Who killed Anita? Did her involvement in the drug game somehow lead to her murder? A serial killer? Or maybe the man her family says used and abused her was somehow involved?In this episode of She Has A Name, we delve into four theories, parsing out the details from the original fire report and crime scene documents, witness accounts, the family’s knowledge, and interviews with the lead detective. We want to hear what you think about She Has A Name. Please help us out by filling out a short audience survey: https://www.apmstudios.org/survey
Before we get started, you should know in this episode we reveal the very gruesome details of Anita's murder.
We don't take the sharing of these details lightly and frankly, we talked at length about whether to include them at all.
We decided to share because this podcast is not only about giving Anita a name, it's also about bringing justice to her name.
Listener discretion is advised.
We just got the FOIA request back from Detroit Police, which is the Freedom of Information act that allows us access to the original police report and the fire report.
A few weeks before Christmas, my research producer, Kristen called to warn me that she'd finally gotten a hold to the original handwritten crime scene in firefighter report for Anita from 1987.
This was a big deal because we'd been requesting these documents for two years and every time we'd ask, the police would come back and tell us they didn't have anything.
They told me not to even bother putting in a FOIA because they said.
They wouldn't have it.
That didn't exactly sound right because Sergeant Shannon Jones, the lead detective in Anita's murder investigation, shared with us how she died.
So we know there's some sort of paper trail.
Kristen tried one more time and finally, without fanfare or warning, an eight page police and fire report arrived in her email box.
And when I read it, to be honest with you, my first feeling was I'm going to have to tell Tanya and Antonio this, that this was so much more detail than I was expecting.
It was so personal and I mean, to be really honest, I had to wait a day to let it sink in to call you guys because it just felt like such another.
Another disappointment on such a long line of awful things that happened to Anita.
But I'ma tell you, there was nothing, not even Kristin's warning, that could have prepared me for its contents.
On Wednesday, November 11, 1987, two neighbors who lived near a vacant house on Wanda street were awakened by barking dogs.
A neighbor who lived next door called 911 after seeing orange flames shooting from the vacant house, a clear case of arson, firefighters wrote in the fire report.
The smell and burn marks indicated gasoline had been intentionally poured along the first floor.
These are the details Sergeant Jones initially shared with us.