Part 1: Meet 4 Little Girls MURDERED by 4 other Little Girls

Part 2: She killed her… But WHY? Meet the Murderer’s

March 2011: Tina Stewart (a 21 year old murder victim) Shantrerrice Madden (an 18 year old murderer)

Read the New York Times portrayal of this heartbreaking and senseless murder… The 11 Part Storyline by The New York Times

August 2011: Bessemer, Alabama teen Meoshia Townsend was killed by someone who on most accounts has been described as her good friend. Townsend’s murderer 18-year-old Shaneida Hendon has been charged with capital murder. Capital murder in Alabama is defined by Ala. Code 13A-5-40

Its quite common for teens to gather at fast food restaurant’s on the weekends and it happens all over the nation. This night however no one would have expected what occurred this night to occur.

At approximately 12:02 am, Hendon shot Townsend in the head while she was seated in a parked vehicle. Eyewitnesses who left the scene with Hendon after the shooting told detectives that Hendon later told them she shot Meoshia Townsend, but that it was an accident.

The capital offense in which Hendon is charged with reads, “Murder committed by or through the use of a deadly weapon while the victim is in a vehicle.”

At the preliminary hearing held Sept. 15th, the courtroom was full and quite divided. Supporters of both the victim and the accused filled the courtroom. Birmingham defense attorney, Emory Anthony requested bond on behalf of his client, which the judge denied. The judge instructed both the prosecution and defense to submit briefs on the matter and he will address the issue again on Sept. 26th.

*Take a deep breath… 2 more stories to go!*

As reported by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune… September 2011: Tallahassee, FL (FAMU) Moments before she stabbed her girlfriend Shannon Washington to death, Starquineshia Palmer called her mother and asked her to care for her children, according to released police documents.

The call came during a daylong fight that started as the two women bathed together, but escalated to violence early Sunday, according to a report.

After her arrest on a murder charge Sunday, Palmer told police that Washington had tried to choke her while they were in the bathtub at Washington’s Tallahassee apartment. When the two 20-year-old women left the bathtub, the fight continued in a bedroom where Palmer said Washington tried to choke her again. Palmer said she then went into the kitchen and got a 5-inch steak knife that she hid behind her back, the report says.

Palmer made the call to her mother, then turned back to face Washington, who had knelt down before her. When Washington accused Palmer of no longer caring for her own children, Palmer told police she plunged the knife into Washington’s neck and again into her back as she fell forward, the report said.

“I’m just fed up; this is for what you put me through,” Palmer told police she had said to Washington.

Palmer then called her mother back and confessed to the murder, police said. When Tallahassee police officers arrived, they heard Palmer screaming, “I did it. I did it. I killed her,” according to the report. The details were contained in charging documents compiled by the Tallahassee Police Department.

At least one other person was in the south Tallahassee apartment when the stabbing took place, including one who saw Palmer with the knife and told her to put it down, the report said. But Washington reportedly kept hitting Palmer, who says she then called her mother and said, “Sorry. Take care of my kids.”

Palmer told police Washington continued to antagonize her by saying, “If you gonna do it, just do it. Both of us are going to die tonight.” The report says Washington then dropped to her knees in front of Palmer and asked, “You don’t care about your kids?”

Palmer told investigators the question set her off, causing her to stab Washington. Police responded to the apartments near the FAMU campus about 2 a.m. Sunday and found Washington clinging to life. She later died. The bloody knife was inside the apartment, and Palmer met the officers outside, yelling, “I killed her. Just take me to jail,” according to the report.

Palmer and Washington had been romantically involved for about three years and previously lived together, police said. Washington graduated from Riverview in 2009 and spent summers in Sarasota; she graduated this spring from Illinois Valley Community College. Palmer lives in Bradenton but told police she and Washington had been making plans to live together in Tallahassee. It is unclear how many children Palmer has or where they live.

She has been charged with first-degree murder and remains in Leon County jail without bail.

**THE SOUTHERN SOCIALITE SOURCES… report that neighbors who heard the crime tried to come to the aid of the victim but were threatened by an angry armed Palmer who told them if they came near she’d stab them too. She refused to allow any of them to aid Washington as she laid in her own blood dying** 

Wipe your eyes, we have one more… *sighs*

September 15, 2011: On the 48th Anniversary of The Bombing of 4 Little Girls at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL Washington DC native, 18 year old Dominique Frazier was stabbed to death by her roommate, Alexis Simpson. The triggering factor… LOUD MUSIC from an iPod! 

Simpson came home to her dormitory suite around 8 p.m., she turned off the iPod that Frazier had playing and went to her own bedroom. When Frazier turned the music back on, Simpson started pounding on Frazier’s door, according to guests who were present in the dormitory suite. One of the visitors opened the door to Frazier’s bedroom, and Simpson jumped on Dominique, according to witness statements and the victims mother. The  fight escalated when Simpson took a pair of scissors and gruesomely stabbed Frazier in the neck.

Hours later, Simpson turned herself in to county law enforcement. After the murder occurred, eyewitnesses said that Simpson told them “I didn’t mean to do it, you all don’t know what I’ve been through.”

This past Sunday (9/18), Frazier would have celebrated her 19th birthday. Like so many other young people and the young ladies featured in this series… She is gone too soon!

Check back for Part 3 and email us at contactfocusonyouth@gmail.com if your interested in becoming a youth mentor in Central Alabama!! We have to be the change we want to see in the world!!!