As a trained journalist one must take exceptional caution when composing any article which has the potential of being read by the masses, while having tremendous impact on society’s perception of a story, and the inherited trust that established writers have developed from diverses audiences, care must be taken to strictly guard the insurance of objectivity and fairness. Often times while developing any news worthy topic that arise, all who may be a party to the discussion are often times unreachable or unavailable to solicit commentary related to a written piece. Upon such time that they are made available, it’s only within in sound journalism that a writer obtain additional content from their point of view, especially if previously written material may have, in the absent party’s opinion, been misrepresented, or doesn’t convey their complete perspective.

With that being said, my personal investigation into the Rhonda MacClean shooting in the small town of Youngsville, North Carolina did not afford TPC the opportunity to solicit comment from the victim in this case at the time previous Blog articles were composed. Now a woman has come forward identifying herself as the victim in this case. Since it can’t be established with complete certainty that she is in fact Rhonda MacClean, I’ll only refer to her as “The Woman”, and I caution readers to give her commentary the weight they deem appropriate. If “The Woman” is in fact the victim, by her own admission, “The Woman” purposefully has made herself unavailable to any media outlet which is completely understandable considering the gravity of her experience related to this horrible crime. “The Woman’s” sudden emergence with comment is the initial statement, according to her that she has offered any media organization since she fell victim to gunfire on that August night in 2012. Her version of events that night stand in staunch contrast to what TPC has previously reported related to this ordeal.

“The Woman” first appeared on a Facebook Group Franklin County News Online where she stated that Shannon Nyamodi had in fact shot her and robbed her. A series of comments by others participating in the thread which consisted of individuals who clearly felt that Shannon Nyamodi was in fact guilty, based on their comments. Some of the post were so contrasting to what police and court records show pertaining to the case, that it appeared that “The Woman” wasn’t who she said she was (the name of the poster identifying herself as the victim even spelled her name wrong i.e. McClean). TPC investigations led to obtaining the victims phone number, where she in fact stated that she was the person commenting in the FCNO Group on Facebook.

When I identified myself to her as the Administrator of The People’s Champion Blog she was agitated, but our continued dialogue resulted in very civil discourse regarding this case. “The Woman” spoke articulately, and displayed a civil demeanor while continuously conveying her christian values, and spirit of forgiveness. She also expressed her empathy and compassion for Ms. Elizabeth Crudup, her alleged assailant’s mother, and stated she understands her pain as a mother herself. “The Woman” went on to tell TPC that her daughter was complicit in the crime and has been convicted, and serving time for her role in the shooting. She dispelled the belief that her daughter escaped this crime without punishment. She also denied that Shannon was having sex with her and her daughter as rumors within the community had circulated.

“The Woman” went on to tell TPC that the night the shooting occurred that she heard a door to her home open and went to investigate. She says as she walked out of her bedroom door she saw a door to her closet move which frightened her (her bedroom is on the second floor). She proceeded down stairs and said she saw a man but believed he was hiding in the bathroom, then said she thought he may have left the house, and went to her daughter’s bed room to opened the door and asked her who the man was. “The Woman” says that’s when Shannon came out of the bathroom and shot her in the face at point blank range, and then proceeded to run out of the house. “The Woman” said she ran out of the house to an adjacent home of her neighbor’s for help. When police arrived she said she told police that Shannon was the man who shot her, and they took him away. I knew that police arrest warrants issued in the case show that Shannon was arrested along side her daughter at her neighbor’s home later on in the afternoon that day, so I inquired whether Shannon was placed in handcuffs, to determine if she actually observed him being arrested that night on the scene. “The Woman” told me that she had lost 6 pints of blood at that time and was unaware if he was in fact physically taken into custody.

I raised these facts with her only because she stated that the youths were both taken into custody the night of the shooting. “The Woman” then said that “well they were taken in for questioning.” I also reminded her when and where they were arrested and she said the police never let the pair out of their sights and were keeping close eye on them while they continued to work the crime scene building a case. “The Woman” said that the case against Shannon Nyamodi is solid, because police have bloody clothing which belong to Shannon. She says that after Shannon ran from her home, he took of his shirt (containing incriminating DNA evidence) and stuffed it in a nearby car. She says his prints were recovered from the scene and that the gun cover for the weapon that was used in the shooting was discovered thrown under Shannon’struck. “The Woman” said Shannon was shirtless ans sweating profusely.

“The Woman” says that money was discovered from the robbery at her home at an abandoned building nearby the crime scene, and that Shannon had been observed at the location previously that day and a neighbor had called police to report it because he was trespassing. “The Woman” says some of the money stolen was recovered from the abandoned building. She went on to say that her daughter has admitted conspiring with Shannon, and that he was suppose to kill her in the bed room according to text messages which were exchanged between the two. She says that her daughter even attempted to destroy the SIM Card for one of the cell phones she allegedly had, but that police were able to retrieve the data from the phone.

“The Woman” also stated that Mike Young who resides at the home she fled to for help after being shot, was also involved in the crime. She told TPC that Mike went into the bedroom of the home where her 13 year old daughter’s room is (who has a disability of Down Syndrome), stuck a screw driver/flash light in her back, and covered her mouth telling her “you stay right here.” “The Woman” says that she has repeatedly requested that the police investigate that aspect of the crime because Mike Young was in fact Shannon’s accomplice during this home invasion and shooting. None of these details are contained in police reports obtained by TPC in this case, Mike hasn’t been charged, and I asked MacClean if she was certain of the events that she described. She conveyed with certainty that she did identify Shannon Nyamodi as her assailant to police on the night of the shooting, and was persistent in her belief that his friend Mike Young had participated in the crime as she outlined.

However, “The Woman” says that she has since forgiven her daughter and young Shannon for what they have done. She has even requested that the State’s attorney offer Shannon a plea deal for his involvement because she wants the ordeal to be over, she realizes that Shannon has made a poor choice in his life, and doesn’t want him to spend the rest of his life in prison. She spoke regarding her faith and stated that her beliefs require her to have the power of forgiveness and wants Shannon to have a chance in life. “The Woman” says that she was anticipating going back to court regarding Shannon’s case last week, but his attorney is on vacation and honeymoon. She says that Shannon isn’t being treated unfairly by being locked up for so long, because his attorney continues to postpone the trial date.

“The Woman” also revealed that the state’s attorney in the case informed her that Elizabeth Crudup isn’t Shannon’s biological mother. The attorney told “The Woman” that Shannon was given up for adoption at a young age by a family in Africa with Royal bloodline. “The Woman” further explains that the “Royal Family” in Africa is paying Shannon’s legal fees. I am not sure how, even if it is determined to be factual, what relevance Shannon’s heritage or who pays is legal expenses factors in to the case. When pressed on these details “The Woman” simply said she is just conveying to me what the state’s attorney told her. Her comments in their entirety paint a different scenario of how the events of that night back in August 2012 actually unfolded, and followers of this case will have to deduct their own conclusions related to the credibility of what her commentary presents in relationship to police reports and court documents already presented for this case.

TPC Analysis Of Interview

Assuming that a rational and logical thinking person gives “This Woman’s” version of events related to this case full weight, as if her comments were in fact completely credible, then they would also have to conclude that her account in comparison to official documents in the case is extremely problematic. Any notion that would suggest that “The Woman” told the cops that night Shannon was in fact the person who shot her, in my opinion is completely and utterly untrue. We know this as a matter of fact because neither the Youngsville police nor the Franklin County sheriff’s office took Shannon Nyamodi into custody that night. Lt. M. Little’s report supports this as the youth was only questioned at the scene. Additionally, a search warrant application submitted to a county magistrate indicated that the teen had in fact confessed (although the actual document suggest that some one imputed this with a hand written addendum sometime after the document was created). Police officials wouldn’t have required an arrest warrant for Shannon, because according to “The Woman” she had already fingered the youth for the crime, and that would have been sufficient cause for his arrest on the spot. The fact that some one altered the search warrant application for Shannon’s home clearly suggest it was done so to bolster probable cause to obtain authorization to search his home, and would suggest that he hadn’t as a matter of fact been identified by the victim as her assailant for this crime.

You have a woman shot in the head who at least one officer admits in his report that he believed the woman was about to expire, and her alleged statement to them identifying Shannon as the person who shot her, would have presented a situation where cops more than likely would have pounced on the black youth, especially since a white woman had fingered him as having shot her in the face. Even if cops determined later that her account was inaccurate, the law in most state’s allow police agencies to detain potential suspects for at least 72 hours. Most agencies investigating a serious crime of this nature would siege such opportunity if for no other provocation but in the interest of public safety to insure a suspect doesn’t shoot or harm anyone else.

“The Woman’s” statements also drew further scrutiny to police reports obtained by TPC in the case. When we view the reports of Youngsville police officers Z. Phillip and M. Little, we clearly see that their reports were composed on different forms.  We also must take exception to the dates that each report indicate that they were created. Phillip’s report is in fact composed on what appears to be an Incident/Investigation Report form (probably the agency’s official document for such a report) and noted as having been composed on August 16, 2012. Most police agencies require officers submit a complete report immediate after their shift, especially when serious crimes occur. On the other hand, Lt. M. Little’s report is composed on what appears to be an Incident Supplementary Investigation form. Although the content of Little’s report would suggest that it’s his initial report for this crime, the document is dated August 20, 2012, and contains information from interviews the officer conducted with potential witnesses in the case which in fact occurred on August 17, 2012 a day after the crime had occurred.

As an experienced law enforcement officer who has composed thousands of incident reports, the diversity of the report forms the documents were composed on by these officers, along with contrasting dates suggest to me that Lt. M. Little had in fact rewritten his report all together 4 days after the actual crime occurred. Often times police officials are required to add supplementation to reports for a variety of reasons. An officer could have inadvertently omitted or forgot to include certain details in a report requiring additional information. The information is typically classified as a supplement to the officer’s initial report, and that’s why Supplementary Incident Report forms are designed to aid in this process. As a rule of thumb, to insure or dispel the appearance of integrity issues, officers almost never change the content of their original statements, baring supplemental reports as the only exception. Now in some agencies with storied past and histories of corruption, we see problems with official police reports all the time. In this case, Lt. M. Little appears to have composed his initial statement on a Supplementary Incident Report form.

The title of the form suggest on it’s face that the content contained in the report is an addition to some previously composed report. One might make the argument that perhaps the agency may have ran out of official Incident/Investigation Report forms similar to the form in which officer Z. Phillips composed his report on, but even if the benefit of doubt was given in this instance, it would not explain why Little’s report contained a narration consisting of information he should have entered in his initial report immediately after his shift on the night of the incident. His supplementary report should have only consisted of information he obtained on August 17, 2012 upon interviewing potential witnesses in the crime. I’ll give even more benefit of the doubt to this officer’s report while crediting a possible lack of appropriate forms being on hand at the time his report was composed, but even in that scenario the report should have been composed on blank paper to avoid the suspicion that the document was some how recomposed or altered from it’s original form. Then again. the fact that the report indicates it was composed 4 days after the actual crime on August 20, 2012 creates further suspicion related to the document’s development.

When we consider “The Woman’s” account she offered during my interview with her, juxtaposed to the incident report of Lt. M. Little (the officer who initially interviewed her at the scene that night), it’s simply unconscionable that a ranking police officer would forget to include a crucial statement by the victim in his official report for a serious felony crime that the victim had communicated to him Shannon Nyamodi was the person who shot her, is not only incredible but simply unbelievable. In fact, none of the documents related to this case obtained by TPC indicates that any law enforcement officer was told by “The Woman” that Shannon Nyamodi shot her in the face. The only document which suggest he shot her is the search warrant application with a suspicious handwritten addendum stating that the youth confessed to the crime. The fact that the police official who submitted that application believed the youth had confessed, demonstrates he/she were unaware of the alleged confession, or the official purposely falsified the document which still suggest that Shannon had not been identified as her shooter to police.

“The Woman” tells TPC that as she first walked out of her bedroom (on the second floor) she saw a closet door move which frightened her. That would indicate that the subject closet was on the same floor as her bedroom. I can’t help but wonder why she never investigated the moving door prior to going downstairs. She further states that upon going downstairs she observed a man in her house, but confusingly admits she thought the man had left or had hidden in the bathroom. She says she opened her daughter’s bedroom door and asked “who was that” when Shannon emerged from the bathroom and shot her in the face. Assuming the bathroom was in close proximity of the daughter’s bedroom when the shooting occurred, it would support her suspicion that who ever shot her had in fact hidden in the bathroom.

This account is entirely different from what Lt. M. little, a trained ranking officer indicated in his police report. According to Lt. Little’s report “The Woman” stated that when she went downstairs she saw a man and asked her daughter “what she was doing” and someone hit her in the head with the pole from behind her sliding door. Little’s report went on to say “The Woman” went down and while choking on blood and bleeding profusely when she heard her daughter say “she’s dead, the money is up here come on hurry.” Little’s report also reveals that “The Woman”, although she was seriously wounded, had the presence of mind to notice that her daughter and “some one else” stepped over her, leaving her on the floor bleeding. That’s what Little’s report indicates despite the “The Woman’s’ claims during her interview with me in which she claims to have positively identify Shannon Nyamodi as her assailant.

If “The Woman” had identified her shooter, it’s disturbing that Lt. Little didn’t indicate that statement in his report. Little only describes “The Woman’s” comments repeatedly in his report as “someone”, which suggest that the woman was uncertain who had stuck her with a pole (not shot her). I am concerned that she described during our interview, Shannon as having shot her with complete certainty after he emerged from the bathroom, but unable to identify anyone the night that Little questioned her at the scene. Also, she told TPC that Shannon came from out of the bathroom while telling Lt. Little that some one struck her from behind her sliding door. We do know based on little’s report that the sliding door is within close proximity of the daughter’s bedroom, because he described the area while going in side with someone to retrieve the victim’s youngest daughter, 13 who is handicapped (down syndrome) from the house. Little’ describes a sliding door being a jar, blood splatter in the hallway, front door, and an even larger pile of blood in the daughter’s room where she says she was when she was shot.

Little even indicates in his report that he took pictures with his cell phone while careful not to compromise the integrity of the crime scene. The report also revealed that Little noted a closet inside the victim daughter’s bedroom with a large amount a blood on the floor consistent with her having been on the floor after being shot. Little’s statement in his report is cause for concern related to “The Woman’s” statement to TPC. She only described a closet door when she first walked out of her bedroom on the second floor. She also told TPC that Shannon came out of a bathroom when she opened her daughter’s room door downstairs. So, it’s confusing why Little indicated in his report that she stated “someone” struck her with a pole from behind her sliding door. Clearly Little’s statement from the witness indicates she didn’t identify the person who attacked her, but more importantly the inconsistency in her account raises serious concern whether she actually could identify anyone as having been the person who shot her in the face.

Perhaps the most compelling portion of “The Woman’s” comments to TPC which establish unreliability in her statement is that she believes that Michael Young, Shannon’s friend and who resides at the neighboring home where she fled to for help, is believed by her to be complicit in the crime also. She stated during the interview that Michael also entered her home that night, went to her youngest daughter’s bedroom (on the first floor), covered the child’s mouth with his hands, while pointing an object (which she appeared confused about) in her back, and stating “you stay right here.” I question how she could have known this because her daughters rooms were separate locations in the house, and she had only been in her 16 year old daughter’s room a few moments, by her own account, momentarily when she was shot in the face. Did her daughter handicapped with Down Syndrome communicate this to her after the fact? This seems unlikely considering that Lt. Little along with another person from a neighbor’s home who knew her went to retrieve the child from inside of the house. The child’s inability to exit the home on her own accord highlights the severity of her disability, and with no reports existing by any of the officers at the scene that night suggesting that she had been interviewed by police revealing “The Woman’s” assertion that she was being held while the shooting and robbery transpired creates a lack of credibility to support Mike Young’s involvement in the case.

The officers reports don’t mention any of these claims by the victim, and more importantly, if she some how had the ability to gain knowledge of her accusations while the crime was occurring (highly improbable), why on earth did she run to Mike Young’s home for help? This demonstrates that her belief that Mike was involved had to have come after the shooting and robbery occurred. Information provided to TPC by sources with knowledge of the case suggest that “The Woman” may have implicated Mike’s involvement to counter his support of Shannon, and his grandmother’s comment she made to Lt. Little that Shannon was outside in the truck when the victim came to their home for help. This would also suggest that the victim statements to TPC were constructed to support the charges Shannon Nyamodi now faces related to this crime, which causes reexamination of Lt. M. Little’s report being composed on a Supplementary Incident Report form.

Sources say that police reports did exist describing the victim having told Little that Shannon wasn’t the person who shot her in the face. The awkwardness of what appears to be Little’s initial statement compiled with information from an interview with a potential witness the day after the crime, suggest that the report was composed on the Supplementary form 4 days later in an effort to conceal a previously composed report by Lt. Little, that contained “The Woman’s” statements in which she exonerated Shannon from his involvement in her shooting.  This would also mean that the victim has purposely altered her initial statements to the police. Many following the case question whether the victim’s sudden redirection of her account is related to assisting her daughter facing criminal charges for her role in the crime. There is no information available regarding the final disposition of her daughter’s case. View copies of the police reports of Z. Phillip and Lt. M. Little below while taking care to notice the heading or title of their individual forms their reports were composed on, as well as the dates indicated establishing when the reports were submitted:

Alleged Evidence

Moreover, “The Woman” alleges that DNA evidence was obtained in the crime when a blood stained shirt believed to have belonged to Shannon was discovered stuffed in a near by car. There is no indication in the victim’s statement establishing when police obtained the item, but Shannon’s mother previously revealed to TPC that Shannon had held the woman while comforting her until EMS arrived, and at some point took his shirt off because of the danger of blood borne pathogens, putting it on top of his truck, and was going to change shirts before police arrived questioning him. This would explain why the youth was shirtless when the cops arrived. Elizabeth Crudup also told TPC that the shirt in evidence was obtained by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) a week after the crime, and after Shannon had been arrested. She says the shirt remained on her son’s truck all that time in the elements before it was confiscated as evidence.

Her account is reinforced by the Young family who stated that the SBI knocked on the family’s door to inform them that they were there for the purpose of searching the truck in the yard for evidence. Ms. Crudup says the SBI not only took her son’s shirt, but also confiscated his music equipment (i.e. guitar, amplify, etc.). Any documentation of the agency’s inventory log from the search should indicate the actual date the SBI obtained possession of the items. This further draws suspicion as to why Shannon was arrested and charged with the crime within a twelve hour time period, when articles with DNA evidence possibly linking the teen to the crime was obtained days after his arrest. Also, “The Woman” stated to TPC that some of the money stolen in the robbery along with the alleged weapon used in the crime was obtained by the sheriff’s office a week after the crime. How could cops have linked his DNA or fingerprints to those items when police obtained them after Shannon had been taken into custody. The strongest part of my argument here is that Shannon Nyamodi had no criminal past, meaning he didn’t have traceable fingerprints in any criminal database, that would cause police to link him for prints obtained in their forensic discovery within the home where the crime occurred. They would only have had his prints available upon his arrest, booking, and subsequent fingerprinting which would have been his first of any kind in his life.

The search warrant for Shannon’s address listed as 116 Shearin Court was filed with the Franklin County C.S.C on August 20, 2012 at 10:51 a.m., and on the same day Lt. Little composed his Supplementary Incident Report in the case. The Search Warrant document had a box checked indicating that the warrant wasn’t executed in 48 hours as prescribed by the authorizing magistrate, and was returned not executed to the Franklin County, County Sheriff Clerk. The SBI was the agency charged with conducting the search, which they did inn fact execute, based of the Young family’s account in which they describe the shirt, and Shannon’s music equipment being confiscated. It’s unclear why the warrant was returned not executed when they in fact did search the truck on the Young’s property. A closer evaluation of these facts, shows that the warrant was turned back in not executed, probably because it would  reveal the actual date that the SBI obtained the alleged blood stained shirt, days later which police believed belong to Shannon Nyamodi. The SBI officer who submitted the warrant back to the County Clerk’s officer did in fact submit a falsified document, more than likely to mislead the court that a search was not executed. This shows at least one officer of the SBI complicity in what appears to be a conspiracy to convict an innocent man. By eliminating the execution of the search warrant, police can now claim that the blood stained shirt was discovered at anytime, like the night of the shooting, and justify taking Shannon into custody at such an early stage of the investigation. Yet, it’s highly doubtful that either of the investigating agencies could have processed DNA samples in such a short period of time, making Shannon’s arrest highly suspect at best.We see that the wheels of conspiracy began spinning on August 20, 2012 by observing the Franklin County Court Clerk’s stamp on Shannon’s search warrant, validating the time and date the document was submitted to the court. View Shannon’s search warrant document below taking care to notice how the document has a box with a an x mark indicating the warrant was not executed, and the County Clerk’s stamp validating when it was submitted to the courts:

“The Woman’s” comment which suggest that Shannon was allegedly seen at the abandoned building where the money and weapon were found earlier that day is only a circumstantial element of this case, and quite frankly way too convenient to even give such a perspective any credible weight what-so-ever. Other reports circulating in media which many say points to Shannon’s premeditation of this crime, where a young white male conveys that Shannon had advised him “if something happens and the cops question you, say I was at your house all night,” may be a fabricated story by one of the real perpetrators of the crime that witnesses in the community have fingered. The young man who made the statement, and one of the state’s star witnesses seen describing Shannon’s premeditation on the news is actually a male name Steven, believed to be a relative of the Sheriff whose agency is investigating the crime, and who witnesses have submitted an image of to TPC with him holding a rifle and wearing a black hoodie similar to the style in which Lt. Little indicates in his report that he was told by witnesses that the man fleeing the home after the shooting was wearing, upon his arrival at the scene that night.View the image below:

The text messages which are suppose to have been obtained by police in the case should make for a very interesting piece of discovery evidence if the case ever makes it to trial, considering Shannon didn’t own a cellphone. His mother told TPC that the youth sold his phone when he initially began working to be able to afford lunch money for work. “The Women’s” comment regarding the cellphone SIM card that her daughter attempted to destroy may have text data on it linking some conspirator to the crime, but it’s believed by Shannon’s mother that the text exchange doesn’t link to a phone owned by her son. The more and more the documents and statements obtained in this case are examined, it becomes quite clear to the intelligent mind that a disturbing picture of a conspiracy exist to frame an innocent man for this crime.

Conclusion

Finally, “The Women” indicated that she didn’t feel that Shannon was being held unjustly nor treated unfairly by the courts. She stated that there were plans to go back to court next week in Shannon’s case in which she planned to plead to the state’s attorney to offer the teen a deal, in what she continuously described as her Christian posture of forgiveness in this case. I advised her that I was Go Fearing as well, but unlike her I don’t think that I share her sentiment toward a person I believe had shot me in the face. She conveyed that the only thing prohibiting Shannon’s case from moving forward was his attorney’s constant request for postponement in the case. Clearly that assertion is incorrect because TPC has already produced documents which reveal a motion by the state’s attorney to have the case removed from the court’s Management Docket System, and which was in fact approved by Judge Hight on February 2o, 2013. It’s statements like that from “The Women”  coupled with other inconsistent comments which stand in staunch contrast to established reports that hurts the credibility of this woman who claims to have been the victim in this case.

Moreover, the the opinion of many within the Franklin County, North Carolina community where the crime occurred, as seen in the thread of the Franklin County News Online Facebook Group, would suggest that the case against young Shannon Nyamodi is so solid that it’s a complete outraged that the case hasn’t been resolved. I concur with these sentiments regarding the manner in which the state has failed to expedite this case, but our collective concern for the state’s lack of forward motion should raise serious discussion and suspicion as to why it has taken so long to dispose of, if so many people believe the state’s case is a smoking gun. Shady and falsified police documents, inconsistent statements by the alleged witness (if you believe the woman I interviewed was in fact the actual victim), unexplained justification for the speedy arrest of Shannon Nyamodi, and most importantly the state’s desire to hide the case within the court Management Docket System indefinitely should spell trouble for the strength of their case against this young man by even those who support the state’s belief of his guilt.

According to “The Women” the victim’s daughter has already had her case disposed of for her role in the crime, and is serving time in prison. Suspicion continues to linger if the woman I interviewed is in fact the victim in the case, related to her sudden redirection in statements she made related to who actually shot her. Shannon has been locked up in the Franklin County jail now for nearly 15 months, and the state has removed his case file from the court system. There are no criminal proceedings currently within the state of North Carolina’s entire database which suggest that criminal charges against him are pending. The state’s request for a motion of “Exceptional” status raises suspicion from other legal professionals that TPC and other Advocacy organizations have brought to their attention regarding this case. If “The Women’s” belief that the state has very culpable, evidence sufficient to convict Shannon Nyamodi, why have they shelved this defendant’s case in their archives. That alone speaks volumes to just about every independent observer of this entire bizarre case.

It is the position of The People’s Champion Blog to convey information anyone offers to our advocacy process, and pertaining to every story with honesty, sincerity, as well as giving commenters a platform for which their voice may be heard. In this instance, even if I could establish with certainty that the woman who provided information in this article was in fact the actual victim, her story is extremely troubling related to this entire ordeal. We pray for both the victim, and the alleged perpetrator and their families that true justice is served. God speed.

To Be Continued ..

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams.

When we speak of human rights and captivity it sparks painful reminders of America’s Bull Conner days in racist Alabama during the heights of the Civil Rights Movement in this country. In 2013 the U.S. has a black man seated in the oval office, and the racist days of human subjugation, persecution, and the brutalization of colored people in America are supposed to only be a memory of America’s ugliest and darkest days of the past. Sadly, some southern states along with it’s police, town councils, and peculiar legislation continue to remind the American public that the plight of black people in this country isn’t such a distant memory after all. In North Carolina a serious human rights case cries out to the masses to free one our indigenous children from the shackles of racism and injustice of North Carolina’s criminal justice system.

Police say 18 year old Shannon Nyamodi was the trigger man who shot a Franklin township North Carolina woman in the face late August in 2012, but the victim swore to cops that the youth wasn’t her assailant. In what police have described as a murder for hire scheme in which the victim’s own 15 year old daughter allegedly paid the Nyamodi youth with pills, sex, and cash has turned into perhaps one of the greatest human rights struggles in modern time. Documents obtained from the investigation paint a troubling and disturbing culture of corruption within this small southern town’s sheriff department.

The Sheriff whose agency is conducting the investigation into this violent crime (Jerry W. Jones) is believed to be a relative of two individuals that several witnesses within the community have stated were the actual perpetrators of this horrible crime. The victim Rhonda Maclean, 43 told cops that night that Shannon Nyamodi wasn’t the person who shot her in the face. Reports from the Youngstown police department supports her claims, and convey that the shooter had already fled the scene, while the Nyamodi youth was still there after coming to the wounded woman’s aid when she fled her home with her assailant and her own daughter searching her bedroom to steal a bank bag containing $65,000.00 dollars.

Maclean was an employee of a local Franklin county Dentist office who transported cash on a regular basis for her employer, and cash she was known to have in her home is believed to be the motive for this crime. Despite Nyamodi coming to the injured woman’s aid, remaining at the scene of the crime, and giving the cops a statement that night, he was still some how implicated in the home invasion. The victim even told police that her daughter was involved in her shooting and robbery at the home. Nyamodi’s mother says her son bares a striking resemblance to her and as she walks throughout the community, a volume of citizens have approached her, while conveying “Your Shannon’s mom right? You know he didn’t do it right?”

In fact there are a volume of people, including witnesses from the scene that night who say that another man name Derrick was the actual shooter, and several people say he boastfully bragged about committing the crime hours after the shooting occurred. Additionally, the man along with his brother Steven who citizens in the surrounding community named as the perpetrators, posted images on social media with one of them posing with a volume of cash the very next day. The man was also wearing clothing identical to what witness say the perpetrator was wearing the night he was observed fleeing from the scene.

Considering the magnitude of these facts it’s troubling that a young black man remains behind bars in a North Carolina jail cell when compelling evidence exist which exonerate him from involvement in the crime. TPC’s investigation into this case reveals disturbing information related to not only the Franklin county Sheriff department, but the town council as well. Sheriff Jerry W. Jones has a storied past in which he was actually removed from office when he lost his bid for reelection of the county’s Sheriff post, but some how county officials were able to remove the elected sheriff, and reinstated Jones as the appointed Sheriff for the county. TPC is currently looking into what exactly happened in the incident.

However, Sheriff Jones bares a striking resemblance to Derrick and Steven who citizens have fingered for the crime. Rumors circulating throughout the community establishing that the pair are in fact relatives of the Sheriff only heightens suspicion that something is drastically amiss with the prosecution of young Shannon Nyamodi. The strange circumstance related to $61,000.00 dollars of the stolen money along with the alleged weapon used in the shooting, somehow, strangely, and mysteriously being obtained by the sheriff’s office a very short time after the crime, gives rumors of the sheriff’s possible involvement a tremendous amount of credibility. Shannon Nyamodi and the alleged 15 year old accomplice were both in custody at the time the evidence was discovered. Common sense makes it clear that at least one other person either had the items and prompted police regarding the items location, or the sheriff’s office had advance insight into who the perpetrators were beyond what they have disclosed publicly.

Shaky Case from The Start

While viewing documents in the case TPC discovered that Nyamodi’s arrest wasn’t simply a mere rush to judgement. Details within police reports demonstrate that the youth was targeted based on very weak, and unsubstantiated facts in the case. The duty report of Youngstown Lt. Little indicates that an alleged CI (Confidential Informant) told him that another man overheard a conversation between the victim’s daughter and Shannon Nyamodi planning to kill her mother weeks prior to the actual crime. The fact that those details suddenly were made known to cops after the incident, cast serious credibility of the CI’s motivation for telling police now, and arouses serious integrity issues which question why the information wasn’t provided sooner to preempt such a violent crime. The officer requested the man overhearing the allege conversation come into the office to give a statement. There are no records in the case file which suggest that cops ever met with the man, as witness statements of this nature are typically provided in writing at police request, which is a normal standard operation procedure.

In fact, these hearsay statements appear to be how cops made young Shannon a suspect in the case. The report also reveals statement’s from the victim who implicated her own daughter in the crime. Rhonda Maclean told cops that her daughter didn’t assist her after she became aware of her mother’s injuries. Maclean also said she overheard her daughter telling someone to come up here moments after being shot. Maclean’s insistence that Nyamodi wasn’t the person who shot her, highlights how the hearsay comments implicating Nyamodi is why the cops should have been more diligent in pursuing other leads in the case.

Elizabeth Crudup who is Shannon Nyamodi’s mother, says the story that police used to arrest her soon was just simply crazy and bizarre. The mom says her son was in a very committed relationship and it’s doubtful that he would have been having sex with the victim’s daughter. The cops also told news media outlets that Shannon was known to frequent the home of the teen girl and her mother, but Ms. Crudup says although her son and the teen girl attended the same school, her son didn’t know the girl. According to Lt. M. Little’s incident report, a grandmother from a neighboring home where the crime occurred (116 Shearin Court) told police that Shannon stays in the truck outside of their home sometimes. Her statements substantiate that Shannon was known to sleep in the truck at his friend’s house adjacent to the Maclean home, and supports Shannon’s statement that he was asleep in his truck when he was awakened by gunfire. The officer’s report also indicates that during his initial questioning of the victim, that she said she saw a man in her house and asked her daughter what was he doing here, before being struck with a pipe.

The victim actually saw the man who attacked her and subsequently shot her in the face. If that person was in fact Shannon Nyamodi she would have been able to tell police that he was her assailant. That’s not what happened, the woman told police the exact opposite, and it’s unclear why cops suddenly obtained an arrest warrant for Shannon Nyamodi the same day of the shooting during such early stages of their criminal investigation into the crime. The shooting occurred around 2:30 a.m. on the 16th of August 2012, and by 3:10 p.m. late that afternoon, according to his Arrest Warrant Notice of Service, cops apparently had obtained enough information to charge Shannon with attempted murder. It’s interesting to note that police believed they had sufficient probable cause in only a 12 hour time frame to charge Shannon Nyamodi with stealing the victim’s .22 caliber  rifle (suspected to have been used in the crime), and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill in the woman’s shooting.

A search warrant for 109 Shearin Court where the shooting occurred was obtained and executed on August 16, 2012 also. The warrant gave search and seizure authorization for a variety of potential forensic evidence which could identify possible suspects in the crime. Considering the turn around most DNA samples require for processing and authentication, it’s simply miraculous that the cops were able to name anyone as a possible suspect within 12 hours, when DNA samples hadn’t been obtained from the victim, nor the two alleged suspects in the case. Moreover, any finger prints obtained from the crime scene couldn’t have been linked to Shannon Nyamodi, because the youth didn’t have a criminal past, his latent prints wouldn’t have been in any local or national databases like the National Criminal Investigation Center (NCIC), and the youth had not been taken into custody, finger printed and booked on the charges yet.

Therefore, Shannon’s arrest is highly suspicious when we evaluate the time it takes most most police agencies investigating serious crimes of this nature to process forensic evidence.  It’s even more confusing that cops charged Shannon with larceny of the victim’s .22 caliber rifle, when the search warrant for the victim’s residence has her .22 caliber rifle listed within the inventory of items seized from her home when they searched the premises. View the search and seizure warrant from 109 Shearin Court below:

Following the logical process that police would take while establishing the perpetrators, motive, and culpable evidence to secure a conviction in this crime it’s understandable that warrants and other court ordered procedures should take place as part of the criminal justice process. So, it’s just bizarre that a search warrant was issued for Shannon Nyamodi’s residence but was never executed. It’s not quite clear how police planned to establish or prove as a matter of fact that Shannon had stolen the victim’s rifle. Keep in mind there couldn’t have been DNA evidence nor fingerprint trace evidence linking the youth to the crime at the time of his arrest (3:10 p.m. 8/16/2012), which heightens suspicion that the youth was locked up prematurely. Besides the sheriff’s was supposed to have obtained possession of the weapon a short time after the crime. See Shannon’s search and seizure, and arrest warrant below:

Furthermore, It’s troubling that Shannon Nyamodi was arrested in such short period of time, when according to Lt. M. Little’s report, he hadn’t obtained information from the CI (who says another man implicated Nyamodi) until 4:30 p.m. on August 17, 2012 which was the following day after the shoting. Police have conveyed to the media exactly what the unidentified witness told cops, establishing what appears to be their only probable cause for arresting the youth. Hearsay is typically never allowed to be entered into evidence in a court of law, especially statements of the he said, she said variety. The sheriff’s office were either psychic having knowledge that a witness would be coming forward with information to implicate Shannon, causing them to decide to arrest him before hand, or they arrested the youth and fabricated a story about his involvement. The evidence points to the later of these scenarios.

Human Rights Violation

It’s simply unconscionable that the 15 year daughter of the victim, whom her mother has implicated as being complicit in her shooting and robbery, had her case disposed of in the juvenile courts while young Shannon Nyamodi remains locked up in a North Carolina jail cell. The child who was already embroiled in the juvenile justice system and on probation, somehow was able to wiggle her way out of prosecution for the crime all together, and is walking free today. That extremely alarming fact pertaining to the case juxtapose to the victim having told cops that Shannon wasn’t her assailant, perhaps is the greatest crime surrounding the entire ordeal.

Elizabeth Crudup tells TPC that her family retained well known criminal defense attorney (a former North Carolina state prosecutor) Maitry “Mike” Klinkosum to represent her son. She believes that Klinkosum has been counter productive in assisting her son in gaining his freedom. Crudup says early on when it became clear that Klinkosum wasn’t acting in the best interest on her son’s behalf, he was instructed to stay away from Shannon. The family was in the process of retaining a $30,000.00 check Klinkosum received for Shannon’s defense when he went behind their backs, visited Shannon at the jail, and tricked the youth into signing documents which named him his legal counsel.

Crudup justifies the family’s earlier fears regarding Klinkosum’s representation of Shannon by pointing out that he continues to encourage the youth to “take a deal” with the state on his attempted murder charges. Ms. Crudup says that her son has been defiant at such request, because he knows that he is innocent and simply came to the victim’s aid in this case. Klinkosum manipulated the family and had himself established on record as Shannon’s legal counsel, and displayed his poor representation of the youth by agreeing to allow the state to shelf Shannon Nyamodi’s criminal case in the North Carolina court management docket system archives indefinitely. A move that has caused the youth to remain locked up for over a year with no indication by the state of their plans to resume prosecution of him.

Shannon Nyamodi is in fact being held in captivity by the State of North Carolina with no legal proceedings pending against him. No criminal case against Shannon can be found within the state’s entire criminal database. On what grounds are they holding him? His case is a direct human rights concern for all American citizens, as his constitutional right to a speedy trial, and civil rights have been violated in a case that State prosecutors have not shown any signs of addressing anytime soon. View the Judge’s order below, granting a motion by the state  to remove Shannon Nyamodi’s case from the court management docket system, until such time the state’s attorney puts it back on:

Corruption

None of the paperwork TPC has obtained in the Shannon Nyamodi case appear to be very compelling to establish the youth’s involvement in this crime, but only records from the Youngstown police department were made available. The sheriff’s office has denied access to any records pertaining to this case, despite the fact they are public record and in violation of North Carolina statue. A freedom of Information Act request will more than likely have to be made in order to obtain what information they have justifying Shannon’s charges, and subsequent cause for continued detention.

It doesn’t take rocket science to conclude that their case against Shannon is weak. Records indicate that a police official with access to the case file went so far as to falsify the Franklin County Sheriff’s Application for a Search Warrant submitted by Cpt. William J. Mitchell. The document was submitted on August 17, 2012 with seven probable causes for the warrant being granted. However, a hand written addendum as the eighth probable cause for the warrant was added on the document, and that item states that Shannon Nyamodi had confessed to the conspiracy to commit murder and did admit to the involvement of the 15 year old co defendant listed in the case. The hand written supplement to the document is suspect at the very least. Although the addendum has the author’s initials listed in the are where it was imputed, there clearly was no effort to type a supplement to the document, and signed by the author which is typically done with official records that are being presented to a judge or magistrate related to a felony crime.

It’s also highly doubtful that the composer of the application would forget to include such a valuable piece of information. Let’s be realistic, Shannon was suppose to have allegedly confessed to the crime, and the officer forgot to include that as part of his application is what the handwritten addendum on the application tells us. I’m not buying it, and it appears that some one simply went to the case file and wrote that information in to bolster probable cause to obtain a search warrant.  View the Application for a search warrant below:

When a suspect is questioned or interrogated for a crime, the interview is typically recorded in some fashion. If the suspect confesses to a crime, that’s usually recorded separately because it’s the most compelling evidence a prosecutor can present to a judge or jury during court proceedings, and also normally results in a plea of guilty or a plea deal. Often times police officials request that the suspect write his confession in his own words. No documentation or recordings exist that would suggest that Shannon had confessed to the crime. If the prosecutor has such compelling evidence against Shannon in this case, it should be a slam dunk, and know need for the state to hide the case within it’s docket archives. The youth’s mother told TPC that he has been consistent with his position that he isn’t guilty of any wrong doing in this crime. Many followers of this story believe that the state along with Shannon’s own defense counsel are attempting to wear him down in hopes that he will eventually plea guilty to at least some aspect of the charges against him. For all intent and purposes and from what his mother has indicated to TPC, that will never happen. Mean while a habeas corpus document, which would compel the court to immediately bring Shannon Nyamodi in to court to secure his release or present evidence for his lawful detention, has been submitted to the court, and to the warden of the correctional facility where Shannon is being detained.

On July 26, 2013 Judge Henry W. Hight Jr. issued an order in the case which was for the purpose of determining to release the $61,000.00 dollars that the sheriff’s office had obtained as evidence in the case, back to the victim. All parties to the proceedings, including the state’s attorney, counsel for the unnamed juvenile, and attorney Klinkosum representing Shannon Nyamodi, all had sufficient opportunity to do testing for trace evidence on the money. The juvenile’s counsel declined testing, and Klinkosum only took pictures while examining the money, and the state advised the court that it had no desire to test the money. Therefore, Judge Hight released the cash back to Ms. Maclean. This would establish that the state doesn’t even have forensic evidence linking Shannon to the money taken in the home invasion and shooting. The entire case against this young man stinks, but they have held him in captivity for over a year, while essentially hiding his court file within their archives indefinitely. We pray that he will make an appearance in court soon to establish what grounds he is currently being incarcerated. We pray that God moves on behalf of this youth and his mother. Please continue to follow this gripping human rights story. View Judge Hight’s order releasing the money back to the victim below:

The rumors circulating around in Franklin County, North Carolina indicating that the sheriff investigating this crime is in fact related to two other man that a volume of citizens have publicly named as the actual perpetrators in this crime sure bare a striking resemblance of the County’s sheriff  whose agency investigated this case. Take a look for yourself.

To Be Continued ..

Sources:

Kulture Kritic

Free Shannon Nyamodi Homepage

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

He had just left a gig with a local band that he performed with for venues in small Youngstown, N.C.. Young Shannon Nyamodi was a recent high school grad working as an electrician assistant who had plans of joining the military later on in the year of 2012, but Shannon’s dreams of serving his country in the armed forces were soon dashed when he became embroiled in a murder for hire case, that landed the 18 year old Carolina native in a state jail cell. On April 16, 2012 Shannon arrived at a friend’s home after performing with his band. Exhausted from the show, Shannon fell asleep in his truck outside of the house. He was shortly awakened by the sound of gunfire, and as he looked around he saw a white woman running from an adjacent home bleeding profusely about her head.

Shannon immediately exited his vehicle and ran to the woman’s aid. She told him that someone had shot her and that her daughter was involved. Shannon gazed up at the house where the woman had fled and observed a white male running away from the house. Shannon notified emergency response personnel to aid the woman, and remained at the scene comforting her until help arrived. When the cops arrived, the woman also told them that her daughter was involved in the shooting. She told police that a bank envelope containing $50,000.00 dollars was in her bedroom, and believed that’s what the shooter was after.

Rhonda Maclean, 43 told cops that she heard a noise at her home and subsequently discovered some one had gained entry to the house. A man shot her in the face and while she lay wounded on the floor, she overheard her 16 year old daughter say “she’s dead, the money is upstairs, come on hurry up.” Maclean then told police that two people stepped over her and proceeded to the upstairs of the home. She said that’s when she got up an ran to a neighboring home (where Shannon was outside asleep) for help. The women’s minor daughter claimed to have been downstairs in the home when the incident occurred, but the victim’s statements to police contradicts her claim. After being shot the woman says she overheard her daughter directing someone to “hurry up”.

This would mean the daughter at least had to have been somewhere in close proximity upon her mom getting shot. In the child’s statements to police she said she overheard her mother screaming followed by gun shots, and she went upstairs to investigate while observing a white male fleeing from the home. As a seasoned investigator that statement drew suspicion on my part, because it’s highly doubtful that an unarmed teen girl would immediately run directly into harms way after hearing such horrifying occurrences upstairs. Common sense would illicit most people to wait, listen, and get a better feel for what’s going on while calling for help prior to running into what could be a potentially life threatening situation.

Besides, the shooting victim had already implicated her own daughter in the shooting which left a whole in her cheek with the bullet passing through her head and exiting somewhere behind her ear. The dynamics of the victims statements should have been sufficient probable cause to take the teen girl into custody that night. The girl and Shannon Nyamodi where arrested in the late morning hours the following day on April 17, 2012. Shannon’s arrest came as a complete surprise to his family and friends. The victim herself had told cops that young Shannon wasn’t involved. She would have known this because she described the shooter and possibly her daughter stepping over her, and she encountered Shannon Nyamodi outside when she ran for help. Shannon, the victim’s daughter, and other witness all describe a white male wearing a white T-shirt, black pants, and a blue Carolina panthers baseball style cap fleeing the home immediately after the shooting.

Shannon never fled the scene and even gave police a statement that night. After all, the aspiring soldier was doing the right thing any normal citizen encountering a bleeding woman in distress. However, somewhere between 2:30 a.m. (time of the actual crime) and late morning the next day, police obtained enough evidence to charge Shannon along side the victim’s daughter for attempted murder. Media reports reveal that cops say they have Facebook post and text messages which reveal a planned murder for hire plot between the teen girl and Shannon, but none of the police reports or investigative documentation obtained in the case point to such a scenario. In fact Facebook images indicate perhaps the cops knowingly falsely arrested Shannon Nyamodi from the start.

Days after the shooting rumors began to circulate throughout the community that two young white males were in fact responsible for the shooting and robbery at the Maclean home. One of the youth even posted pictures of himself with a lot of cash  the very next day. His clothing in the picture is identical to what witnesses say the allege shooter was wearing the night he fled the scene.

This is only circumstantial evidence related to the youth’s potential involvement, but rumors within the community naming him as the actual gunman are predicated primarily on witness statements provided to Shannon’s mother that he boastfully bragged about having committed the shooting and robbery hours after the crime had occurred. These details have always provided police agencies with enough suspicion to at least bring a potential suspect in for questioning, but it’s the identical match in clothing of this youth compared to statements witness told police at the scene that night, coupled with a volume of cash that creates serious suspicion why the cops never even pursued this possible lead in the case. The youth is described by citizens within the community as a troubled, unemployed youth, living at home in his parent’s trailor.

Perhaps other rumors that have surfaced regarding this particular youth having relatives working in the town’s sheriff department investigating the case may explain why he never became a person of interest. Ironically, the money along with the gun allegedly used in the crime, strangely and mysteriously found it’s way into the hands of the sheriff’s office, and all while Shannon Nyamodi and his alleged teenage accomplice had already been taken into custody and charge with the shooting. Clearly this indicates involvement of at least another individual, who at the very minimum conspired with the perpetrator(s) in this bizarre shooting and robbery scheme. Who had the money? Is it possible that the cops allowed someone to simply turn in tangible culpable evidence related to a serious violent crime? Even if they simply dropped it off while no one was looking, that individual should possibly have been identified via security surveillance at the sheriff’s office. If you think these facts are over the top, just hold on to your seat, because it’s even more bizarre.

The victim’s teenage daughter (a white girl) has already had her charges and criminal case subsequently disposed of in the juvenile courts. Shannon’s mother tells TPC that the family has since left the town, and simply moved on. Ms. Elizabeth Crudup says she has been fighting tooth and nail to have her soon cleared of these charges, but she discovered the the state attorney’s office has requested the case be temporarily removed from the court’s docket system, and a judge Henry W. Hignt Jr. granted the state’s motion on February 20, 2013.  Take a glimpse of the court order below.

Take note that the order classifying the case as Exceptional, according to Judge Hignt was a mutual request by the state’s attorney and the attorney for the defendant. It’s simply unheard of for any defense counsel to agree on such a motion, especially considering the state of North Carolina no longer has a speedy trial statue, and while condoning such a motion would leave a defense client in limbo within the North Carolina criminal justice system indefinitely. Agreeing on such a condition is highly ill advised for any defense counsel. If the state fails to present sufficient evidence for a trial against a client, or good cause for postponement, the defense lawyer should counter with a motion to have the case thrown out or Nule Processed.

Although North Carolina repealed it’s speedy trial statue in 1989 (which required a case began within 120 days) North Carolina defendants have constitutional speedy trial rights under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. But those rights generally don’t “kick in” until a year has passed, at which point, courts apply a four-factor test to determine whether a defendant’s constitutional speedy trial rights have been compromised. Additionally, considering that Shannon’s co defendant’s case, who was implicated by her own mother, has been disposed of, it’s clear that the state has resolved to hold Shannon Nyamodi completely responsible for the entire ordeal. Other factors in Shannon’s defense debacle highlights efforts by his own lawyer’s repeated encouragement that the youth “cop a deal” with the state. The counselors endorsement of “Exceptional” status of this case may in fact be direct retaliation for the youth’s refusal to plea guilty to a crime for which he did not commit.

Similar tactics have been meted out in cases related to criminal defendants of color throughout the U.S. Criminal Justice System, but in North Carolina, one of the most stringent penal systems in the country, it’s legislation is designed to warehouse defendants for as long as possible regardless of their innocence or guilt. Even if the paperwork smells bad, state prosecutors are traditionally unrelenting in ushering weak criminal cases through the court system when the defendants are of a colored ethnicity. For example in Shannon’s case, one of the charges indicated that he is believed to have stolen the victim’s .22 caliber rifle, and an actual search warrant was issued for Elizabeth Maclean’s home. A close look at the bottom of the first row in the warrant reveals that it was never executed. Does this mean that police no longer believed that Shannon had stolen the victim’s rifle? He couldn’t have stolen the weapon, because cops  say the gun along with the cash had been mysteriously returned to police.

Search Warrant

Moreover, upon the sheriff’s office obtaining the weapon and money, the items didn’t yield Shannon’s fingerprints nor DNA. In fact, no compelling culpable evidence exist that points to Shannon Nyamodi’s alleged involvement in the shooting, robbery, or even a conspiracy related to this crime. Youngstown police reports only indicate that a police officer obtained information from a man who says that he overheard the victim’s teen daughter discussing her and Shannon’s plans to kill her mother weeks prior to the shooting. He is only implicated through hearsay witness statements, evidence which would never be allowed in a criminal court of law in most states. That information could be utilized by the state to build a case against the teenage defendant, because the man says he overheard the conversation. Most judges would not allow such testimony regarding a defendant who was implicated based on a conversation that some one overheard an alleged accomplice implications of him in a crime. It’s all hearsay and appears to be the only thing connecting Shannon Nyamodi to alleged involvement in this crime.

Youngtowns Police Report

If North Carolina state officials prosecuting this case had sufficient evidence to go to trial they would have never motioned for “Exceptional” status for this case. It’s quite apparent that the state is well aware that it’s case against this youth is extremely weak, and the test or standard to this perception is more indicative by the disposition of Shannon’s alleged co defendant’s case. If the state had plans to seriously pursue this case, it would simply have motioned for a postponement to have sufficient time to build it’s case, but we see they have utilize a common strategy of incarcerating young black men, and it’s legislation provides the legal muscle to accomplish such a task. Meanwhile, the state has removed the case from it’s system altogether, when young Shannon Nyamodi is being held in captivity indefinitely with no indication as to when the state will resume prosecution of the charges filed against him.

Now after Shannon has been incarcerated for over a year, his constitutional rights will kick in, but it’s a process that could take 4 years to test whether his constitutional rights have been compromised. His mother has desperately attempted to speak with the judge hearing the case and other court officials unsuccessfully. Recently a criminal justice advocacy group has composed a Habeas Corpus on behalf of her son. The document was presented to the warden of the prison in which he is being housed. The Corrections official has promised to present the document to the courts as early as Monday morning. The Habeas should present a strong argument requesting that the court release Shannon Nyamodi or present a lawful reason as to why he is being held in custody. An “Exceptional” status for any criminal case doesn’t mean forever, and hopefully a judge will wise up and realize that you cannot hold a defendant in captivity in America without any pending charges.

If all else fails I plan to assist Ms. Crudup in taking her son’s case to the Department of Justice in order that a Civil Rights investigation be launched into this case. Please follow this disturbing story, as our black children are continuously being targeted by unjust criminal justice systems within the American South. God be with this family and all of our youth who could fall prey to such injustice in the 21st century.

To Be Continued ..

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

Their faces are filled with cheer, joy, excitement, and the spirit of happiness many children experience on Christmas morning can only be trumped by the sadness that poor and disenfranchised kids endure, when for reason they could never understand, the abundance of goodwill, giving, and the glaring bright lights of the most festive time of the Christian holidays seems to have skipped their doorsteps again this year. It’s almost unfair some say, for Christmas, though largely a children’s holiday is the most celebrated religous event around the world, and whether you celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ or not you must submit to the universal ideology of love, compassion, and the spirit of giving that the holiday promotes around the globe.

Yet, the annual celebration sparks emotional and other despondent behavior by many who are left out in the cold, and on the doorsteps of prosperity. Christmas time is also the greatest period within society where depression, crime, and sadness engulfs struggling families. The rate of suicidal deaths also increase around Christmas, as some face the reality of their inability to provide gifts and material benevolence to their poor struggling families. The difficulties of having to explain to young children the family’s sub-par economic status is perhaps one of the most disheartening task many families are gripped with, while children from other families enjoy a seemingly more prosperous holiday. To small children words like economics, poverty, and unemployment is simply incomprehensible.

Children who aren’t developed in cultures which practice other religous philosophies are cast into an emotional state which has the potential of impacting their development, and until these children are more conformed individuals the unfortunate circumstance of poverty and economic depravity will more than likely met out serious psychological and self esteem disparity within small kids. A child’s inability to analyze their family’s financial status should be of no consequence to how holidays such as Christmas can be detrimental to early childhood development.

Many root causes of poverty such as single family homes, lost of spouse or significant others due to incarceration, or crime can play a major role in a family’s inability to provide their children with the full experience of religous holidays. Whether it’s hard times, a parent having fallen victim to violent crime, or other factors which create poor financial support for struggling families, the children often catch the brunt end of a family’s lack of economic prosperity.

The People’s Champion Blog has never had a request of this nature presented to us. A request has been made to support and solicit aid for one struggling family with small children for the Christmas holiday, and though I personally am not Christian I understand how poverty impacts poor and needy families particularly during this time of year. I am requesting that those of you within my readership base assist TPC in keeping it’s promise to a struggling family which has reached out for help during their difficult time. If you have ever been impacted by the lost of a loved one due to violence, or have experienced a rough patch in life, then I am certain you could emphasize with families experiencing financial hardship.

With that being said TPC has donated to the Wells-Dubois Institute, and are soliciting donations to support one family during this holiday season. Donations can be made via PayPal at Wells-Dubois Institute, and I encourage those who care, to give this family at least something to assist them during their financial hardship. Your donations of minimal generosity such as $1, $5, and $10 dollars will go a long way in providing essentials such as clothing, food, and shelter for this family to help them toward a better start for the New Year. If you know me, and have followed my advocacy work here at The People’s Champion Blog, you know that my word is backed up by my life, and I intend to do what I can to help one family this year as I promised (even on such short notice). Can you and will you help them? May God Bless you all for your support in this endeavor. God speed!

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

A 15 year old girl in the care of the state of Louisiana, while living with her Aunt consistently expressed her complete discontent for the living conditions she was exposed to. The teen mom had sounded the alarm that she was in trouble, chiefly because she made complaints of having been sexually assaulted (raped) by her Aunt’s live in boyfriend. Patricia Andrus told Duson, Louisiana police investigating the Keiosha Felix’ missing persons complaint that she “was unaware of any rape but her boyfriend may have played with her privates.” That revelation was revealed to police by witnesses who had contact with the girl prior to her disappearance and has infuriated followers of the little girl’s case, and at the time Keiosha was reported missing her aunt had not reported the child’s complaint of allegedly having been raped to state childcare officials nor local police.

Despite police responding to a missing child complaint that indicated possible sexual assault and abuse, the girl’s relatives were successful in selling police a story the child had been communicating with the family. One report indicated that a cousin had overheard the child’s voice over the phone. The family’s initial statements to police caused Keiosha’s case to be classified as a runaway case. Other relatives more knowledgeable of the child’s situation demonstrated sufficient and compelling information that completely dispelled any theory which would suggest that the teen had run away. Chiefly, the police were told that Keiosha would never under any circumstance simply abandon her one year old daughter.

By the time cops began to reevaluate information they had received in the case, it may have already been too late. Some believe that the inconsistent stories relatives initially told police may have been purposefully orchestrated to cover up what actually happened to the child. Investigators also expressed concern that the child may have been a victim of human trafficking, although no details were provided explaining why trafficking may be an element of this case, officials noted that child prostitution and human trafficking was not only a possibility but a prevalent industry in the region.

Upon Duson Police investigating claims that Keiosha had been in contact with the family, police discovered that the cousin who made the allegations had in fact lied. Cops eventually arrested the child’s Aunt boyfriend Leon Wilkerson on second-degree kidnapping and simple rape charges, which were eventually dropped because the state couldn’t produce the child to testify as a witness in the case. However, the aunt Patricia Andrus was charged with being an accessory to rape and improper supervision of a minor, while Cousin Portia Felix was charged with obstruction of justice for lying to police about having been in contact with the teen.

The unfortunate circumstance that caused the girl’s case to start off slow with police treating her as a runaway case hindered the investigation initially, but the child’s aunt dropped the ball, and failed the youth from the very start. After Keiosha made complaints regarding having been raped, the aunt never took the appropriate course of actions to  verify the child’s personal safety. It’s even more disturbing considering that when cops asked the aunt why she hadn’t notified the authorities regarding the rape allegations, that she said “I asked Leon about it and he said it was not true so she left it alone.” That’s an extremely tragic aspect of the child’s disappearance, and primarily why suspicion lingers indicating that foul play may have occurred in the case. Duson police says despite these factors, sufficient evidence doesn’t exist indicating that the child may have been harmed in any way.

Keiosha’s case also had a disturbing element which spark controversy within the town’s police department, when it was discovered that a high ranking police official was in fact related to some of the child’s relatives who had been arrested and charged surrounding the teen’s disappearance and rape allegations. The incident sparked community outrage which led to the termination of a police administrator. Baring that strange sidebar related to this story, the only other significant piece of information which has surfaced is the discovery of an adult male who police say was captured in a cell phone retailer security video surveillance, and who was only believed to have purchased a cell phone which was used to contact the youth. Police say he was never a suspect in the case but believed he could provide crucial details which could lead to what happened to Keiosha.

Police were successful identifying the man, but no new leads have developed regarding where Keiosha’s whereabouts are. The girl’s family say they believe she is still alive and haven’t given up hope that she will eventually be brought home to her precious daughter and their family. Sadly, cases related to missing black girls start off slow due to various dynamics which establish crucial information often fail to impact the direction police take surrounding the investigation of children of color. Man people are convinced that somebody knows something regarding what happened to young Keiosha Felix, and The People’s Champion Blog implores everyone of the thousands within our readership base to be vigilante regarding any information they may have regarding the whereabouts, or any knowledge they may possess related to the Keiosha Felix case to notify authorities investigating her case.

Let’s pray for this child that she may be brought home safely to her young daughter and family. It’s been over a year since the child’s disappearance, but The People’s Champion hasn’t forgotten her painful story. May God move on behalf of this child and others who have simply vanished without a clue.

Find Keiosha Felix Now

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

Part 2 of 5  Some of the information contained in this article comes from Federal Census Records, Government Record Archives, statements from living relatives, and other sources that derive from second hand information from the researcher who actually conducted my family genealogy search, and others who  know the family. Considering these sources, please give the accuracy of the article it’s due weight accordingly.

The rural backdrop of Charlottesville, Virginia where my maternal ancestors hail from provides the perfect enclave conducive for the concealment of dirty little secrets. The seclusion of small towns like the Black Branch section of Charlotteville (a term dubbed for the town by local blacks) set the ideal place to harbor a family’s shame and sin. I believe that a young girl not even of preteen age gave birth to my mother, and she was sent to Virginia to conceal her pregnancy until her child was born. It was a common practice of the times to ship girls off who had conceived a child while in fact being minors themselves to quiet places where the pregnant child wouldn’t draw much attention.

Such arrangements also benefited concealment of child pregnancies because the births were performed by mid wives in small rooms of homes in the south. Those births were recorded when the mid wife filed a report with the town or county clerks office, and many towns during that era only had birth registries which only required the documentation of the newborn’s mother and father names along with the month and year of the child’s birth. These practices contrasted very differently from birth records documented in larger cities with sizable populations. There were hospitals and other medical centers that adopted different approaches to the filing of birth records, and a young preteen girl would be problematic as local, state, and federal agencies could potentially launch investigations into exactly how a child became pregnant.

To avoid trouble which official investigations from agencies like social services and child welfare agencies would bring, the child would be sent away where more control could be obtained regarding exposure of these child pregnancies, and mid wives who recorded child births were dependent upon the parents of the children to provide accurate information for the birth file. I’m not convinced that honesty while providing this crucial information for the record was of a priority to many families who may have had invested interest in false information being provided. I have conducted a volume of interviews with sources who actually lived during the era in question, and many of their accounts regarding such practices are continuously consistent as I have described.

Often times I am told that accurate information was provided to court clerks, but upon the child and her newborn’s arrival back to their family homes is where the falsehoods in many instances began. My initial article for this serious previously outlined the pressures of the social climate during the early and mid nineteenth century regarding societal codes on family values and moral turpitude, and parents of these child mothers fabricated the parentage of babies born to child parents to shield the family from purported public scrutiny. My intent isn’t to cast aspersions upon these grandmothers whose child became pregnant, but rather my effort is simply to state the facts which depict the culture of untruths on the  concealment of child pregnancies as well as how many children developed having falsely believed that women other than their biological parent had been named as their mother.

The 1940’s U.S. Census revealed that my great grandparents had 5 children living in their home at the time the census recordings for that year was documented. They were all girls ages 16, 15, 13, 9, and 7 (the later of which would have been my grandmother). Just four years later in 1944 which was the year of my mother’s birth, my grandmother would only have been 11 years old. Not only is this revelation disturbing, but it remains the most logical explanation as to why the true identity of my mother’s biological mother was concealed. The ages of the other girls living in the home when my mother was actually conceived would have been 20, 19, 17, and 13 respectively. The 20 year old sister had previously given birth to a daughter a few months prior in the same year (naming her as my mom’s mother would not have been possible). It’s widely believed by members of the family investigating our family genealogy that a story was fabricated naming the 19 year old sister, the only other daughter in the family of legal and acceptable child bearing age as my mother’s biological mother. This of course would have resolved any suspicion related to the birth of my mother by a strict society that shunned child pregnancies during that era.

More importantly, common sense begs the question as to how an 11 year old child would have gotten pregnant in a home with four older siblings as well as the presence of both parents. An inquiry into such a question is even more intensified considering my mother’s father was a 19 year old adult at the time of my mother’s birth. There isn’t any rationalization that could explain these extremely troubling circumstances which amount to nothing short of rape of an 11 year old girl. Even if the sexual relations which produced my mother were consensual by both parties, it would still constitute statutory rape in the State of Maryland. Unfortunately, in the 1940’s the U.S. Food And Drug Administration (FDA) had not authorized contraceptives in any form, abortions weren’t being performed, and baring some sort of natural termination of a woman’s pregnancy like a miscarriage, she had no other recourse other than to carry her baby full term until birth.

I can not express more emphatically how child pregnancies of this nature were almost never reported to the authorities. One rationalization could be the shrewd fashion many child protective agencies during those times investigated child rape cases. With a number of other children in a home which produced a child pregnancy, the parents were subjected to the potential removal of all other minor children from the home, as a pregnant minor child was often times looked upon as neglect by the parents. These practices by the government related to black families is a well documented historical fact on how government agencies utilized similar cases to continue the disruption of the black family core. Irregardless of how a child became pregnant proactive measures were normally taken by the child’s parents to shield the family from scrutiny and separation.

Some people rationalize that the family did what they had to do to keep it all together, but a more critical observation reveals how many of these decisions exposed the child parent to grave psychological and emotional distress, and not withstanding how the destruction of concealing the truth about a child’s parentage impacted the direct lineage of unborn children within the family for generations to come. In fact, though mothers of child parents contrived in their minds that such decisions made on concealing the truth regarding a child’s true parentage was in the best interest of the family, the decision in all actuality only guaranteed that children in future generations who held direct lineage to a child living under assumed and false parentage would never ever know their true bloodline.

Ignorance and selfishness to some degree are the sole derivatives explaining why mother’s sent their daughters away upon learning of their pregnancies. A strict societal code can never be permitted to justify the traumatic experience of being sent away from the only home these pregnant girls had ever known, especially if the child was in fact a victim of rape. The only living offspring of my grandmother have both confirmed that their mother was sent to live in Charlottesville in her youth. They both don’t recall ever being given an explanation from their mom as to why that occurred. Women that I have interviewed for this article have expressed outrage at such a practice, and have conveyed that they could never have fathomed allowing their child to endure the physical and emotional discomfort that the burden of child birth entails by herself, let alone sending her away in some sort of exile on the mere premise of concealing a family’s perceived shame.

These child mothers often times were exposed to complete culture shock, having to now adapt to life in rural settings that lacked the culture of urban life where many of these girls were sent from. They also lost the sense of family they knew, leaving siblings, friends, and other family behind they were more accustomed to interact with. Now having to learn how to live with relatives they were unfamiliar with, they were forced to learn the often times coarse life of country living. I can’t help but think how my grandmother, and young girls like her had to succumb to the ill advised decisions of their parents, who made decisions regarding a child’s development and care, solely on the premise of  their concern regarding how others perceived, not the pregnant child, but these adult parents themselves.

Let’s face it, whether the pregnant child consented to sexual relations with an adult male or not, there should be serious accountability placed squarely of the shoulders of the child’s parents. A pregnant little girl shouldn’t have to be ushered off into oblivion to conceal her pregnancy and her parent’s failure, while the parents should be held responsible for how their minor daughter became pregnant in the first place. In my grandmother’s case at least, it appears that no consideration was given in regards to how the entire ordeal would impact her development and social interaction with others after such an ordeal. She was eventually allowed to return to the family home with my mother as her newborn child, but her baby was cared for by others in the family.

I believe that the acquisition which transpired with her 19 year older sister having been named as my mother’s biological mom may have been the catalyst which sparked a family feud that would last for decades. It’s safe to say that the dynamics of a house full of young girls is certain to be marred with some conflict at the very minimum, but when you add children mothered by the girls to the equation it could be very disastrous. The accounts of offspring of the woman who we were taught was our grandmother (my Aunt and grandmother’s sister’s kids) establishes that there was a running feud between the two sisters. One Aunt explained to me that the reason my grandmother’s children weren’t known to her and her siblings was a direct result of the negativity and hatred their mother spewed about her sister on a regular basis.

“We weren’t around them because every time she came around or her name was mentioned, Momma would say ‘that bitch’ or ‘them motherfuckers’, so we never saw them,” is what she conveyed to me. Her comments were very consistent with what many of the Johnson Family grandchildren were told about our grandparent’s relationship with their siblings. Although a clear picture was painted for us describing how they almost never got along, stories were told which established that a very bitter relationship existed between the third born daughter, and her younger sister who would have been the Johnson’s sixth child (my grandmother). I have since been troubled by these facts considering there was a seven year difference in their ages, but the reality of the older of the two women having been placed with the burden of motherhood for her little sister’s child is perhaps a very compelling premise as to why bitterness and hatred ran deep between these sisters.

There were other strange elements to this particular story. The family has since expressed concern as to how a 19 year old man would have the ability to gain intimate access to an eleven year old girl and get her pregnant. The man had to have been around the home for some purpose, and it makes sense that he was more than likely dating or friendly with one of the older girls living there. The two older girls in the home were 20 and 19 when my mother was born, the 20 year old had previously had a baby, and my mother’s father and the older 19 year old who we were taught was our grandmother, were both born in 1925, and with both of them being 19, it’s common sense that they more than likely had a relationship as the other girls were all minor children. This of course would mean that the man some how had sex with the older daughter’s kid sister and impregnated her. It seems logical that the family would have taken serious legal action against the man considering my grandmother’s age at the time, but the bitter feud between the women that lasted until their deaths points to a clear indication that my grandmother was persecuted as a result, and she just may have been targeted because she mothered a child by a man in a relationship with an older sister who would subsequently be forced to be named the child’s mother.

My grandmother’s marital records illustrates further proof of just how bad the relationship in her parent’s home was only a few years after she gave birth to my mother. She was married at an early age (16) and even during those times, minors had to have a parent or guardian sign the license giving consent to the marriage. In 1949 when she was married, her address is listed as being the same as that of the family of the man she was going to wed, and the person who signed the license giving consent to the marriage was in fact the grandmother of her husband to be. This raises questions as to why my grandmother left her parent’s home, and how her grandmother-in-law had obtained guardianship over her or the legal right to give consent to her marriage. There must have been serious and continued turmoil among the Johnson sisters that forced my grandmother out of that home, and causing her to have to go and live with her future husband’s family.

Also, the older sister who was named as my mother’s mom had a son a short time later. She would eventually give him away for some unknown reason, and I suspect that she may have mothered a child by the same man who fathered my mother, which reveals that she may have continued an intimate relationship with the same man who had raped her younger sister just a few years prior. She married her husband while purportedly having 5 kids, and stories told over the years that the family couldn’t afford to provide for all of the children and rationalizing giving away her first born child just doesn’t make sense at all. Having a child by a man who had fathered a child by your kid sister must have been a tremendous burden to carry psychologically, and this sister may have held serious animosity toward my grandmother for having to give her first born child away because the pain probably was just too much to bare. To complicate matters even more, this women’s children have repeatedly told the family for years that my mother never stayed the night over their house, and for the most part never lived in their home. My mother was actually raised by her grandmother and these recent revelations may explain why. My grandmother was too young to care for a child, so her mother raised the baby, and the title of mother placed on my grandmother’s older sister was only to conceal the child pregnancy and the family from public scrutiny.

Other compelling evidence exist that spells out why there was serious family dysfunction among the Johnson siblings which I will explain in the next article. However, family members have conveyed details describing how my grandmother was often times on a regular basis shunned away from the family. One of my mother’s surviving siblings revealed that she remembers being taken over family members homes, then being told to put their coats back on after only having been there for five minutes. She also describes how on many of those occasions her mother could be seen crying profusely. She recalls her mother having very personal internal issues which she suspects derived from the broken relationship my grandmother had with her siblings. The family has continuously expressed how meek, shy, and timid my grandmother was. Some say she had a very loving spirit similar to that of my late mother. The description many express regarding her character doesn’t align with a fast little girl who would be consensual to having sex at the age of eleven. She was simply too reserved to fit that characterization.

The bitterness and hatred ran deep among the Johnson girls well into their adult lives, and they passed much of the poison that existed between them unto their offspring. It created the unfortunate circumstance prohibiting their offspring from interacting or even getting to know the offspring of their siblings, despite the fact that for the most part the majority of the family were all living in the city of Baltimore. Each home develops a culture within their family and if a child is raised in a home where their parents speak negatively about their siblings, eventually the children will adopt such rhetoric as fact, causing them to foster the exact same perception of the relative as their parents continuously convey, and often times creating a child to lack any desire whatsoever to meet their family members.

Moreover, the 1940’s census listed 5 girls living in the Johnson home when the census data was recorded, but there was another daughter (the oldest) who wasn’t living in Baltimore. The Census Records for the same year listed the oldest daughter as living in the home of my great great grandmother, and her grandmother in Charlottesville, Virginia. She is in fact currently the sole surviving sibling of the Johnson daughter, and is the family matriarch. My great aunt is a beautiful very very fair complected woman who was sent to live with her grandmother at the age of two. Fortunately for her, she wasn’t raised in the home with the rest of her siblings, but that didn’t stop the family’s controversy from following her as well. For years members of the family have talked about her light complected pigmentation and have even spread rumors about her parentage. I’ve heard these stories most of my life, but the rumors have been put down because recent research in Birth Registry records revealed that in 1922, my great grandparents gave birth to a child, and there were no other parents baring their names within the entire year as also having a child. This pretty much closes the case on that issue.

The rumors surrounding my great aunt is extremely important for this commentary, because it demonstrates how much jealously existed among the sisters. I never met my great aunt til the woman I was taught was my grandmother passed away. I didn’t know what to expect considering all of the negative things I had heard about her over the years, but I would soon be put at ease as she appeared dignified, full of wisdom, and projected a loving spirit. It was a far cry from the arrogant, snobby, and well to do characterization I had heard regarding her character over the years. My mother had often mentioned her and the church they attended in her youth, but another perspective of my great aunt was held among her sibling’s kids and grand kids. Some of these very relatives I speak of , mask themselves as loving caring family, while I bare witness to some of the negativity and other aspersions they’ve cast upon my great aunt’s character in the past.

A close observation of may of these dysfunctional traits within the family are born out of mere jealousy. There appears to be an internal rival between light and darker complected family members (a script straight out of the “Willie Lynch Papers”), and among those who are perceived as having been more prosperous. Drugs, alcohol, and other vices seem to drive these disputes, and may have been born out of hatred passed down through the generations and continue today mirroring the fashion in which many of our ancestors carried this disease until the bitter end of their lives.

To Be Continue ..

Next: Until The Bitter End: Eyewitness Account And Heritage Of A Culture Of Secrecy 

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

As far back in my life as I can remember I always carried a pen. It was imperative for me, I never knew when somebody would say something to me that I didn’t want to forget, and I always used other people’s comments to convey a perspective on short stories I wrote to myself. Back then I had a lot to say even though my thoughts and writing weren’t as coherent as my written material today. There was so much going on around me and in my youth I felt powerless and it seemed I had an inability to exact change. Poverty has a way of shaping your mind into a crusader, utilizing every resource available to you to pave a smoother path for the those who may travel in your steps, and it also instills the ability to possess compassion for others in despair. You understand because you have walked in those shoes also.

A glimpse of the block where David Adams (The People’s Champion) grew up in his youth.

So many others who literally crawled out of the gutter and have been blessed with prosperity and a better quality of life have forgotten the roads from which they traveled to reach their current station in life. Suddenly the conditions of poverty and struggling people has become foreign to them when they grew from the very unfortunate indigenous people who remain in deplorable conditions around the globe. I have witnessed countless people refuse to even sit in the homes of their relatives as if such places they themselves once dwelled in, was now simply beneath them, while many of them attend churches within the community from which they reside. I believe that mankind can’t possibly believe in the word of God until they want for their brothers, that which they want for themselves. I made a commitment to myself years ago that I would spend my entire life working to serve other people and changing the playing field that most times has the deck stacked squarely against those less fortunate. That commitment coupled with my philosophy of change through advocacy is what motivates me to champion for those who can not, or have lost the ability to promote a voice of their own.

For nearly twenty years I have worked in public safety, which allowed me a first hand glimpse of some of the worst crimes perpetrated during our time, and the very dregs of our society who commit them. In particular, violent crimes against young African Americans, at the hands of others who look just like them has been my greatest interest. I have practical knowledge of the level of violence which continues to perpetuate within the black community, having developed as a youth within one of the most violent urban cultures in America. Some how I was successful in navigating the gritty streets of East Baltimore, a task many of my peers were unsuccessful in accomplishing. Advocacy for change should appear natural for many who experienced living in the ghettos of this country, yet most simply flee from these communities without ever looking back.

Those of us who do care about the less fortunate, commit our time, and scarce resources unfortunately at a cost probably unknown to most. As a black journalist writing about black on black violence, and crime within the African American community, I remain a target of those who live by a street code of secrecy and silence. Sadly, decent law abiding citizens in many of these same communities enable the very people who commit violent crimes by remaining silent and creating a platform for these criminals to hold communities hostage with their violent and criminal acts. Other people have adopted passive approaches to quell the violence in our communities, but my tactics are more streamlined, focused on the root causes, and critical of the African American community’s failure and inability to resolve the most prevalent social dilemma plaguing our community as a whole.

Yet, the black community remains suspicious of the system, other ethnic groups (chiefly white people) and refuse to even lift a finger to call the police when violence and other crimes occur within their own community, and often times just footsteps away from their front door. These are also some of the same people who sit in the pews of local churches in the community every Sunday professing faith unto the unseen and unknown. How can you have faith and fear? They cannot coexist! I have heard the rationalization that fear prohibits direct involvement from the community, but our community is readily prepared to point to local police as being inept, and ineffective in resolving the violence and criminal behavior that permeates the black community. How can any community expect support and assistance from government entities when the citizens of these very same communities refuse to help themselves. Fear is real and I empathize with those who experience it, but I often reflect and live by a quote of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“I hear the people always talking about freedom. Well, you all know what I say about that. I say don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid to die, because once you overcome the fear of death itself, you are free”  — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I am no fool and understand how difficult it may be for a human being to grasp the very significance of such a perspective, but to resolve crime and violence within the black community, some of us just may have to pay the ultimate price to accomplish such an objective, and I stand prepared to get in line and lay down my life for the prosperity and deliverance of the masses of all of God’s people. We can no longer live in fear. We can no longer just simply turn our heads from evil, and in 2013 the African American community should refuse to be afraid of our own people. Considering the plight of black people since the conception and acquisition that brought our African ancestors to these shores, we must ask ourselves what are we prepared to do to save our young people? What are we prepared to sacrifice to cease the violent bloodshed that reigns within many of our communities? What do we actually have to live for if we cannot live in peace?

One of the greatest challenges for the African American community to overcome is the state of mental slavery. We suffer from a condition of self hatred, and it runs so deep that it causes black people to rise to a level of fatal violence against each other. Those of us who speak out against such senseless violence are even target with threats of violence and death, labeled as snitches, and the threats even come from those within our own families. They will have to kill me to silence me from continuing what I believe is righteous.

I am an advocate for change against crime and violence out of the ghettos of East Baltimore. Never run, never will!

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

Part 1 of 5 My commentary for this series will most certainly elicit controversy, bitterness, and perhaps even alienation from some people within my own family. I believe the significance of this story is an imperative documentary which may benefit others by encouraging them to conduct their own independent investigation of their heritage. It isn’t my intention to spurn any further pain nor emotional distress for anyone these revelations may impact adversely, and it is my earnest hope that my perspective here is met with complete objectivity and understanding. My writing is mine alone without influence from others. I believe my work as an editorial commentary writer has paved the way for me in preparation of what  may be the greatest story I have ever told.

The long winding roads that lead into the southern states of America are filled with scenic landscapes which embrace a distinct culture far different from the way of life most northerners and others are acclimated to. The air is thick and something lurks there, hidden, but perpetuating an omnipresence nonetheless. Though unseen, I feel it, and it’s so overwhelming at times that it causes me to simply stare timelessly unto the vast fields of corn and other farming cultivation. I’ve often resolved to believe that the spirits and souls of those who have come and gone remain trapped in a time vortex due to perhaps what may be a direct result of the untimely, and harsh manner they departed from the physical world as we know it.

Black people were owned as slaves in many of these states and many of them perished while in bondage. The stories of how blacks were treated can best be understood in author Alex Haley’s documentary “Roots”. The novel highlighted a case study of how blacks were not only owned as property, but depicts the carnage of brutality they endured and the inhumane fashion in which many families of black slaves were broken by the institution of commerce that sold members of one family to other slave captors, and never seen again. The task for many of these slaves who were brought from Africa to find their heritage back across the sea seems impossible, and the constant separation of black slaves from their loved ones made such a daunted task even more improbable.

For years these stories circulated regarding the black experience in America citing slavery as the primary reason that the African American had lost it’s heritage identity due to dynamics of their bondage. Though such horrific transgressions of humanity certainly played a significant role in the disruption, disbursement, and separation of the black family throughout the African Diaspora, compelling evidence exist revealing that a cycle of the black family’s continued destruction accelerated in the 2oth century by the black family itself. My argument on this topic shouldn’t be interpreted as a rationalization nor a scapegoat to lesson the traumatic experience of slavery, but rather a clarification as to how other factors played a role in the dissipation of the black family heritage. In this article I’ll use my own lineage as a case study to demonstrate how this was perpetuated and may have also occurred in other families for over a century.

Many may or may not have ever heard of the “Willie Lynch Papers“. He was a Virginia slave owner who wrote a “how to” on the best way to control slaves which would insure psychological, emotional, and a sort of institutionalized control of blacks which could run on auto pilot for ever. This indoctrination couldn’t be more evident than within my own family. The objective of Willie Lynch was to cause complete disruption of the black family by creating the culture of distrust within the black family itself, so that suspicion would rein causing animosity among each family member. Other forms of psychology were utilized to control the black family by creating class structures within the slavery culture. Usually lighter complected slaves were often used as an instrument to create division, and were often seen as having the favor of a slave master who kept such slaves in their homes for the purpose of more intimate domestic chores (i.e. the term house nigger was born).

The slave master also used some slaves as trustees or overseers to keep a close eye on slave activities, which in turn gained special favors and perks for those slaves hand chosen by their master to keep things in order. Those slaves heavily guarded by the master’s chosen representative in his absence, were usually slaves that worked the fields picking cotton, and other strenuous work requiring long hours of hard labor (i.e. the term “field nigger” was born). The presence of a slave acting as part of the institution of the culture of slavery administration was well scripted and designed to insure that distrust and continued dissention prevailed within the entire black family, and whether doubters and other pundits agree or not these same traits of black social interaction among their own people are evident within the black family to this very day. Black on black violence in African American communities across this country couldn’t be more indicative of my argument in this regard.

However, the institution of slavery within the black family is only the tip of the iceberg for us to even began to understand the legacy of our broken heritage as a people, and the level of the current dysfunction within the black family core is not predicated on the byproduct of slavery alone. Once the African American sheds the intoxicating perception of slavery being the sole premise for the conditions of  our modern mental slavery, we will be able to pull back layers of deceit, self hatred, and a volume of lies which were perpetrated by many of our own ancestors. During the post slavery era there were also heinous crimes committed by black men including incest, rape, and other sex crimes against females within their own family.

This same era in which black people were suppose to be finally gaining a strong hold on the freedom and control of developing their own families, a horrible culture of men fathering children by their own daughters, and other minor females existed without many of these cases being pursued as a crime. The practice became so prevalent that it became an acceptable way of life, and the adult women of many of these victimized children enabled the behavior by covering up the crimes in a purported effort to shield the entire family from public scrutiny. Additionally, many of these sexual predators were the sole provider for black families, and having them hauled off to prison was almost unheard of as it would simply decimate or cripple the complete financial stability of everyone living in the house hold.

Other little girls as young as 10 years old produced children that were products of rape by adult men unrelated to them, and a pregnant child during that era raised so much suspicion that the little girls were often sent away to more secluded rural communities to live with relatives or friends of the family during their pregnancy term, to keep youth pregnancies a secret. After the child was born the young mother and infant were aloud to return to the home, but the baby would be raised by someone else, and in many cases stories were fabricated naming the infant as being the child of perhaps and older sibling of the mother. For decades the mother and daughter would have to perpetuate untruths regarding their true biological relationships, continuing the lie, and in later years to avoid embarrassment and potential psychological issues which such revelations might bring to other family members who had been lied to and kept in the dark about their relatives parentage.

These kind of revelations are always certain to create serious opposition after the facts have been made public. Some within a family will always have a desire for the truth to remain hidden, but in many cases those who want to suppress the truth are normally the individuals or direct descendants of some of the very people who conspired to cover up the ordeal. They are also of the variety in a family who has traditionally practiced a culture of superiority among family members, promoting the “better than you” personification. The overt discourse whether public or within a family setting in which direct and emphatic displeasure of untruths being revealed publicly tends to infer some knowledge regarding the matter, and it widely breeds suspicion, distrust, and other other social behavior scripted directly from “The Willie Lynch Papers.”

Furthermore, youthful pregnancies were also exacerbated when minor girls became pregnant or lived in homes with other children in which they weren’t blood related. The dynamics of a baby and a young mother bred all kinds of social deficiencies within a household that many relationships among young kids mushroomed and carried over into their adult lives, creating animosity, hatred, and broken relationships. These cultural traits in a family community in many instances were handled extremely poorly by the adults living in the home, and often times so badly that a young mother would have to move into other homes to quell serious sibling rivalries that became unbearable for a family setting. Often times the untruths were fostered about a child’s parentage predicated solely on the adversity and strife that would certainly follow from a strict societal code, which was critical in the area of family values and garnered a high standard for moral turpitude.

Moreover, parents who encountered minor children that became pregnant were uneducated and very ignorant during those times. No consideration was ever given to the damage that untruths regarding a child’s parentage would have on the overall picture of family heritage. Decisions were made hastily after many parents simply caved in to the pressures of the prevailing social climate of the times.  My family wasn’t exempt from these cultural and social disparities. In fact, an untruth regarding who my mother’s mom actually was has been extorted, subverted, and covered up for nearly 70 years to conceal the truth. Some within a family who fight to conceal the truth have an invested interest in protecting their direct descendants involvement in a plethora of lies which was the very premise a family’s heritage remained broken for so many years, and not as a direct result of the system of slavery as some may lead others to believe. Fortunately for us, a granddaughter of my true late grandmother has unraveled a volume of lies which may point to why such secrets were hidden until the bitter end of the lives of those who created it or knew.

To Be Continued ..

Next: “Until The Bitter End: The Exile Of Grandma And The Continuing Cycle Of A Family’s Jealousy, Hatred, And Concealment Of The Truth.”

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

An image of the devote church going honors teen Chanel Petro-Nixon before her high school years!

Those who knew her say she was a devote regular at the Mt Olive Seventh-Day Adventist Church on Bushwick Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. The Boys and Girls High Honors student was also known to frequent the library which just might explain her straight A student reputation. Church, school, and family pretty much defined the kind of background Chanel Petro-Nixon came from, and the day she went missing was even more indicative of her upbringing because the child had enough motivation at the young age of 16 to go out and look for a job. Chanel’s short life glared with the kind success that most parents only dreamed their child could obtain. She was a well adjusted problem free kid who suddenly disappeared from the gritty streets of New York without a clue or even a simple rationalization explaining why.

Despite June 16, 2006 being “Father’s Day” it was a normal Sunday, when young Chanel left her home and set out to fill out a job application at a local Applebees Restaurant. . The pretty teen never made it there, and was declared missing for four days until New York sanitation workers happened upon and unusually large piece of garbage that reeked with an extremely foul odor. Alarmed by their discovery, city workers summoned the police who revealed the gruesome remains of young Chanel, who had been stuffed in a plastic bag and discarded like common trash in front of 212 Kingston Avenue.

Her Autopsy later revealed that the petite book smart kid form the Bedford Styvesant section of Brooklyn had been strangled to death. I can’t imagine nor even attempt to try to empathize with the anger and frustration her grieving family has endured all these years. For me the tragedy of this young girl’s killing is not mere simplicity of our times where society should just chalk up her death as another casualty of violent urban street culture. Chanel Petro-Nixon was somebody’s baby, and the monster who snatched her from this world remains at large without justice, retribution, and reconciliation for those who knew and loved this beautiful and promising child.

In seven years the lure of a $38,000 bounty, the star power of Michael Bloomberg (Mayor of New York at the time of her killing), the likes of Rev. Al Sharpton, “America’s Most Wanted” journalist John Lieberman, and the NAACP alike who all have advocated justice in the child’s killing has fallen short. The very same streets that snuffed out Chanel’s life remain silent without even a whisper as to who maybe responsible for her murder. Credit most be given to NYPD (One of the most efficient police agencies in the world for crimes of this nature) who did as much as they could to heat up the child’s murder investigation. Sadly though, the location of Child’s body when it was discovered wasn’t the actual crime scene, and with her body having been moved left very little evidence and much to be desired by way of culpable forensics that could pinched the cowardice monster her killed this child.

However, there were some clues that could help the cops close this case. Chanel’s white and Pink Air Jordan “Retro 14” sneakers and her cell phone were missing. Cops have made certain the public knew about those details very early on in the investigation with hopes that the items would jaw someone’s memory who may have observed the items in a person’s possession or their home. That’s the only lead the police has ever had in this murder case, and it’s just heartbreaking to think Chanel was killed for trivial material items of this nature. The child’s mother ( Lucita Nixon) is convinced that people who have information to her daughter’s murder exist, and she continues to plead to them to come forward, and tell police what they know so justice can be served for this horrific crime.

Now that glaring lights from News Cameras, the cops, and all but the memory of Chanel Perto-Nixon seemingly having dissipated, her family, and other watchdog advocates serving as “gate keepers” of society remain the only vehicles of advocacy who speak for her tragic story. Her parents continue to organize demonstrations and marches on the anniversary of Chanel’s disappearance to continue the fight for justice for the unnecessary death of their precious daughter. Their effort serves the community well if not only to demonstrate the imperativeness of continued grassroots efforts championing the plight of all victims of crime whose cases dwell in dusty boxes on the shelves of police cold case depository files.

Those of us who care and make it known that we haven’t, and never will forget the tragedy of murdered children remain encouraged that one day justice will be served with these killers locked up forever. The most important challenge is to sell the spirit of community involvement to society at large. As long as people lack understanding or practical first hand knowledge after experiencing the murder of their own child, our children will never be safe to walk the streets of this country, and the evilness that lurks in the shadows of society will continue to prey upon the innocent and most vulnerable within our communities.  I won’t stop caring nor stop fighting for those who spirits continue to cry out from the grave.

A reward for information leading to a conviction of Chanel’s killer has grown over the years and now stands at more than $33,000. Anonymous tips should go to (800) 577-TIPS.

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

Their story didn’t make sense from the very start. Most people following the tragic and brutal slaying of Vanessa “Honey” Malone never bought into the alleged sequence of events that left a beautiful hundred pound promising teen girl dead in a Stone Mountain apartment just a little over a year  ago. Three adults who say they survived a home invasion told cops that 4-6 mask gunman broke into there Atlanta suburb home, tied them all up, and killed the Malone youth who they say walked in on the robbery while it was in progress. Responding officers to the shooting scene say they found the pretty petite woman dead from multiple gunshots to her back.

The door to the apartment had damage consistent with someone having gained entry to the dwelling by force, it all fit the story the survivors told police, but the behavior of the 2 men who survived the home invasion suggest that they both had something to hide. One of them actually fled the scene before cops arrived (later revealed he had an outstanding warrant for an unrelated handgun charge) and the other hid potential evidence in the case. Travarese Benefeld was subsequently charged with tampering and hindering. TPC has learned that he walked with just probation on those charges last week. It was widely believed that the disposition of that case would prove to be crucial in unraveling what happened the night “Honey” was gunned down. Now it seems as if the cops have accepted the story they were told, and dashing any hopes that Benefeld would play a key role in finding the young woman’s killer(s).

The murder of “Honey” is perhaps one of the most cowardice acts of violence that I can recall in recent memory. The tale of 4-6 gunman just doesn’t make sense, and if we consider that the Malone teen may have been killed to silence a potential witness to the crime, it’s mind boggling why the others lives were spared. It’s clear in my mind that “Honey” was an intended target of violence that night. A woman more stout than the small framed 100 pound Malone youth wouldn’t have stood a chance against such a heavily armed ban of robbers. Malone posed no threat to these men, and if they were all masked as the survivors have alleged, she wouldn’t have even been able to identify any of them. There is serious doubt that the men killed the teen out of fear that she could finger them for the home invasion.

Furthermore, if it all went down like the survivors describe, “Honey” would have only gotten a mere glimpse of the men anyway. The three adults who strangely weren’t killed also, more  than likely got a better look of the thugs considering they were all tied up by the men.  The gang of men allegedly searched the apartment but only took a wallet and a cell phone. That’s a crock of shit. You mean to tell me that they killed the girl for a blackberry? It doesn’t fit. In fact it almost sounds like the wallet and cell story was fabricated to give the appearance that at least something was taken from the home, and justifying the home invasion story.

I believe the fact cops accepted this entire home invasion-murder tale is just keystone cop work at it’s best. If this murder had occurred in a major metropolitan area like New York . Philadelphia, Chicago, or Detroit, the survivor’s story wouldn’t even have been entertained. Police are suspicious by nature because the job dictates that everyone is a suspect until sufficient evidence presents itself excluding potential suspects to the contrary of their possible involvement in violent crimes. Why police investigators were readily eager to adopt the fishy story that these three told, is beyond comprehension. Then to add insult to injury, nobody in the neighborhood heard nor saw anything. Those who may have information pertaining to the case, remain hidden in a cowardice peril like scared bitches.

Then again, Dekalb County has a storied past of inadequate police investigative work. The Atlanta Child Murders case went unsolved for years, until police investigators and their crooked politician cronies picked a patsey named Wayne Williams and framed him for the murders. Justice for people of color in the south historically comes slow, and often times never arrives. It’s even safe to assume that had “Honey” been white like her mother, the case would already have been solved. The police would have turned the entire community upside down until somebody gave the killers up. Now that’s not playing the race card, but a sad fact on how murders of people of color are poorly and haphazardly investigated.

However, the time has long since come and gone for the black community to stop depending on the government to correct violence, crime, and other community disruption which derive from some of the very people who live within the black community. As long as black people remain silent bowing down to a “street code of silence” which derived from criminals, many of our sons and daughters will continue to perish in street violence from black on black crime.

In “Honey’s” case many say she was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. A sane person couldn’t possibly believe that. These cowardice bastards were waiting for her, and it’s clear they wanted her dead. None of the three who survived has come to offer any information to Flora Malone (“Honey’s” Mom) since she was killed. To me, that in it’s self speaks volumes about their knowledge of exactly what happened the night she died. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have come to the Malone family’s aid in terms of support and getting “Honey’s” story out to the public. Many of these people will probably never even meet the Malone family, but their sheer compassion moved them to make an impact in some of the smallest ways, yet those who survived and were supposed to have been her friends haven’t even made it a priority to speak to Ms. Flora about what happened to her beautiful daughter.

Now they are saying Ms. Flora needs to keep quiet, stop posting so much about “Honey”, and just let her rest. I can’t believe how insensitive some people can actually be. What if “Honey” was your daughter, and the bastards who shot her in the back and took her life are still walking around free? I hope she talks about her precious daughter until the day she leaves this earth if the killer(s) haven’t been caught. I won’t stop talking about her, I want stop writing about her, and I will continue championing this promising child’s tragic story until justice has been served. That’s the absolute single most disturbing issue within the black community, being too afraid to take a stand for the benefit of your family, and the entire community. Start pointing their black asses out  and just maybe you can make a difference in your community and save someone’s child life, or you can sit around remaining silent until the next body bag picked up off the streets is your kid.  #R.I.P Honey

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams