myers, a rookie who had joined the department that year, responded.", "Officers and family members persuaded Anderson to go to a hospital; the Ohio Attorney General's review found the officers' and witnesses' accounts of what happened next to be disputed. The officers said she went to the ground on her own and kicked at them; her family said she was claustrophobic, jumped from the patrol car, and was slammed to the ground and kneed in the back while prone.", "A law enforcement official familiar with the sheriff's investigation told Mother Jones that Anderson was on the ground in handcuffs for roughly twenty minutes before EMS arrived; Cleveland police's internal affairs review separately found the officers failed to provide medical assistance.", "The county medical examiner ruled her death a homicide, attributing it to sudden death associated with physical restraint in a prone position, in association with ischemic heart disease and bipolar disorder with agitation; obesity was also cited as a factor.", "A county judge ordered the first page of that autopsy stricken from the record because it contained material from the officers' compelled internal statements, and the Ohio Attorney General's office ordered a second autopsy, which Cleveland Scene reported found she died of heart disease and other health reasons.", "The City of Cleveland agreed in early 2017 to a $2.25 million wrongful death settlement with her family, and an outside consultant concluded the officers had used excessive force.", "A Cuyahoga County grand jury, which began hearing testimony in late September 2017 in a case presented by the Ohio Attorney General's special prosecutions chief, declined to indict Aldridge and Myers in February 2018; the officers' attorney said the grand jury reached the \u201cjust conclusion that these officers did nothing wrong.\u201d", "In March 2018, Cleveland's safety director suspended Aldridge for ten days without pay and issued Myers a written warning.", "In November 2024, Cleveland City Council members introduced \u201cTanisha's Law,\u201d legislation to codify co-responder teams pairing police with mental health professionals." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Anderson's death was caused by prone restraint, as the first autopsy concluded, or by heart disease and other health conditions, as the second reportedly found, was never resolved at any trial, since no charges were brought.", "How long Anderson lay handcuffed and prone before medical help arrived has been described publicly only through an unnamed official's account to a reporter, and the full sheriff's investigative file has not been made comprehensively public.", "What the grand jury heard beyond what has been reported, and the reasoning behind its decision, is not public, as grand jury proceedings are secret under Ohio law." ], "unanswered": [ "Why did two autopsies reach different conclusions, and what did it mean for the investigation that a judge had to strike part of the first one?", "Why did it take more than three years from Anderson's death for a grand jury to hear the case?", "Why was a woman whose family called for help during a mental health crisis left handcuffed and prone for an extended period before medical aid reached her?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Ideastream Public Media \u2014 \u201cGrand Jury Decides Not to Charge Officers in Death of Tanisha Anderson\u201d", "url": "https://www.ideastream.org/news/community/2018-02-03/grand-jury-decides-not-to-charge-officers-in-death-of-tanisha-anderson", "verified": true }, { "name": "Mother Jones \u2014 \u201cQuestions Mount About a Mentally Ill Black Woman's Death in Police Custody\u201d", "url": "https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/02/tanisha-anderson-death-cleveland-police-investigation/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Cleveland Scene \u2014 \u201cGrand Jury: No Charges for Cleveland Police Officers in Death of Tanisha Anderson\u201d", "url": "https://www.clevescene.com/news/grand-jury-no-charges-for-cleveland-police-officers-in-death-of-tanisha-anderson-14744320/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WCBE / Associated Press \u2014 \u201cCleveland Cops Cleared Of Criminal Charges In Death Of Tanisha Anderson\u201d", "url": "https://www.wcbe.org/news/2018-02-03/cleveland-cops-cleared-of-criminal-charges-in-death-of-tanisha-anderson", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "tony-robinson", "caseNumber": "275", "name": "Tony Robinson Jr.", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2015, "age": 19, "gender": "male", "city": "Madison", "county": "Dane", "state": "WI", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-10-07", "summary": "Tony Robinson Jr., 19, an unarmed Black teenager, was shot seven times and killed by Madison, Wisconsin Police Officer Matt Kenny on March 6, 2015, in the stairwell of an apartment building on Williamson Street. Kenny had responded to a call about a man behaving erratically; a friend had told 911 dispatchers that Robinson, who had taken psychedelic mushrooms and other substances, was not known to carry weapons. Kenny said Robinson attacked him at the top of the stairs and that he fired at point-blank range, but dashcam footage and forensic reports in the family's civil suit raised questions about whether some shots were fired after Robinson was already down. Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne declined to charge Kenny in May 2015, the department cleared him, and the city's insurer settled the family's federal suit for $3.35 million in 2017. A 2023 effort to have a judge order charges ended when the judge ruled he lacked authority to appoint a special prosecutor. No one has ever been charged in Robinson's death.", "known": [ "The call, the shooting, and the investigative outcome, per reporting by the Cap Times, Isthmus, CNN, and Channel 3000, and the Dane County District Attorney's public decision.", "On March 6, 2015, Officer Matt Kenny responded to a call about Robinson, who had taken psychedelic mushrooms and other substances; a friend told 911 dispatchers that Robinson was not known to carry weapons, and Robinson was unarmed.", "Kenny said Robinson attacked him at the top of the stairs at 1125 Williamson Street and that he shot at point-blank range; he fired seven shots, and all seven struck Robinson.", "Dashcam footage suggests some shots were fired after Robinson's feet appeared in the doorway, indicating he may already have been on the ground; forensic reports filed in the family's civil suit said shell casings were found at the bottom of the steps or outside the apartment, which the family says contradicts Kenny's account.", "On May 12, 2015, Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne announced that Kenny would not be charged, concluding he acted lawfully; the Madison Police Department separately cleared Kenny of violating professional standards.", "In 2017, the City of Madison's insurer settled the family's federal civil rights suit for $3.35 million, the largest such settlement in Wisconsin history at the time; it included no admission of wrongdoing and barred Robinson's mother from further action against Kenny.", "In 2023, Robinson's grandmother, Sharon Irwin-Henry, used a rarely invoked Wisconsin statute to ask a judge to find probable cause and issue a homicide complaint; seven judges recused before Judge Stephen Ehlke heard it, and on June 30, 2023 he dismissed the petition, saying that even assuming probable cause existed, he had neither the statutory nor inherent authority to appoint the special prosecutor needed to bring the case.", "As of March 2025, Kenny remained employed by the Madison Police Department in its training division, where he has worked since the summer of 2015; Robinson's family planned to bring a complaint before the Police and Fire Commission seeking his firing.", "Robinson's death helped drive local changes, including a revised use-of-force policy emphasizing preservation of life, a Police Civilian Oversight Board, an Office of the Independent Monitor, and expanded de-escalation and crisis intervention training." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Robinson attacked Kenny at the top of the stairs, as Kenny stated, or whether some or all of the shots were fired after Robinson was already down, as the family's forensic reports and the dashcam footage suggest, has never been tested at a criminal trial.", "Why shell casings were reportedly found at the bottom of the steps or outside the apartment, rather than where Kenny's account would place them, has not been resolved in any public proceeding.", "Whether any further legal avenue remains open to the family to seek criminal charges after the 2023 dismissal is not confirmed in the sources reviewed for this summary." ], "unanswered": [ "Why were all seven shots fired at a 19-year-old with no weapon, when a friend had told dispatchers he was not known to carry weapons?", "How should the dashcam footage and the casing locations be reconciled with the officer's account that he was attacked and shot at point-blank range?", "Why does Wisconsin law let a judge find probable cause but leave no clear way to appoint a prosecutor to act on it?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Cap Times \u2014 \u201cThe story behind an eight-year fight for justice for Tony Robinson\u201d", "url": "https://captimes.com/news/community/the-story-behind-an-eight-year-fight-for-justice-for-tony-robinson/article_0657f7d2-8d0a-5303-8356-6f98401f6aff.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Channel 3000 \u2014 \u201cJudge dismisses petition to bring charges against officer who killed Tony Robinson\u201d", "url": "https://www.channel3000.com/news/judge-dismisses-petition-to-bring-charges-against-officer-who-killed-tony-robinson/article_91e6a2dc-182d-11ee-a956-0f01d8974723.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Isthmus \u2014 \u201cTony Robinson, 10 years gone\u201d", "url": "https://isthmus.com/news/news/tony-robinson-10-years-gone/", "verified": true }, { "name": "CNN \u2014 \u201cProsecutor: No charges for officer in Tony Robinson case\u201d", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2015/05/12/us/tony-robinson-madison-killing-investigation", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "korryn-gaines", "caseNumber": "276", "name": "Korryn Gaines", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2016, "age": 23, "gender": "female", "city": "Randallstown", "county": "Baltimore", "state": "MD", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-10-07", "summary": "Korryn Gaines, 23, a Black mother, was shot and killed by Baltimore County, Maryland Police Officer Royce Ruby on August 1, 2016, at the end of an hours-long standoff in her Randallstown apartment, where police had come to serve a bench warrant after she missed a court date over a traffic violation. Her five-year-old son, Kodi, was in the apartment and was wounded by gunfire from the same encounter. Police said Gaines aimed a shotgun at officers and threatened to kill them; her family said Ruby fired out of frustration rather than fear. Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger declined to charge Ruby, writing that the shooting was \u201cjustified.\u201d A civil jury later found the officer's use of force unreasonable and awarded the family roughly $37\u201338 million, but the trial judge overturned the verdict on qualified immunity, and the legal fight over the verdict, a settlement, and Kodi's own claim ran until the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case in January 2025. No one has ever been charged in Gaines's death.", "known": [ "The standoff and shooting, per Baltimore County police statements, the State's Attorney's public decision, civil trial coverage, and reporting by Time, CBS Baltimore, the Baltimore Banner, and WMAR.", "Police went to Gaines's Randallstown apartment on August 1, 2016, to serve a bench warrant issued after she failed to appear in court on a minor traffic matter; the ACLU of Maryland states that officers entered the apartment using a key obtained from the landlord, without her consent.", "Gaines was barricaded inside with her five-year-old son, Kodi, and the standoff lasted roughly six hours; police said she aimed a shotgun at the officer and threatened to kill him, and Officer Royce Ruby fired through a wall, killing her.", "Kodi Gaines was struck by gunfire and injured; accounts of the wound differ, with Time describing a non-life-threatening injury to his cheek and the ACLU of Maryland describing a wound to his arm. The ACLU also states that Gaines was shot in the back.", "On September 21, 2016, Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger announced no charges, writing to the police department that \u201cthis shooting was justified\u201d because Ruby feared for his safety; the family, which had filed a civil suit the week before, said Ruby shot out of frustration, not fear.", "After a 14-day trial in February 2018, a jury found the officer's deadly force unreasonable and awarded the family roughly $37\u201338 million; reporting differs on the exact total and on how it was divided between Gaines's estate and Kodi.", "In February 2019, Circuit Judge Mickey Norman overturned the verdict on qualified immunity grounds and ordered the county to pay Kodi $400,000 plus interest; in mid-2020, an appeals court rebuked the ruling and reinstated the jury's verdict.", "In 2021, the family settled Korryn Gaines's own claims with Baltimore County, reported at $3 million; Kodi's claims were not part of that settlement.", "In June 2024, a divided Supreme Court of Maryland held that qualified immunity protected Ruby from Kodi's claim, reasoning that Ruby did not intend to shoot the child and that the shooting did not \u201cshock the conscience\u201d; the U.S. Supreme Court denied review of that ruling on January 27, 2025." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Gaines pointed a shotgun at officers at the moment Ruby fired, as police stated, or whether the shooting reflected frustration rather than a threat, as the family alleged and the 2018 civil jury's finding of unreasonable force suggests, was never tested in any criminal proceeding, since no charges were filed.", "Why a civil jury and a state's attorney, reviewing the same shooting, reached opposite conclusions about whether the force was reasonable has not been reconciled in any single public finding.", "The exact verdict total and its division between Gaines's estate and her son differ across the sources reviewed, and the settlement amounts beyond the reported $3 million for Gaines's own claims have not been confirmed." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was a bench warrant over a minor traffic violation served in a way that led to a six-hour armed standoff with a child inside the apartment?", "How can a jury find deadly force unreasonable while no prosecutor, judge, or court of last resort ever assigns criminal or civil liability to the officer who fired?", "What accountability exists when qualified immunity shields an officer from a claim by the five-year-old his gunfire wounded?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "Time \u2014 \u201cNo Charges Filed in Fatal Shooting of Korryn Gaines\u201d", "url": "https://time.com/4503374/korryn-gaines-shooting-no-charges/", "verified": true }, { "name": "ACLU of Maryland \u2014 \u201cDemanding Accountability from the Police and Courts\u201d", "url": "https://www.aclu-md.org/news/demanding-accountability-police-and-courts/", "verified": true }, { "name": "WMAR 2 News \u2014 \u201cFamily of Korryn Gaines settles with Baltimore County, 5 years after deadly police shooting\u201d", "url": "https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/family-of-korryn-gaines-settles-with-baltimore-county-5-years-after-deadly-police-shooting", "verified": true }, { "name": "The Baltimore Banner \u2014 \u201cLawyers in Korryn Gaines case appeal to US Supreme Court\u201d", "url": "https://www.thebanner.com/community/criminal-justice/korryn-gaines-baltimore-county-supreme-court-MPUZPYPGSBA4VPEJFNRDTHJD6M/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Supreme Court of the United States \u2014 Docket 24-578, Cunningham v. Baltimore County", "url": "https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/24-578.html", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "rumain-brisbon", "caseNumber": "277", "name": "Rumain Brisbon", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2014, "age": 34, "gender": "male", "city": "Phoenix", "county": "Maricopa", "state": "AZ", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-10-07", "summary": "Rumain Brisbon, 34, a Black father, was shot twice, including once in the back, and killed by Phoenix Police Officer Mark Rine on December 2, 2014, in the parking lot of his North Phoenix apartment complex. Rine had been following up on a report of drug sales from an SUV; he said Brisbon ran when ordered to raise his hands, that they struggled, and that he felt what he believed was a gun in Brisbon's pocket. It was a vial of oxycodone pills. Two witnesses disputed Rine's account. The Maricopa County Attorney's Office declined to charge Rine, finding the force appropriate, and in 2017 the City of Phoenix paid Brisbon's family $1.5 million to settle their lawsuit. Rine remained on the force with no duty restrictions. No one has ever been charged in Brisbon's death.", "known": [ "The encounter and the shooting, per Phoenix police statements, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office decision, and reporting by ABC News, Phoenix New Times, KJZZ, and NBC News.", "A caller reported a Black man selling drugs from a black Cadillac SUV near a 7-Eleven; the SUV's license plate led Officer Mark Rine, then a 30-year-old white officer with seven years on the force and no prior complaints, to Brisbon's apartment complex.", "Phoenix New Times reported that Brisbon had gone out to get fast food for his girlfriend and 18-month-old daughter; he got out of the SUV, opened a rear door, and appeared to take out a bag of food when Rine ordered him to raise his hands.", "Rine said Brisbon reached toward his waistband and ran; the two struggled, stumbled into an apartment, and Rine lost his grip. Rine said he felt what he believed was a gun in Brisbon's pocket and fired.", "The object in Brisbon's pocket was a vial of oxycodone pills. Police said a later search found a gun in the SUV and a jar believed to contain marijuana.", "Brisbon was shot twice; an autopsy reportedly showed one shot struck him in the back, and Phoenix New Times described it as point-blank.", "Two witnesses disputed Rine's account of what happened, according to Phoenix New Times.", "The Maricopa County Attorney's Office declined to charge Rine; a spokesman said every officer-involved shooting is reviewed and that the office found the force used was appropriate.", "Brisbon's family filed a lawsuit in May 2015, and in late June 2017 the Phoenix City Council approved a $1.5 million settlement; two council members voted against it, one arguing it set a bad precedent because he believed Rine had done nothing wrong.", "Phoenix police confirmed Rine remained employed with no restrictions on his duty status; the police union said in a statement that Brisbon \u201chad the choice to live that evening.\u201d Protests followed the shooting, and at one march an officer apologized to Brisbon's nine-year-old daughter, whose family attorney called the gesture nice but unable to bring back her father." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Brisbon reached toward his waistband in a way that reasonably suggested a weapon, as Rine said, or was reaching for the food and pill vial he actually had, was never tested at a criminal trial, and two witnesses disputed Rine's account.", "The precise date on which the Maricopa County Attorney's Office announced its decision, and the full reasoning behind it, are not stated in the sources reviewed for this summary.", "Whether any body camera or other video of the encounter exists is not stated in the sources reviewed." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was a man walking to his car with a bag of fast food met with a drug-sales investigation that ended in a point-blank shooting over a pill vial?", "How did two witnesses' accounts differ from the officer's, and why did that not change the County Attorney's finding that the force was appropriate?", "Why was a $1.5 million settlement considered justified by the city while the underlying shooting was found to warrant no criminal charge?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "ABC News \u2014 \u201cHow Phoenix Man's Death Became Latest Flashpoint in Police Relations\u201d", "url": "https://abcnews.com/US/unarmed-man-phoenix-latest-police-victim/story?id=27392797", "verified": true }, { "name": "Phoenix New Times \u2014 \u201cPhoenix Cop Won't Face Charges for Fatally Shooting Unarmed Man\u201d", "url": "https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/phoenix-cop-wont-face-charges-for-fatally-shooting-unarmed-man-6668041", "verified": true }, { "name": "Phoenix New Times \u2014 \u201cPhoenix Approves $1.5 Million Settlement For Family of Rumain Brisbon, Unarmed Black Man Shot By Police\u201d", "url": "https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/phoenix-approves-15-million-settlement-for-family-of-rumain-brisbon-unarmed-black-man-shot-by-police-9455485/", "verified": true }, { "name": "KJZZ \u2014 \u201cPhoenix To Pay $1.5 Million To Family Of Unarmed Man Shot, Killed\u201d", "url": "https://kjzz.org/content/497553/phoenix-pay-15-million-family-unarmed-man-shot-killed", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cCop Apologizes to Police Shooting Victim Rumain Brisbon's Daughter\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna265301", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "ramarley-graham", "caseNumber": "278", "name": "Ramarley Graham", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2012, "age": 18, "gender": "male", "city": "Bronx", "county": "Bronx", "state": "NY", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-10-07", "summary": "Ramarley Graham, 18, an unarmed Black teenager, was shot once in the chest and killed by New York City Police Officer Richard Haste on February 2, 2012, in the bathroom of his grandmother's Bronx home. Haste, a member of the NYPD's Street Narcotics Enforcement Unit, had followed Graham into the building after officers said they saw him tugging at what they believed was a gun in his waistband; no gun was ever found, and Graham was flushing a small amount of marijuana down the toilet. Haste was indicted on manslaughter charges in 2012, but a judge dismissed the indictment in May 2013 over flawed grand jury instructions, a second grand jury declined to re-indict him in August 2013, and federal prosecutors found insufficient evidence to bring civil rights charges in 2016. Haste resigned in March 2017, two days after an NYPD trial commissioner recommended he be fired. He has never stood trial.", "known": [ "The shooting, the state and federal reviews, and the NYPD disciplinary outcome, per reporting by ABC7 New York, CBS New York, and the public record of the proceedings.", "On February 2, 2012, around 3 p.m., officers from the Street Narcotics Enforcement Unit pursued Graham; officers said they saw him tugging at a gun in his waistband, but no gun was recovered. Video showed Graham walking into his grandmother's home, and Haste followed him inside.", "Graham ran to the bathroom and was flushing a small amount of marijuana wrapped in foil when Haste shot him once; he died in front of his grandmother and, according to ABC7, his six-year-old brother.", "Haste said he fired because he mistakenly believed Graham was reaching for a gun; the NYPD's firearms discharge review board ruled the shooting justified but found that Haste had not used proper tactics.", "A grand jury indicted Haste on manslaughter charges in June 2012; in May 2013 Justice Steven Barrett vacated the indictment, ruling prosecutors had improperly instructed grand jurors to disregard testimony from officers who had warned Haste that Graham might be armed.", "A second grand jury declined to re-indict Haste on August 8, 2013.", "In January 2015 New York City settled the family's civil rights suit for $3.9 million.", "On March 8, 2016, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara announced there was insufficient evidence to pursue federal civil rights charges; officials said the probe found nothing that undercut Haste's account, and no witness accounts or physical evidence materially contradicted his claim that he believed Graham was reaching for a gun.", "After the federal review, an NYPD department trial commissioner found Haste guilty on all disciplinary counts and on March 24, 2017 recommended termination; Police Commissioner O'Neill concurred, and Haste resigned on March 26, 2017 before he could be fired.", "Graham's mother, Constance Malcolm, said Haste \u201cshould have been in prison\u201d and criticized the city for allowing him to resign; Haste had remained on the force on modified duty with union-guaranteed raises throughout the years of review." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Haste could reasonably have believed Graham was armed, given that no gun was recovered but other officers had warned Haste that Graham might be, was never tested at a criminal trial, because the case ended before one occurred.", "What the second grand jury heard, and why it declined to re-indict, is secret under New York law and has not been made public.", "Whether the NYPD's own trial finding that Haste's conduct warranted termination bears on the criminal question has never been addressed in any court." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was an officer who entered a home without permission and shot an unarmed teenager over a small amount of marijuana never put before a trial jury?", "How did the NYPD's internal process reach a finding of guilt on all charges five years after the shooting, while no court heard the case?", "Why did the officer remain on the force on modified duty, with raises, throughout the years the federal and internal reviews were pending?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "ABC7 New York \u2014 \u201cJustice Department finds insufficient evidence for federal charges in Ramarley Graham case\u201d", "url": "https://abc7ny.com/post/justice-department-insufficient-evidence-for-federal-charges-in-ramarley-graham-case/1236450/", "verified": true }, { "name": "CBS New York \u2014 \u201cNYPD Officer Who Shot And Killed Ramarley Graham Resigns\u201d", "url": "https://cbsnews.com/newyork/news/nypd-officer-who-shot-killed-ramarley-graham-resigns", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "kimani-gray", "caseNumber": "279", "name": "Kimani Gray", "status": "unsolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2013, "age": 16, "gender": "male", "city": "Brooklyn", "county": "Kings", "state": "NY", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-10-07", "summary": "Kimani Gray, 16, a Black teenager, was shot seven times and killed by two plainclothes New York City police officers from the Brooklyn South Anti-Crime Patrol on March 9, 2013, in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, as he was walking home from a party. Police said Gray left a group when he saw an unmarked car, acted suspiciously when the officers approached, and pointed a .38-caliber revolver at them; a revolver was recovered at the scene. Gray's family and neighbors said he was not armed, and some accused the officers of planting a \u201cdrop gun.\u201d The medical examiner found wounds to the front and back of his body. The shooting set off several nights of protests and dozens of arrests. In July 2014, Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson's office announced the officers would not be charged, and a source close to the case said prosecutors lacked enough evidence to indict. No one has ever been charged in Gray's death.", "known": [ "The shooting, the investigation, and the decision not to charge, per reporting by CBS New York, the New York Amsterdam News, NBC News, and a Brooklyn College journalism report on the family's civil suit.", "Gray was shot on March 9, 2013, in East Flatbush by two plainclothes officers of the Brooklyn South Anti-Crime Patrol, identified in later reporting as Sgt. Mourad Mourad and Officer Jovaniel Cordova; Gray was 16 and was returning home from a party.", "Police said Gray left a group when he saw an unmarked car, appeared suspicious as the officers approached, grabbed for something at his waistband, and pointed a .38-caliber revolver at them, and that both officers fired; a revolver was recovered at the scene.", "The medical examiner found Gray was hit seven times, with wounds to the front and back of his body; his family has pointed to the medical examiner's findings that most of his wounds were to his back as inconsistent with the police claim that he aimed a gun at the officers.", "Gray's family and neighbors said he was not in a gang and did not have a gun, said no witnesses saw him pull one, and some accused the officers of planting the revolver; the family demanded an independent investigation.", "Then-Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the shooting appeared to fall within the department's deadly-force guidelines, and the officers were placed on desk duty during the investigation.", "The shooting set off protests in East Flatbush that continued for several nights, with dozens of arrests when some demonstrations turned violent.", "In late July 2014, the Brooklyn District Attorney's office announced the officers would not be charged; a source close to the case told the Amsterdam News that the office lacked enough evidence to pursue an indictment and that some witnesses \u201cwould not talk.\u201d Gray's mother said the case should at least have gone to a grand jury and asked for \u201ca day in court.\u201d", "The family filed a federal wrongful death suit against the two officers and unnamed medics, alleging among other things that Gray was denied prompt medical care; as of May 2015 discovery was ongoing, a magistrate judge had urged the parties to discuss settlement, and the city had paid $215,000 to settle earlier, unrelated lawsuits against the same two officers." ], "unknown": [ "Whether Gray pointed a revolver at the officers, as police said, or was unarmed, as his family maintains, was never tested at a criminal trial or put to a publicly reported grand jury, and was publicly disputed by the family, who questioned how the revolver came to be recovered.", "Whether the case was presented to a grand jury at all is not stated in the sources reviewed; the family said it should have been, and no indictment was ever announced.", "The outcome of the family's federal civil suit is not reported in the sources reviewed for this summary." ], "unanswered": [ "Why were most of the wounds to Gray's body, according to his family, in the back if he was facing the officers and aiming a gun at them?", "Why did the district attorney's office decline to bring the case to a grand jury, and which witnesses \u201cwould not talk\u201d and why?", "How was Gray's access to prompt medical care handled in the minutes after he was shot, as the family's lawsuit alleges?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "CBS New York \u2014 \u201cNo Criminal Charges Coming For Officers Who Shot And Killed Kimani Gray, 16\u201d", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/no-criminal-charges-coming-for-officers-who-shot-and-killed-kimani-gray-16/", "verified": true }, { "name": "New York Amsterdam News \u2014 \u201cNo indictment in Kimani Gray case\u201d", "url": "https://amsterdamnews.com/news/2014/08/07/no-indictment-kimani-gray-case/", "verified": true }, { "name": "NBC News \u2014 \u201cFuneral held for Brooklyn teen shot by police\u201d", "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/funeral-held-brooklyn-teen-shot-police-flna1b9037656", "verified": true }, { "name": "Brooklyn College Journalism \u2014 \u201cFamily pursues lawsuit over Kimani Gray death\u201d", "url": "https://journalism.blog.brooklyn.edu/2015/05/family-pursues-lawsuit-over-kimani-gray-death/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "roger-fortson", "caseNumber": "280", "name": "Roger Fortson", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2024, "age": 23, "gender": "male", "city": "Fort Walton Beach", "county": "Okaloosa", "state": "FL", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-10-07", "summary": "Roger Fortson, a 23-year-old Black U.S. Air Force airman, was shot and killed by Okaloosa County Sheriff's Deputy Eddie Duran at the door of his Fort Walton Beach apartment on May 3, 2024. Duran had been sent to the complex on a report that proved false; body-camera video shows him knocking, identifying himself, and firing when Fortson opened the door holding a legally owned handgun pointed at the floor. The sheriff's office first said Duran acted in self-defense, then concluded his life was not in danger and fired him. Duran was charged with manslaughter with a firearm and, on October 1, 2026, a jury found him not guilty. No one has been convicted in Fortson's death.", "known": [ "The shooting, the charge and the acquittal, per reporting by FOX 5 Atlanta, Good Morning America, Task & Purpose, and La Naci\u00f3n.", "Fortson, 23, was shot on May 3, 2024, in his apartment in Fort Walton Beach, Okaloosa County, Florida; he was a member of the 4th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field and was alone, on the phone with his girlfriend, when deputy Eddie Duran came to his door.", "Duran was dispatched on a reported domestic disturbance, which authorities later found was false; Duran's attorney described the visit as a response to a neighbor's complaint, and Task & Purpose described it as a noise complaint.", "Body-camera video shows Duran knocking, identifying himself, and shouting \u201cStep back!\u201d before shooting when Fortson opened the door holding a semiautomatic pistol that he legally owned. Task & Purpose reported that Duran shot him five times and that the video shows the gun was not pointed at the deputy; Good Morning America reported most of the shots hit Fortson's left arm.", "The sheriff's office first said Duran \u201creacted in self-defense\u201d after encountering a 23-year-old man with a gun. An internal investigation later found his decision to shoot was not objectively reasonable and that his life was not in danger, and he was fired less than a month after the shooting.", "Duran was charged with one count of manslaughter with a firearm, which carried up to 30 years in prison, and pleaded not guilty.", "At trial, prosecutor Mark Alderman argued Fortson posed \u201cno threat\u201d with his gun pointed at the ground; defense attorney Rod Smith argued Duran faced an imminent threat and followed his training, and Duran testified that he thought he was going to die when the door opened.", "A jury found Duran not guilty, reported on Thursday, October 1, 2026. Prosecutors said they respected the verdict and believed the case warranted a jury.", "Fortson's family, represented by attorney Ben Crump, has filed a federal civil rights suit against Duran, former Sheriff Eric Aden and others, according to La Naci\u00f3n and FOX 5 Atlanta (Task & Purpose said the family intended to file one)." ], "unknown": [ "The exact origin of the call that brought Duran to Fortson's door: sources describe it variously as a domestic-disturbance report that proved false, a noise complaint, and a neighbor's complaint.", "The jury's reasoning, the length of its deliberations and its vote are not reported in the sources reviewed.", "The outcome of the family's federal civil rights suit is not reported in the sources reviewed." ], "unanswered": [ "Who made the report that sent a deputy to the apartment of a man who was alone and on the phone, and why was it never shown to be true?", "If the sheriff's office concluded Duran's life was not in danger and his decision was not objectively reasonable, why did a jury still find no criminal liability?", "What accountability, beyond Duran's firing, will the sheriff's office and the county face for the shooting?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "FOX 5 Atlanta \u2014 \u201cEx-deputy acquitted in killing of airman Roger Fortson\u201d", "url": "https://fox5atlanta.com/news/ex-deputy-acquitted-killing-airman-roger-fortson", "verified": true }, { "name": "Good Morning America \u2014 \u201cFormer sheriff's deputy Eddie Duran found not guilty of manslaughter\u201d", "url": "https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/former-sheriffs-deputy-eddie-duran-found-not-guilty-manslaughter-136930927", "verified": true }, { "name": "Task & Purpose \u2014 \u201cFlorida deputy acquitted in trial over shooting of Air Force special ops airman\u201d", "url": "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/roger-fortson-duran-deputy-acquitted/", "verified": true }, { "name": "La Naci\u00f3n (AP) \u2014 \u201cJury acquits fired Florida sheriff's deputy in killing of Black U.S. Air Force airman Roger Fortson\u201d", "url": "https://www.lanacion.com.ar/usa/jury-acquits-fired-florida-sheriffs-deputy-in-killing-of-black-us-airforce-airman-roger-fortson-nid02102026/", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "timothy-russell", "caseNumber": "281", "name": "Timothy Russell", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2012, "age": 43, "gender": "male", "city": "Cleveland", "county": "Cuyahoga", "state": "OH", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-10-07", "summary": "Timothy Russell, 43, a Black man, and Malissa Williams, 30, a Black woman (see the separate entry for Malissa Williams), were killed on November 29, 2012, when 13 Cleveland police officers fired 137 shots into their car at the end of a roughly 22-mile chase involving 62 police vehicles. The chase began after Russell's car backfired near police headquarters and was mistaken for gunfire. Russell was struck 23 times. Only one officer, Michael Brelo, who fired 49 shots including 15 while standing on the car's hood, was charged with voluntary manslaughter; in May 2015 a judge acquitted him, finding prosecutors could not prove his shots, rather than others', caused the deaths. No one has been convicted in Russell's death.", "known": [ "The shooting and the prosecutions, per reporting by NPR, the Associated Press (via FOX 11), and WKYC and News 5 Cleveland on the supervisors' cases.", "On November 29, 2012, a pursuit that reached about 100 mph and involved 62 marked and unmarked cars ended with 13 officers firing 137 shots at Russell's 1979 Chevrolet Malibu; Russell was hit 23 times and Williams 24 times.", "The pursuit began when the car backfired while passing police headquarters; the report that the occupants had fired from the car was wrong, per NPR.", "AP described Russell and Williams as Black and said both were homeless and struggling with mental illness and drug addiction.", "Officer Michael Brelo, who is white, fired 49 shots, 15 of them while standing on the hood of the car after it had stopped, over a span of about seven and a half seconds.", "Brelo was the only officer charged in the shooting, with two counts of voluntary manslaughter. On May 23, 2015, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John P. O'Donnell found him not guilty in a bench trial, saying the state could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Brelo's shots, and not those of the other officers, caused the deaths.", "Five police supervisors were separately charged with misdemeanor dereliction of duty for failing to control the chase. Cuyahoga County later dropped its case and East Cleveland brought its own charges; Sgt. Patricia Coleman was found not guilty by an East Cleveland jury in July 2019, and WKYC reported that charges against three others were dropped.", "The U.S. Department of Justice later found a pattern of excessive force by Cleveland police. The mayor said the other officers would face internal discipline." ], "unknown": [ "Which officer's shots caused each fatal wound was never established, which is what the judge cited in acquitting Brelo.", "The outcome for the last supervisor still charged in East Cleveland, Sgt. Randolph Dailey (spelled \u201cDaley\u201d in one report), is not stated in the sources reviewed.", "The ages of the victims come from the AP account; NPR's report did not give them." ], "unanswered": [ "If 13 officers fired and only one was charged, why was no other officer held criminally accountable for a barrage that NPR described as being fired at unarmed suspects?", "Why did a false report of gunfire set off a 22-mile chase involving 62 vehicles that ended with 137 shots?", "Why did the only criminal accountability sought beyond Brelo end in misdemeanor dereliction charges against supervisors that produced no conviction?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NPR \u2014 \u201cCleveland Officer Not Guilty In Fatal Shooting Of Unarmed Suspects\u201d", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/05/23/409003419/cleveland-officer-not-guilty-in-fatal-shooting-of-unarmed-suspects", "verified": true }, { "name": "Associated Press via FOX 11 \u2014 \u201cOhio patrolman acquitted in 2 deaths amid 137-shot barrage\u201d", "url": "https://fox11online.com/news/nation-world/ohio-patrolman-acquitted-in-2-deaths-amid-137-shot-barrage", "verified": true }, { "name": "Ideastream \u2014 \u201cJudge dismisses charges against 5 Cleveland police supervisors\u201d", "url": "https://www.ideastream.org/2015-07-25/judge-dismisses-charges-against-5-cleveland-police-supervisors", "verified": true }, { "name": "WKYC \u2014 \u201cCleveland police supervisor found not guilty in connection with 137 shots case\u201d", "url": "https://wkyc.com/article/news/local/cleveland/cleveland-police-supervisor-found-not-guilty-in-connection-with-137-shots-case/95-963edbc0-d790-47a5-9680-74f66a5aa218", "verified": true }, { "name": "News 5 Cleveland \u2014 \u201cNot guilty verdict reached in the 137 shots fired case\u201d", "url": "https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/137-shots/not-guilty-verdict-reached-in-the-137-shots-fired-case", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" }, { "id": "malissa-williams", "caseNumber": "282", "name": "Malissa Williams", "status": "unresolved", "caseType": "homicide", "year": 2012, "age": 30, "gender": "female", "city": "Cleveland", "county": "Cuyahoga", "state": "OH", "caseSeries": null, "dateAdded": "2026-10-07", "summary": "Malissa Williams, 30, a Black woman, was killed with Timothy Russell, 43 (see the separate entry for Timothy Russell), on November 29, 2012, when 13 Cleveland police officers fired 137 shots into their car at the end of a roughly 22-mile chase that began after the car backfired near police headquarters. Williams was struck 24 times. Only Officer Michael Brelo was charged with voluntary manslaughter; in May 2015 a judge found him not guilty, saying prosecutors could not prove his shots caused the deaths. Misdemeanor dereliction charges against police supervisors did not produce a conviction in the sources reviewed. No one has been convicted in Williams's death.", "known": [ "The shooting and the prosecutions, per reporting by NPR, the Associated Press (via FOX 11), and WKYC and News 5 Cleveland.", "On November 29, 2012, a pursuit involving 62 police vehicles ended with 13 officers firing 137 shots at the Malibu in which Williams was a passenger; she was hit 24 times and Russell 23 times. AP spelled her first name \u201cMelissa\u201d once; NPR and most reports spell it \u201cMalissa.\u201d", "AP described Williams and Russell as Black and said both were homeless and struggling with mental illness and drug addiction.", "Officer Michael Brelo fired 49 of the shots, 15 from the hood of the car, and was the only officer charged. On May 23, 2015, Judge John P. O'Donnell acquitted him of two counts of voluntary manslaughter, finding the state could not prove his shots, rather than others', caused the deaths.", "Five supervisors were charged with misdemeanor dereliction of duty; Cuyahoga County dropped its case, East Cleveland refiled, and Sgt. Patricia Coleman was found not guilty by an East Cleveland jury in July 2019, per News 5 Cleveland.", "The U.S. Department of Justice found a pattern of excessive force by Cleveland police after an 18-month civil rights investigation." ], "unknown": [ "Which officers' shots struck Williams fatally was never established in court.", "The outcome for the last supervisor still charged, Sgt. Randolph Dailey, is not stated in the sources reviewed.", "The ages of the victims come from the AP account; NPR's report did not give them." ], "unanswered": [ "Why was Brelo the only one of 13 officers who fired to face criminal charges?", "Why did a pursuit begun over a backfire mistaken for gunfire involve 62 vehicles and end in 137 shots?", "What accountability followed for the supervisors who were charged with failing to control the chase?" ], "sources": [ { "name": "NPR \u2014 \u201cCleveland Officer Not Guilty In Fatal Shooting Of Unarmed Suspects\u201d", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/05/23/409003419/cleveland-officer-not-guilty-in-fatal-shooting-of-unarmed-suspects", "verified": true }, { "name": "Associated Press via FOX 11 \u2014 \u201cOhio patrolman acquitted in 2 deaths amid 137-shot barrage\u201d", "url": "https://fox11online.com/news/nation-world/ohio-patrolman-acquitted-in-2-deaths-amid-137-shot-barrage", "verified": true }, { "name": "Ideastream \u2014 \u201cJudge dismisses charges against 5 Cleveland police supervisors\u201d", "url": "https://www.ideastream.org/2015-07-25/judge-dismisses-charges-against-5-cleveland-police-supervisors", "verified": true }, { "name": "News 5 Cleveland \u2014 \u201cNot guilty verdict reached in the 137 shots fired case\u201d", "url": "https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/137-shots/not-guilty-verdict-reached-in-the-137-shots-fired-case", "verified": true }, { "name": "Project Cold Case", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "Murder Accountability Project", "url": "", "verified": false }, { "name": "NamUs", "url": "", "verified": false } ], "lastVerified": "2026-08-21" } ]