The Homicide The Media Didn't Cover

Raul Rivero

14 months ago

WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA) -- Every night after work, Annette White drives past Mount Olivet cemetery in Northeast Washington where her daughter is buried in an unmarked grave.

Shawntel White was just 22 years-old when Annette's friend, a DC police officer, knocked on her door.

Annette says she immediately said to her friend, "It's Shawntel, isn't it?" Her friend responded, "It was nothing she did, she was killed."

The shooting occurred in the first one and a half hours of September 11th, 2002. Shawntel and a group of people had gathered on the front porch of a house in the 400 block of Manor Place, NW.

According to witnesses, the group saw a car with two people inside roll slowly down the street. Moments later, it came back.

One man got out and sprayed the porch with gunfire. Four people were hit--Shawntel was the only one to die. The bullets holes are still visible in the concrete steps.

Annette White says she was devastated, and that it was only the beginning of her suffering.. "I don't know if I've eaten three meals a day. I don't sleep--I haven't put up a Christmas tree in my home in 5 years since she's passed."

From among the photo albums and the prom pictures Annette pulls out the only evidence that the media ever noticed Shawntel's killing --a tiny mention in the next day's Washington Post, of a murder.

No one who was on that porch with Shawntel has ever given DC police any clues as to who the killer may be.

DC detective Sergeant JC Young believes he now has the murder weapon and the car.

Now, he says, he needs that night's real target to step forward, "it's unfortunate that person isn't man enough to say, it's my fault, this is who did it and let the authorities handle it."

Witnesses have told Annette White that they are too afraid to talk. Annette says fear is a luxury she cannot afford, "I can't be afraid because I have a daughter who's in the cemetery and she should be here with me."

If you have any information about this case please call DC Police at 202-727-9099 or our 9NEWS NOW Cold Case Tip Line at 202-895-5750.