In the past seven years I have spoken to Shauntel (Phylicia Barnes’ oldest sister), her mother Janice, and other members of the Barnes family for various articles I have written about Phylicia case, so when I reached out recently to the health care professional (Nurse) on social media she agreed to speak to me again, regarding what is unfortunately now the 7th anniversary of her kid sister’s disappearance. Knowing essentially all of the details about the heartbreaking story of a little girl who came to Baltimore to visit relatives and was subsequently found in a river, I was prepared to focus on reflections of the case since justice for her sister was entangled in Baltimore’s difficult justice system (mistrials and appeals), but the words that came out of Shauntel’s mouth were extremely disturbing to me, and caught me completely by surprise.
When she answered the phone I was greeted with her usual calming voice that spoke with a subtle southern accent, a sound I have become accustomed to when speaking to Phylicia’s family. This time though, Shauntel spoke with an urgency and intense tone I had never encountered before. The married mother of a handsome little boy spewed details of a recent incident involving her sister’s case that she personified with frustration, anger, and some hostility that gave the impression that Phylicia’s story had just happened yesterday. She explained that a private investigator had came to her home last week asking questions about her and Phylicia. Shauntel said that a few minutes into the conversation with the PI, she discovered he was working for the defense (Michael Johnson), the man who was the last person who saw Phylicia alive, and on the hook for the promising kid’s murder. She asked the man “what do you want to talk to me for?”
Her initial instinct was not to talk to him, but she became curious to what the man wanted. A very distinct trait of Shauntel’s that I have learned about her. She has that natural inquisitivity and ability to see through the surface, and reach the core of what people are trying to accomplish. In fact it was Shauntel’s inquisitions while looking for her kid city in Baltimore back in 2010 that prompted police to close down Deena Barnes’ apartment, and establish a crime scene but I’ll get to that later in the article. Shauntel listened very intently to this PI’s questions as he probed her with personal questions regarding her life, and eventually outright asked her if she had ever been a prostitute. This sparked her interest even further and she couldn’t help but wonder where he had heard such a preposterous allegation, and what did it have to do with who killed her little sister. So, she engaged him further to obtain a better understanding of why the PI had traveled all the way from Odenton Maryland to her home in New York city asking these ridiculous questions.
According to Shauntel, the PI allegedly said Deena Barnes had told him that she was a prostitute and her kid sister Phylicia had run away to Baltimore to be just like her. Shauntel said she was extremely appalled that this man had made such an assertion. After all the family had been through grieving Phylicia’s murder, the mistrials and appeals, this man had the audacity to come to NY and basically defecate on her sister’s memory. That moment during our telephone call was awkward and intense, and if it wasn’t for the fact of me having the benefit of knowing Shauntel I would have had serious doubt about the credibility of what she told me. However, everything I had extracted from her regarding her sister’s case had proven to have merit in the past, and I have no other recourse but to accept her recent comments as having merit also.
Shauntel says she was so upset that she telephoned her husband to advise him of what was going on. While she was on the phone was Rob (husband), she said the PI simply opened the door to their home and left. As we continued to talk I advised her that often times attorneys hire Private Investigators to obtain data extracted from witnesses to utilize in court, and since Phylicia’s murder was such a high profile crime that the involvement of a PI isn’t unusual. I was concerned where Michael Johnson obtained the resources to retain a PI (very expensive) for his upcoming third trial scheduled for March of 2018, but Shauntel reminded me that Johnson had a Public Defender, which made the use of a PI even more bizarre as public counsels typically are allowed limited resources to aid in the legal representation of criminal defendants,
Even more interesting though, the PI told her that they were trying to rule out the man found in the Susquehanna River (who was also from North Carolina) as being connected to Phylicia’s murder. That man, Darryl Harper (53) who was actually from Richmiond Virginia had been identified by investigators and determined to have had mental health issues and was suspected of committing suicide. The fact that the PI allegedly offered such a rationalization to Shauntel convinces me that it was just a quick untruthful quip he quickly spewed on his feet to justify the questions he asked her. Also, it almost seems that the prostitute allegations and the mention of the unrelated body found in the river, could potentially be suggesting that the man may have been a “John” of Phylica’s, but then there would have to be a dynamic story behind all of that outlining how they both ended up dead in the river.
I initially offered to Shauntel the rationalization that Johnson’s defense was simply trying to muddy up the waters by casting negativity about Phylicia in preparation for the upcoming criminal trial. Its a dirty tactic but often effective in creating doubt about the facts in many criminal cases. Although it was apparent that’s what the PI’s objective was, but it still didn’t make any since to Shauntel or me. I even said to her, let me play devil’s advocate her. So, you mean to tell me that they (Johnson’s counsel) are tying to say that because you allegedly was a prostitute, that some how justifies the feaky sexual culture they exposed Phylicia to and why she was murdered? We both concluded that such an assertion was simply insanity, but depicted the length Johnson’s defense counsel maqy be willing to reach to create a diversion or doubt of his guilt in the pretty girl’s homicide.
Shauntel went on to recount the events of that infamous night on December 28 back in 2010, with incredible memory of many of the disturbing details. She recalls getting to Deena Barnes’ apartment and immediately asking who was the last person to see her sister alive. She said Deena told her “Michael” (defendant), and she asked for his phone number. Shauntel would call Michael later on that day, she said Michael gave her various accounts about his recollection of when he last saw Phylicia. She said Michael told her he was there taking a shower, then he said he was moving out of the apartment, and he also said he there was washing clothes. Johnson also allegedly told Shauntel thast Deena would keep the door to her apartment unlocked on a regular basis, something that Phylicia had previously shared with Shauntel prior to her disappearance.
Shauntel said Michael’s comments made her become suspicious of him early on. During the time that Shauntel and members of Phylicia’s North Carolina family were there looking for Phylicia, Michael Johnson was nowhere to be found, but when Shauntel confronted Deena over the phone about leaving her apartment door open, Shauntel says she overheard Deena say to Michael “you told her that?” Shauntel said it proved to her that Michael wasn’t exactly missing, that he and Deena were still together, and she believes that’s when Deena began treating Michael as the villain. Shauntel also remembers standing in the apartment while Phylicia’s father Russell Barnes was there, and saw Deena show him a text from Michael, which Shauntel says read in part “I thought we were a team” and other comments. That gave her the impression that Deena and Michael were allegedly working in harmony to subvert, conceal, and cover up the truth about what happened to her little sister. Shauntel also said that the fact Kelly missed picking Phylicia up for a hair appointment was suspicious. “Getting our hair down is what we do as females and if “Simone” (Phylicia) knew she was getting her hair done it, she was probably on the internet bragging about going to the salon, that’s a big deal especially for a teen girl.” Shauntel said the general demeanor of the Baltimore Barnes family gave her the impression that they all already knew that her sister was dead. Shauntel said it was as if they were actually having Phylicia’s repast. There were a volume of family members there cooking, and no one had a sense of urgency to find young Phylicia, Shauntel alleges.
Shauntel said that Russel Barnes did hold a prayer circle in which they called on God to help resolve the situation. Se went on to say that her mother (Janice Mustafa) told them all that she appreciate and thank them for their prayers, but she needed them to go with her to help find her baby. Shauntel says that never happened. In fact she says that no one from the Johnson family nor the Baltimore Barnes family assisted them in helping look or search for Phylicia. Shauntel noted that even the Guardian Angels helped their family beat the streets to locate Phylicia. Later on the Barnes’ in Baltimore did begin to pass out flyers and stand on the street corners in the Reisterstown Plaza area regarding Phylicia’s case, but Shauntel believes that was only after investigators shut down Deena’s apartment and turned it into a crime scene. Shauntel blames Deena a great deal for what happened to Phylicia. She was disgusted by the sex tape that was found on Deena’s cell phone. She has always displayed visible anger regarding the kinds of things they introduced Phylicia to.
Shauntel admits not having viewed the sex tape that was used in Johnson’s initial criminal trial, but says she was told that the tape depicted a scene in a school playground near Deena’s apartment, where Johnson was performing oral sex on Deena while looking up at Phylicia. Shauntel also said that Michael and Phylicia went streaking (nude) alone on at least one occassion, and it angered her that Deena allowed this to happen by introducing Phylicia to this sexual culture. Shauntel says her sister didn’t know anything about what she was being exposed to. She says that the nearly 500 text exchanged between Michael and Phylicia were characterized by investigators as inappropriate, and she believes that her inexperienced little sister probably had feelings for Johnson. “It’s like she had her own secret little life that she could be a talking point with her friends that she could brag about,” Shauntel said. Before Phylicia’s mother left to go to Baltimore after learning that her daughter had gone missing, one of Phylicia’s closes friends tearfully described to Janice Mustafa with guilt, that Phylicia had revealed to her some of the activities that she had been allowed to participate in while visiting Baltimore, which adds credibility to Shauntel’s perspective about her kid sister using her interaction with Johnson as a talking point with her friends.
After all this time Shauntel says she still believes that Johnson is at the very least one of the people responsible for the killing of her sister. In many of my articles over the years about Phylicia’s case, I have highlighted that I believe that Johnson may not have been the only person at Deena’s apartment on the morning of the day Phylicia went missing. I reminded her of a Tweet by Glenton “Bootz” Johnson (Michael’s younger bother). Michael has always been on record as offering 1:30 p.m. as the time he last saw Phylicia alive. “Bootz’s” tweet was at exactly 1:27 p.m. that day and read “don’t tell her twice, whoop her ass.” The fact that Sleuth Detectives (Online Psychics and Investigators) were able to preserve the text and other social media content of the Johnsons, indicates that the data was available to investigators, and Shauntel is extremely troubled by the information having never entered the case at all. We even discussed the fact that the Tweet and its digital time stamp would have given police a location of the cell tower that his phone was connected to. It may show that he was near Deena’s West Baltimore apartment when he made the Tweet. The cops could have pressed him for answers, got him on the record, and established his credibility on the matter. This never happened as far as we know.
There was even more information that investigators missed opportunities to get people on record, like the January 28, 2011 Tweet (exactly one month after Phylicia disappeared) by a girlfriend of Dorian Carpenter (A Johnson cousin, who was one of the people who hanged out at Deena’s apartment on a regular basis, and one of the initial people that investigators spoke to when Phylicia went missing), that read “its trapped at the damn, don’t pull the lever.” It was a piece of information that I personally received via email from online Sleuthers, and information I turned over to the Maryland State Police detective investigating Phylicia’s murder. Shauntel has a serious problem understanding the Tweet. “If you know somebody did something, why would you just put it out there like that,” she said. I told her that the girl may have been attempting to send a message as to where Phylicia was, before her nude body was discovered near the Conowingo Damn inside the Susquehanna River in Northern Maryland. Shauntel admitted that it was simply incredulous and not a coincidence that a girlfriend of a Johnson relative, who hanged at the apartment where Phylicia was staying, gave an early lead describing as to the type of area where the teen would ultimately be found. We both agreed that the girl definitely knew something about the case, and the cops simply missed it.
During the first trial Shauntel learned through testimony from Deena Barnes that Deena had observed Michael Johnson attempting to touch Phylicia in her private area, a incident that Shauntel says should have prompted Deena to prohibit Michael from having any further contact with Phylicia. Shauntel also believes that, although the state’s star witness (James McCray) may have lied on the stand regarding having allegedly testified for Montgomery County in a criminal case, he may not necessarily have been lying about seeing Phylicia’s lifeless body at Deena’s apartment before Johnson disposed of her sister’s body. The fact that McCray lied is unfortunate, but the state knowingly withholding discovery (exculpatory evidence) from Johnson’s legal counsel was the state simply shooting itself in the foot, while knowing full well that it almost certainly would result in the judge declaring a mistrial. Shauntel believes that McCray wasn’t lying about his account of seeing Phylicia’s body wrapped in sheets. “Why would he (McCray) implicate himself in a murder case and risk potentially being criminally charged himself?” Shauntel was eluding to how charges are often filed for a person’s involvement in serious crimes after the fact, and Shauntel doesn’t believe McCray was lying about seeing her sister wrapped in a sheet at Deena’s apartment because the state could have charged him.
Now after two mistrials and an illegal acquittal by the last judge who chaired the second trial, she has little hope that Johnson will be convicted for the murder of her little sister. I tried to comfort her by suggesting that we shouldn’t speak his acquittal into existence, but Shauntel said “I’m just telling you what my gut feelings are. They (the state) don’t have this guy’s testimony anymore, so what do they have now? All the social media stuff and text? Are they going to go back and use that now?” Shauntel also said that the state let Deena and others off the hook even though they were in a nude sex tape with Phylicia. “I don’t know, something happened, but I just don’t know what it is, and the way they investigated her case without using all the social media stuff.” Shauntel says she’ll be in the court room for the third trial in March, “but I’m not getting my hopes up, it is what it is. I just think he’s gonna walk.”
For other articles I’ve written about the Phylicia Barnes case, go to home page and type in here name the top right corner of the.
The People’s Champion
I’m Crime Writer David Adams
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