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Body found: Is it Shakira? Identification could take days, coroner says

Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH)
October 16, 2003

Author: Michael Sangiacomo, Lila J. Mills and Donna Iacoboni; Plain Dealer Reporters

The family of 11-year-old Shakira Johnson will have to wait a little longer to learn whether the decomposed body found yesterday by police is the little girl who has been missing since Sept. 13.

Cuyahoga County Coroner Dr. Elizabeth Balraj said an autopsy today will allow her to make a probable determination about whether the body found in a field next to an abandoned warehouse and a silk-screening business on East 71st Street is Shakira’s.

But she said it could be several days before DNA test results are returned, using material from Shakira’s toothbrush and hairbrush for comparison, for a positive identification. Balraj said she is unable to match dental records because Shakira had not gone to a dentist.

While many people in Shakira’s neighborhood presume that the body is hers, police are not jumping to any conclusions. Commander Michael McGrath, who heads the 40-member team investigating Shakira’s disappearance, said detectives and FBI agents will continue working until the identification is positive.

At that time, the case will be turned over to the Police Department’s homicide division.

The discovery was prompted by an anonymous call to police yesterday about where the body could be found. It was one of a handful of such calls on the case that police have received every day.

While police continued seeking clues at the site, which is about two miles from Shakira’s home, the girl’s mother, Alisa Randle, looked inward for peace.

Her daughter’s disappearance prompted Randle to be baptized last night at Harvest Baptist Church on East 93rd Street.

“No matter what they did to the body, the spirit was taken. All they had was flesh. God knew evil was coming, and snatched the spirit away from the flesh,” said the Rev. A.F. Caver, who presided over the baptism.

Randle, dressed in a white gown, stood on a balcony behind the altar and gently was laid backward into a pool of water.

Before and after the ceremony, Randle clapped, sang and smiled with about 80 adults and two dozen children in the regular Wednesday night service.

Joe Seals, Shakira’s grandfather, said earlier that the family had not given up hope that the girl, last seen leaving a block party at East 106th Street and Benham Avenue, would come home.

Hopes remain real as tests are under way. Balraj said the body found was badly decomposed, partially a skeleton, but complete. She said it could have been exposed to the elements anywhere from days to weeks.

“At this point, I cannot say if it is black or white, male or female, only that it is a small person,” she said.

In a statement to reporters and residents at East 71st Street and Aetna Road, Cleveland Police Chief Ed Lohn said police were searching meticulously, but he never mentioned the name “Shakira” and ignored reporters’ questions about the missing child.

Mayor Jane Campbell went to Shakira’s home to pray with Randle and to fulfill a promise that she would tell Randle personally when a development broke.

Campbell said that Randle was “showing great strength” and that she had asked people to pray for Shakira and the family.

The mayor’s car picked up Shakira’s brothers from Nathan Hale Middle School and brought them home. When school let out shortly before 2 p.m., teachers walked children past Shakira’s house and made sure they did not bother the family.

A spokesman for the family members said they needed to be alone to pray.

Members of Truth Ministries, one of several religious and community groups that have been searching day and night for Shakira, gathered at the scene and formed a prayer circle with residents.

“We don’t know whose child this is, whether it is Shakira or not,” James Box, founder of Truth Ministries, said as he choked back tears. “We need to keep our children safe. Keep them close to your side and protect them.”

Several said they had searched where the body was found and could not understand how they could have missed it.

“It’s very upsetting,” said Delores Walton of Victims of Inner-City Crimes Exchanging Solutions. “We looked all over this area for her. We never stopped looking.”

Ralph Randle, Shakira’s stepfather, returned several times to East 71st and Union Avenue and stood with community activist Art McKoy and others as investigators walked to and from the field.

Amid the hunt for clues, several residents said they were scared.

“This used to be a good neighborhood,” said Theresa DeBase. “Things have changed. I have three grandchildren, and I’m frightened. It’s devilish.”

Mary Jones is unnerved that a suspect is free. “He could be anyone at all,” she said. “He could be someone that we see every day, the man standing next to you buying lottery tickets. But he will be caught. He will not go unpunished."

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GIRL'S BODY IDENTIFIED -
DNA CONFIRMS DEATH OF SHAKIRA JOHNSON, WHO HAD DISAPPEARED
DISCOVERY SITE BECOMES MEMORIAL

Akron Beacon Journal (OH)
October 21, 2003

Author: Kristen Gelineau, Associated Press

DNA tests identified a decomposed body found in a field behind a warehouse as a missing 11-year-old girl, the coroner said Monday.

The body of Shakira Johnson, who disappeared Sept. 13 from a block party in her east Cleveland neighborhood, was found Wednesday about a mile and a half from her house after an anonymous tip led police to the field.

"We're holding up," Shakira's mother, Alisa Randle, said quietly by telephone. "I knew already."

Testing continues on the remains to determine cause of death and whether a sexual assault occurred, Cuyahoga County Coroner Elizabeth Balraj said. Decomposition left some bones exposed and separated the head and legs from the torso, she said.

The story of Shakira's disappearance rocked the community, bringing residents together in a citywide search for the girl. Activists conducted rallies in an effort to keep her name in the news. A profile of Shakira appeared on the America's Most Wanted television program.

Neighbors' response

As news of the coroner's identification trickled through the neighborhood, people began gathering near the warehouse just east of downtown.

Red and yellow carnations, pink roses, teddy bears and balloons in a rainbow of colors decorated the chain-link fence enclosing the brown, weed-ridden field where the body was found near abandoned railroad tracks.

A copy of the Bible sat amid candles, rosaries, cards and dozens of signs professing their love for the girl.

One, scrawled on pink paper in a child's handwriting, said, "I am sorry about Shakira. The person who committed this awful crime should be put in prison for execution. I hope they find that person."

Margaret Alberty, whose 28-year-old son, Carl, was shot to death nine years ago while riding his motorcycle in the city, said the agony of burying a child never ends.

"It's been bothering me," Alberty said of Shakira's death. "When you lose a kid, it makes no difference no matter how old they are."

Alberty, who lives near where the body was found, stared at the memorial from her parked car, which has a pin that says "I love Carl" and a photo of her deceased son hanging from the rearview mirror.

Sitting next to her, 13-year-old D.J. Alberty, whom Margaret has cared for since he was young, shook his head. "It takes a lot of stuff to bother me, but this bothers me," he said. "It was a young girl, a girl my age. Why would you do this? She didn't even get to live her life."

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A 'precious little girl' Shakira service celebrates her legacy of unity

Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH)
October 26, 2003

Author: Donna Iacoboni and Kera Ritter; Plain Dealer Reporters

Shakira lives.

“She is leading us,” community activist Khalid Samad told the mourners who crowded into Cleveland’s Mt. Sinai Baptist Church for her funeral yesterday.

“She was martyred, not murdered.”

Shakira Johnson, the 11-year-old Nathan Hale Middle School student whose body was found in a vacant field Oct. 15, drew a crowd that overflowed into parking lots and Woodland Avenue.

They came in cars, on motorcycles, public transportation and private buses and filed into the church until pews and chairs were full. Then they filled the basement and watched on closed-circuit television or stood outside and listened to loudspeakers.

“Look at what this little girl has done,” Councilman Zachary Reed said. “She has brought our community together.”

Craig Tame, the city’s chief health and public-safety officer, embraced activist Art McKoy. Mayor Jane Campbell, Council President Frank Jackson and Reed, of Ward 3, sat together. Samad, of Peace in the Hood, shook hands with both men and hugged Campbell.

Members of TRUTH Ministries and Samad flanked the family, guiding them down the aisle to view the ivory casket with gold-colored accents. Flowers and teddy bears adorned the stage. Shakira’s mother, Alisa Randle, paused over the casket, wiped her tears and sat with her sons on both sides.

She joined in the mood of the sermons and songs that spanned three hours. The mother of three was praised for her strength.

She cried as the crowd stood and applauded her willingness to allow strangers to attend the funeral. Her breakdown would come later.

“Shakira became a part of Cleveland history,” the Rev. C.J. Matthews said. “Thousands have joined the family in pain, grief and loss.”

Said Campbell: “Shakira became Cleveland’s precious little girl.”

Campbell recalled a conversation she had with Shakira’s mother last week.

“Alisa said, ‘I always knew my baby was special. I always knew that she’d do something remarkable,’ ” Campbell said.

“Look at what Shakira has done for us. Our commitment to one another, our commitment to children doesn’t end when you leave this church.”

Shakira lives.

Randle wept.

“Shakira is among the stars,” said the Rev. Richard Muhammed, adding that she is a “binding force” for the community.

Randle clapped. She rocked in the pew, seated in front of a large photo of Shakira, who loved dance and cheerleading. Shakira’s partially decomposed body was found two miles from her Martin Luther King Jr. Drive home just over a month after she disappeared.

“Your baby is looking down and smiling at what she has done,” the Rev. James Box of TRUTH Ministries told Randle. “This has to continue. This is Shakira’s legacy. We are galvanized together in love.”

Singing, clapping and exultations of “Amen” resonated in the service that drew on humor, on art, on hope.

Bishop J. Delano Ellis of the United Pentecostal Churches of Christ brought laughter to the ceremony; he joked that undertakers drive too slowly, delaying the “gettin’ to eatin’ ” after a funeral.

A dance troupe, with girls dressed in white, performed. Randle jumped up, clapping, when the dancing stopped.

The Harvest Missionary Baptist Church Choir sang a song that led Shakira’s stepfather, Ralph Randle, to hold Alisa’s hand, as Shakira’s older brother, LaQuan, gave his mother a long kiss.

“I need you to survive,” the choir sang.

“I need you. You need me.”

And Box urged parents to keep their children close and reclaim their community.

“You know how? We cut the TV off, we cut the cell phone off, we start eating dinner together. We reach out to the gang-banger, the drug dealer, the sex offender,” he said, talking quickly into the microphone and walking back and forth.

The crowd jumped and clapped, shouting “Hallelujah!” and “Amen!”

Shakira lives.

Alisa Randle left the funeral holding a single white carnation as a picture of Shakira remained on a large screen. Children from Nathan Hale gave the teddy bears to Shakira’s family and carried flowers outside.

Mourners lined part of East 71st Street and Woodland Avenue, many holding hands. They shouted Shakira’s name as the procession left for the cemetery.

“Sha-kira!” they shouted. “Sha-kira!”

A miles-long procession of cars wound through Lake View Cemetery. Members of 16 motorcycle groups joined the police escort. Shakira’s mother met her family near the grave but could not stay.

She fled, on weak knees, to the limousine, where she remained.

A dozen white doves were released. The shouts earlier turned to whispers: “Shakira, Shakira.” The doves circled, then disappeared.

Alisa Randle’s sons, her husband and Shakira’s father, Russell Williams, joined community activists in lowering the coffin and shoveling dirt onto it. The first thumps of dirt against the box caused some to gasp, then weep.

The family left and others approached the grave. Total strangers. Unstoppable tears.

“It’s a child. It’s a child,” Voreace Jackson sobbed. “This will touch my heart for the rest of my life.”

The funeral and burial did not end the day. About 500 people — many of them children — gathered at Zelma W. George Recreation Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to greet the family. A song written by Gerald Pearson for Shakira played from car stereos.

Deshanelle Vann, 14, said she visited Shakira’s home and the memorial site several times. She was at the center with her aunt.

“I was sorry for [Shakira],” Deshanelle said. “And it could have been one of us.”

Shakira’s name will be added to a memorial emblazoned with the names of residents age 25 and younger who are killed in Cuyahoga County. The memorial is at East 147th Street and Euclid Avenue.

Shakira lives.

[Admin]

Shakira suspect charged with murder Conviction could bring execution

Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH)
November 19, 2003

Author: Lila J. Mills; Plain Dealer Reporter

A self-employed repairman is expected in court this morning to face charges that he kidnapped and killed 11-year-old Shakira Johnson.

Prosecutors charged Daniel Hines yesterday with one count of aggravated murder and one count of kidnapping. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

But as the high-profile case gets under way, police say they are not certain exactly how Hines lured Shakira.

“We have several possible scenarios,” Commander Ed Tomba said in a phone interview yesterday. “But unless he confesses or you get an eyewitness, we might never know.”

Hines’ lawyer said a confession “is not going to happen.”

“I talked to him this morning,” attorney Paul Mancino said yesterday by phone. “He maintains he didn’t do this.”

Police questioned Hines, 25, on Monday, but he told them he had nothing to say. Detectives do not plan to talk to him again, Tomba added.

Hines has been in jail since Sept. 18 awaiting trial on unrelated charges that he molested one of his young relatives and assaulted her brother.

Shakira was last seen by her younger brother about 4:30 p.m. Sept. 13 at East 106th Street and Benham Avenue, two doors from Hines’ home. She had attended a memorial tribute, often described as a block party, which occurred from 2 to 7 p.m. that day in honor of community activist Frances Jones, who was gunned down in her driveway last year.

Hines told Mancino that he had stayed at home most of that day, had gone out to collect money for work he had done and then had watched television that evening.

Neighbor Murray Flowers said yesterday that he had stood at East 106th and Benham for hours that day, periodically removing barriers to let cars in and out.

Hines was there, too, Flowers said. Hines relaxed and talked with Flowers and a few men for about two hours in the afternoon, Flowers said, then left in his car. He returned about an hour later and went inside, Flowers said.

Many neighbors — like Flowers — said Hines is a strange, quiet man who did not seem to have friends, but also someone who did not seem capable of killing a little girl.

Kevin Matthews, 32, owns a building at East 106th and Union Avenue, one block from Benham. His building’s security camera taped part of the street that day; authorities used it to help establish times Shakira was in the area.

“I just hope they got the right man,” Matthews said yesterday.

Matthews said he had seen Hines often as the two grew up because Hines came almost daily, alone or with his mother, to a store that Matthews’ father once owned on the corner.

As Hines aged, Matthews noticed “his expression never changed.”

“He’s almost too slow to pull that [killing] off,” Matthews said. “If he did do it, I guess you just don’t know people like you think you do.”

Shakira’s family had a longtime suspicion that Hines had something to do with the girl’s disappearance. Shakira’s mom, Alisa Randle, went to Hines’ home on the evening Shakira disappeared to ask whether Hines had seen her daughter, who often played in the area, family spokesman and community activist Khalid Samad said yesterday. By that Monday, other community members searching for the girl also had talked with Hines. But those times, Hines told them he had not seen the girl.

“His story changed,” Samad said. The family “had a vibe that Monday.”

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Judge tosses key evidence in Shakira case Ruling favors man accused of murder

Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH)
July 20, 2004

Author: Lila J. Mills and Mark Gillispie; Plain Dealer Reporters

Two key pieces of evidence against a Cleveland man accused of kidnapping and killing 11-year-old Shakira Johnson will not be presented at his trial next month.

Daniel Hines, 25, could receive the death penalty if convicted of killing the Cleveland girl.

Cuyahoga County prosecutors have theorized Hines kidnapped, sexually assaulted and killed Shakira on Sept. 13, 2003, before placing her body in plastic garbage bags and dumping it in a weed-strewn field.

Lead prosecutor Richard Bombik planned to present testimony from a dog handler whose bloodhound “alerted” to Shakira’s scent at the door of Hines’ van and in the bathroom of a house Hines shared with his family.

But Common Pleas Judge Thomas Pokorny ruled Monday that the dog handler will not be allowed to testify because there are no eyewitnesses who can corroborate that Shakira had been in Hines’ van or home. Hines’ attorneys argued the dog handler’s testimony was unreliable.

Pokorny also barred prosecutors from telling jurors about allegations that Hines had tried to molest two other young girls.

He was charged last year with trying to sexually assault a 13-year-old cousin and assaulting her brother when the boy tried to intervene. That case has been postponed.

Prosecutors also had witnesses who claimed Hines tried to molest a girl in the spring of 2002 at a home where he was working.

Pokorny prohibited testimony about those allegations because they do not establish Hines’ identity as Shakira’s killer and because they would be too prejudicial to his defense.

Bombik said the testimony would have explained why Hines would have wanted to abduct Shakira.

Because Shakira’s body was badly decomposed when it was found, there is no scientific evidence she was molested before she was killed.

“It’s our position that this is someone who kidnapped Shakira Johnson for a sexual motive and met with some resistance and killed her,” Bombik said. “The first thing I have to establish is his interest in young girls. Now I’m unable to present evidence as to motive. A jury’s going to want to know why someone would want to kill an 11-year-old girl.”

Father and son defense attorneys Paul Mancino Jr. and Brett Mancino were pleased with the ruling. Paul Mancino Jr. stressed that Hines has maintained his innocence since his arrest. They also contend that there are witnesses who will provide Hines with an alibi, including experts who will show Hines was in jail when Shakira’s body was dumped in the field.

Bombik disagreed with Pokorny’s ruling but insisted prosecutors still have a strong case.

“But you just don’t want to lose evidence especially in a murder case,” he said. “You want to give a jury as much evidence as you possibly can.”

Pokorny will allow prosecutors to present forensic evidence collected at Hines’ home and from the field, including a tan work glove found in Hines’ basement. DNA tests showed that a small amount of Shakira’s blood was found on the glove.

Hines’ trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 16.

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Jail informant says Hines confessed

Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH)
November 30, 2004

Author: JAMES MCCARTY; PLAIN DEALER REPORTER

A jailhouse informant recalled a chilling story in court Monday that he said a fellow inmate told him about the killing of Shakira Johnson.

Last May, Videll Schumpert and Daniel Hines were together in protective custody at the Cuyahoga County Jail.

Schumpert, 32, a career criminal, was awaiting release from a 10-month sentence for failure to comply with police in Lake County.

Hines, 26, was awaiting trial on charges of kidnapping and murdering 11-year-old Shakira the previous September.

They were alone the morning of May 22, Schumpert said, when Hines provided an unprompted narration of his crimes.

“He said he knew Shakira Johnson from the neighborhood,” Schumpert testified in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, where Hines is on trial.

“He took her back to his house. He said he had sex with her, kissed her, and she tasted sweet. He said he didn’t mean to kill her, that he started choking her and it just happened,” Schumpert recalled Hines saying.

According to Schumpert, Hines left Shakira’s lifeless body on a bed in his basement for two days. Then he wrapped the little girl up in plastic garbage bags and tossed her into a field.

Every element of Schumpert’s story except one generally follows the evidence that police investigators compiled in their case against Hines.

Hines reportedly said that his defense lawyers would challenge the DNA found inside the trash bags because they were heavy-duty construction bags and do not leak, Schumpert said.

“He said they wouldn’t be able to pin nothing on him,” Schumpert said.

Hines’ defense lawyer, Brett Mancino, challenged Schumpert’s motives and the accuracy of his story.

“You know, the DNA is the only thing in this trial we haven’t challenged,” Mancino said.

Mancino called Schumpert the prosecution’s “go-to guy” when they have a weak case. He accused Schumpert of setting up Hines in exchange for special favors.

But Schumpert said he was telling the truth, and insisted he has nothing to gain but grief for ratting on Hines.

“You can’t change the truth, Brett Mancino,” Schumpert said. “I just felt like it was important to come forward. You’re talking about an 11-year-old child. I have young nieces and nephews, and I have a conscience.”

Schumpert said he has reformed his life of crime, and now works as an assistant to a Cleveland defense lawyer. He said he fears for his safety for testifying against Hines.

[Admin]

Not guilty Jury acquits handyman in Shakira murder trial Slain girl’s family aghast; Hines heads back to jail

Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH)
December 20, 2004

Author: James F. McCarty; Plain Dealer Reporter

One of Cleveland’s most notorious murder cases was returned to the ranks of the unsolved Sunday after a jury acquitted Daniel Hines of kidnapping and murdering Shakira Johnson.

Eleven-year-old Shakira’s mother and brothers sobbed loudly during the reading of the verdicts, prompting deputies to escort them from the courtroom in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.

Hines, 26, a learning-disabled handyman from Cleveland, wept for joy with each not-guilty verdict. He had faced the death penalty if convicted.

Hines looked back at his mother, Esther, but said nothing before being led away in handcuffs to jail. He will stay behind bars without bond while awaiting trial on unrelated charges involving an attempted sexual assault on a 13-year-old cousin prior to Shakira’s death in September 2003.

Prosecutors said their inability to tell the jury about the other sexual assault case – and thus provide a possible motive in the Shakira case – proved fatal to their chances to win a conviction.

Judge Thomas Pokorny decided before the trial that allowing prosecutors to offer evidence of the other crime would be too prejudicial to Hines’ defense in the Shakira case.

Still, Assistant County Prosecutor Richard Bombik said, the evidence presented during the five-week trial should have been more than enough to convict Hines of aggravated murder and kidnapping.

“All roads pointed to Daniel Hines,” Bombik said. “No roads pointed to anyone else.”

Police investigators found a pair of work gloves in Hines’ basement with two drops of blood on them. DNA tests showed the blood was Shakira’s.

Police also collected three plastic garbage bags from a field on East 71st Street last October that prosecutors believed had once held Shakira’s body. Comparison tests showed the bags were perfect end-to-end matches with bags from a box found in Hines’ basement.

And trace evidence technicians found a fiber stuck to one of the bags that matched the carpeting in Hines’ van.

“I have no idea whatsoever” how the jury acquitted Hines, Bombik said. “I’m totally clueless to what they based their decision on. I couldn’t even begin to offer a remote explanation.”

The seven women and five men of the jury declined to talk with reporters or lawyers in the case. The jurors deliberated for about five days.

Defense lawyer Brett Mancino said he never doubted the innocence of his client.

“From Day One I knew it,” he said. “The evidence wasn’t there.”

The verdict brought a mixed conclusion to a case that had captured the passions, fears and sympathies of the public after Shakira’s disappearance from a block party on East 106th Street 15 months ago, and the discovery of her mutilated body in October 2003.

Police teamed with FBI agents on door-to-door canvasses of the neighborhood. Concerned citizens organized search parties and rallies, and distributed posters with Shakira’s picture on them. The media covered the story nonstop.

Almost from the start, Hines had been a suspect. Prosecutors said he had shown an unhealthy attraction to young girls, based on the other sexual assault case. He lived near the last place Shakira was seen alive. And he lied to police about leaving his house that day.

Bombik theorized that Hines lured Shakira into his house and, after she resisted his sexual advances, killed her.

But lacking a strong motive, all that prosecutors had to offer the jury was meager physical evidence.

Defense lawyers attacked the evidence as unbelievable, and challenged every state witness who testified, raising questions of doubt that they believe connected with the jurors.

“They had no proof of anything,” Mancino said. “Nothing fit. Only questions.”

The defense presented four witnesses who said they saw Shakira the afternoon and day after her disappearance. They also called a former police officer who testified she saw a police officer pick up Shakira’s tooth brush and hair brush from her home for DNA comparison. But the officer did not drive straight to the police station. He stopped first at Hines’ house, she testified.

That was one way, Mancino said, that Shakira’s DNA could have been transferred to the glove in Hines’ basement, creating the illusion that the DNA was from the blood rather than from a different source.

“This guy would have had to have been Houdini to pull off this crime,” said Paul Mancino, who teamed with his son in Hines’ defense. “And he’s a special education student?”

Bombik cautioned anyone holding out hope that police will one day find and arrest Shakira’s “true killer” to contain their optimism.

“No one else could possibly be prosecuted for this case,” Bombik said. “It would never be successful.”

But the Mancinos said they are not yet ready to drop the cause on behalf of Shakira. They said they have been contacted by a woman who insists she was a witness to Shakira’s murder. They plan to meet with her Wednesday and videotape the interview, then present it to police if her story appears credible.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: jmccarty@plaind.com, 216-999-4153
Caption:
PHOTOGRAPHS BY EUSTACIO HUMPHREY THE PLAIN DEALER

Upper right: Alisa Randle, the mother of Shakira Johnson, cradles her son, LaQuan, 14, and sobs uncontrollably as she hears the verdicts. Above: Hines wipes away tears of relief as he receives support from his lawyers, Brett Mancino, left, and Paul Mancino while listening to the verdict.

Alisa Randle, accompanied by her son, LaQuan, left, and James Box, right, leaves the courtroom after learning that a jury acquitted Daniel Hines, who stood trial for the kidnapping and murder of her daughter, Shakira Johnson.

Assistant County Prosecutor Richard Bombik shakes his head in disbelief at the acquittal of Daniel Hines, but insists he is not angered by the verdict. "Anger is not going to get me anywhere. I'm just extremely disappointed," he said.

[Admin]

Shakira Johnson killing remembered Family asks for help in solving murder

Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH)
September 14, 2005

Author: Emily Hamlin; Plain Dealer Reporter

On the two-year anniversary of his sister’s disappearance, 15-year-old LaQuan Johnson pleaded for her killer to turn himself in.

“Come forward and take responsibility for what you’ve done,” he said, standing tall with an arm around his mother. “Bring justice to my sister and peace to my family.”

The thought that Shakira Johnson’s killer is still out there haunts those who gathered Tuesday night on the corner of East 110th Street and Union Avenue in Cleveland, near where the 11-year-old girl was last seen.

The vigil drew about 40 people to mark the second anniversary of the day Shakira vanished from a block party near her East Side home.

Her body was found a month later in a weedy field near East 71st Street.

A jury cleared the only person charged in the case, 27-year-old Daniel Hines of Cleveland, last December.

As time passes without any new information, Shakira’s family and friends grow more afraid that they will never find answers.

“I need to know who killed my baby,” said Shakira’s mother, Alisa Randle, wiping tears from her cheeks. “All I can do now is leave it in God’s hands.”

Children from Shakira’s neighborhood released 13 white balloons to symbolize how old she would be if she were alive.

As the balloons floated up into the evening air, Shakira’s family and friends held hands in a circle to pray for help in finding her killer and for the safety of other children.

Shakira’s death highlights the need for a better system of finding missing children who don’t fit the requirements for an Amber Alert, said Judy Martin, founder of Survivors/Victims of Tragedy.

“It took too much time to start looking for this girl,” Martin said. “If there had been a quicker response, we might have found her.”

The Task Force for Community Mobilization, which organized Tuesday’s rally, plans to set up a reward fund for information about Shakira’s death.

“Someone knows what happened to this little angel,” said James Box of Truth Ministries. “We pray they’ll come forward, clear their conscience and do the right thing.”