Graveside Memorial Honors Girl Killed in 2011 Durham Drive-By

Shakanah’s mother, Demetriss China, placed a red rose at the grave. Photo by Leanora Minai.On what would have been Shakanah China’s 14^th birthday, her mother, family and friends gathered at her unmarked grave.

Her friend, Alexis Joyner, wore a black T-shirt that read, “R.I.P. Sis Forever In My Heart.”

Her mentor, Shanna Jefferson, stood by the gravesite with tears in her eyes and reflected on Shakanah’s birthday last year, the one they celebrated over a meal at Ruby Tuesday.

“I never would have thought that it would have been the last birthday we spent together,” said Jefferson, who saved the receipt from Ruby Tuesday as a keepsake.

Nearly a year has passed since Shakanah died in a drive-by shooting in Durham. An unintended target, she was standing outside May 10, 2011, when someone opened fire from a passing van.

Police say the murder investigation is active, but the case remains unsolved.

“Some people say it was gang bangin’ … I don't care what it was over,” said Shakanah's mother, Demetriss China.

“I just want justice to be served. She’ll be 14 years old today, and she’s not here. People ask me, ‘will I forgive?’ No, I won't forgive – for nothing in the world. Next month will be a year. I can't forgive ... No, I can't forgive you.”

Here are moments captured from Shakanah’s gravesite at Glenview Cemetery in Durham on Monday, April 9.

Photo by Leanora Minai.At Shakanah’s grave, above, family and friends arrange a memorial, which includes balloons that read “Love” and “Happy Birthday Princess.”

Photo by Leanora Minai.India Parker, 14, above, exchanged text messages with Shakanah several minutes before the shooting. “She told me how much she loved me, that she was going to be here for me no matter what through thick and thin,” India said. “It’s kind of hard to believe that she is gone.”

Photo by Leanora Minai.Shakanah China’s grave at Glenview Cemetery. She is buried beside her grandmother.

Anyone with information about the Shakanah China case is asked to call Durham Police Investigator Pate at (919) 560-4440 ext. 29332 or CrimeStoppers at (919) 683-1200. CrimeStoppers pays cash rewards for information leading to arrests in felony cases. Callers do not have to identify themselves.

Ian Davis Homicide Featured in Cold Case Playing Cards (video)

The homicide of Ian Davis is one of 52 playing cards featuring unsolved murders in the city and county of Durham.In the deck of playing cards fanned out in front of me at the Durham Police headquarters, the queen of clubs is Ian Davis II. He is smiling, his cheeks red from time in the sun.

“UNSOLVED HOMICIDE,” the card says.

His card is one of 52 in a deck featuring cold homicide cases in the city and county of Durham. The deck includes 53 victims (the ace of spades is a double-homicide from 2009). The Durham Police Department created the cards last year and distributed 500 decks, most to local jails and prisons in hopes they will generate leads and arrests.

“Hopefully, someone will talk,” said Michele Soucie, a Durham Police homicide detective. “A lot of times, when people get locked up, they have information that’s helpful to a case, but they might not realize the case is still open or think that it may have been solved.” 

It was Soucie’s idea to create the cold case playing cards, which were developed in collaboration with Durham CrimeStoppers. 

Ian Davis II was asleep on a couch in the Parkwood neighborhood in Durham on Oct. 1, 2002, when several men threw cinder blocks through a sliding glass door of the townhouse at 1304 Seaton Rd. They entered the living room, ordered Ian to the floor, and then shot him at close range with a shotgun, killing him. He was 18. 

No leads have come yet through the playing card highlighting Ian’s case. A $10,000 reward, posted by the family, is available through CrimeStoppers and expires next year. 

Since the murder nine years ago, Ian’s mother, Betty Davis, lives every day knowing her son will never walk through the front door. She said she wants closure but is willing to wait for a case with irrefutable evidence against the killer to avoid any acquittal in court, something she said she could not bear.

Betty Davis holds a photo of her son, Ian Davis. Ian was murdered in 2002. Photo by Leanora Minai.“It just about drove me crazy at first knowing there was somebody walking out there that had pulled a trigger that took my son’s life,” said Ms. Davis, 60. “We still struggle with it, and we always will.”

She herself was a “prime example,” she said, of someone who believed, “this happens to other people.” Her son, the youngest of three children and graduate of Green Hope High School, was in the wrong place at the wrong time, she said. 

On Sept. 30, 2002, at about 10:15 p.m., Ian was watching TV at home but decided to leave and visit a friend. His mom begged him to stay home. It was too late, she told him. But he went anyway, telling her not to worry, that he was only going two blocks. Later, his mom said, Ian and a friend stopped by the townhouse on Seaton Road, where they cooked spaghetti, watched TV and fell asleep.

At 2:56 a.m. Oct. 1, several men broke into the townhouse. Ms. Davis said a man whom her son did not know had started staying in the townhouse prior to the shooting and that the man may have been involved with drugs. “They think they broke in to get drugs,” she said.

“If I had put my foot down that night, he’d be at home,” Ms. Davis said. “You second guess these things the rest of your life.”

But the good memories come easy for her. Dancing with her son at her daughter’s wedding. Eating pizza with him on Friday nights. Shopping at the mall and chipping in for Nautica and Abercrombie & Fitch clothing that still hang in a closet at home, in the bedroom she has kept as Ian left it.  

This summer, Ms. Davis was diagnosed with lung cancer. When asked whether she feels a sense of urgency for closure in her son’s case, she said she has faith in a higher power, that those responsible for her son’s death will be held accountable. 

For now, she holds onto the memories. “I know one day,” she said, “I’ll see him again.”

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Detective Michele Soucie, (919) 560-4440, ext. 29337, or CrimeStoppers, (919) 683-1200. CrimeStoppers offers anonymity and cash rewards for information leading to the arrest and indictment of felony crime offenders.

‘My Daughter Died in My Arms’

Demetriss China holds a T-shirt made for her daughter's funeral. Photo by Leanora Minai..

 (If the audio player above does not appear/work on your device, please click here to listen.)

As part of my documentary fieldwork, I’m meeting with mothers whose children have been fatally shot in Durham.

Yesterday, I visited Demetriss China, 28, as she folded laundry at home. Her daughter, Shakanah, was standing outside May 10 when someone opened fire from a passing green van. Shakanah, 13, was not the intended target but was killed. No arrests have been made in the shooting.

The day she died, Shakanah stood outside with her mother and siblings, ages 6 and 14 months. Others from the neighborhood joined them.

They played basketball. They talked, laughed.

And then, the green van rolled by a second time.

Listen to the accompanying audio excerpt (above) of my interview with Demetriss as she recounts the moments that forever changed her life, and took her daughter’s away.

No Arrest Yet for Girl Killed in Durham Drive-By, Memory Lives on Facebook

When I met with Shakanah China’s step-grandmother at her office in Durham, she said people are feeling a range of emotions.

Shakanah China was fatally shot May 10 in a drive-by in Durham.Angry because Shakanah, 13, was shot to death in a drive-by, and no one has been arrested and charged with the crime; grateful because bullets missed others standing outside 7 Atka Court in Durham on May 10.

“Everyone was outside,” said Annette Carrington, the step-grandmother. “It was a warm day."

Around 7:30 p.m., a green van rolled down Rochelle Street. As the vehicle approached Atka Court, someone inside the van fired several shots.

“The first or second one nipped her thumb and the third one shot her in the chest,” said Carrington, a program manager and health educator for Durham County. 

Shakanah was taken to Duke University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead a short time later. Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez has said she was not the intended target, and investigators have asked the public for information about a fight that reportedly occured on Atka Court earlier in the week of the homicide. 

Police announced a Durham CrimeStoppers reward in July for information leading to an arrest, but four months after the shooting, the murder remains unsolved. 

“Shakanah’s death made national headlines and after that death, there’s nothing,” Carrington said. “You don’t have follow-up reports or anything.”

Shakanah was a special girl, she said.This is an excerpt from the profile for Shakanah China on Facebook, created after her death. The latest post, as of this writing, is from September 15: "see youu real soon KANAH :) -- gone but never forgotten."

She loved the cell phone she got for Christmas, enjoyed getting her hair braided and played with stuffed animals. Shakanah was also serious about her future. She enrolled in “Together Everyone Accomplishes Something,” a teen pregnancy prevention program that Carrington helps manage for the county. For nine months, teens are taught life skills and perform community service. Shakanah had one month left.

“That’s an indication she wanted to stay on track,” Carrington said.

On Facebook, a public profile has been created in Shakanah’s name with 1,325 people following it as of this writing. The first post on the Facebook wall came three days after her death, and it reads, “senseless acts takes [sic] away lives.” Someone replied, “Especially the innocent ones who havnt [sic] even begun to live their life.”

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Durham Police Investigator Pate at (919) 560-4440 ext. 29332 or CrimeStoppers at (919) 683-1200. CrimeStoppers pays cash rewards for information leading to arrests in felony cases. Callers do not have to identify themselves.