July 20, 2021 • 45 mins
The 5-year anniversary of the Ferguson movement sees Melissa reunited with other activists. The hosts finally connect with Danye's ex, who may lead them into unlocking his phone.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Content warning. This podcast discusses violence, murder, suicide, civil unrest,
aggressive policing, racism, and lynching. If you or anyone you
know is considering suicide, her self harm, or just need
to talk about problems, please call the National Suicide Prevention
Lifeline to seven three to five or text the crisis
(00:26):
text line at seven four one. Previously and after the uprising,
did he seem excited about going on that night? Danny
said he did. It's my brother, he said he did.
I saw him leave out the door last night because
I was sitting in kidching. Do you know about what time?
(00:46):
I was about nine o'clock his car and drove off,
not needing leaving the clock does things as well his
calls down. I wish that I had asked him, leaving
him with late nights is more of a day that
said for us, I would get calls like that, Daja,
she didn't got me for some more money And I'm
not just one probably five different feature killer. Hi is
(01:10):
this Desa Jones? Yeah? This is they do activist very wrong.
I did a couple of months kill time. You troll
me back in five minutes? Hey is Dasa? There are
Dad locked up right now? I'm gonna get what what happened.
(01:39):
What you're looking at is the aftermath of the grand
jury deciding not to indict Officer Wilson. A young man
found hanging from a tree in October. His mom believes
someone murdered her son, targeting him. Danye became an activist
(02:05):
in the wake of the shooting death of Michael Brown
by a white police officer. That's why Melissa mckinnis wants St.
Louis County police to dig deeper to her son's death.
He was not suicidal. This is after the uprising, the
death of Donye Dion Jones. This just happened today. Uh,
(02:34):
it had been like two days ago. Okay. I talked
to her on what's that? Talked to her on Wednesday?
So did it happened later in the day on Wednesday? Yeah?
Haven Like where did they like Thursday morning, like three
o'clock in the morning. God damn it? Did they Was
she out or did they come to the house? Uh?
She was out, and then they had what she had
(02:54):
part and then they had when she parked, they had
port loas okay or whatever? Like this was she just
coming home from work? Still, I'll still waiting on how
to get the claims. No, she was getting a hurt done.
She was. I went to the store to get some
more hurt. I waiting on how to get the county.
Now Desia was in jail and we still had so
(03:16):
much to ask her, so full disclosure, we pitched in
one hundred dollars for her bail fund to help get
her out. It was no strings attached. Yes, we wanted
her free so we could schedule another time to speak
with her, but the money we donated wasn't conditional. A
few days later, we spoke to Desa briefly. She was
getting ready to go to work and she couldn't stay
(03:37):
on the phone long, so we just asked why she'd
been arrested. Basically in twenty seventeen, I was started with
something that I wasn't even the way I was waiting for.
I was it work? Answer everything being just be trying
to get a lot of wild voices with the start
(03:59):
you to me before they tried to charge with arson?
Was that? That was that? The thing? Apparently, Desa ran
to a store to grab hair products and was pulled
over when she got back to her apartment complex. I
was get my hair Brady, and I was like, okay,
I really want to go. And so I was like
all right, listen, so aso the way. I made it
(04:21):
all the way home, like I literally space, but I
was literally at home and I sent my car off anything.
I was about to beat up the bar and he
was like hanging out and he's just like, well, you speeding,
And I was like okay, and what was my speed?
If I was speeding, if I was feeding, even though
it was speed out of the barn, but that's the
way came into the bar. I was just like eat out.
(04:44):
And I was like why I wouldn't you He was
like yeah, Desa claimed the officer who arrested her told
her she was speeding and then apparently claimed she had
a probation violation, so he arrested her. We arranged another
time to talk, and when we got back on the
phone a few days later, we didn't want to waste
any time. The last time I talked to you, we
(05:05):
were talking about a lot of the early days of
lost voices and all that, and you were you mentioned
how there had been this thing at a church where
someone was live streaming and and that guy ended up
getting like thrown out of the church. That guy his
name was Chris Schaefer, and one of the people who
ended up getting arrested for that later was Melissa McKinney's.
(05:29):
Do you have an opinion of her back in that time,
She was actually very very strong, even though she was sick.
She generally came out to helpless and we kinda made
her one of us because of the way that she
(05:51):
treated everyone. She was a really good, good person, like
she had a very good heart. And that's why I
didn't understand how the police got her mixed up with
all of that. Like I believe they were just really
oh for everyone. There wasn't the lost voices. They tried
(06:12):
to charge me, but they didn't give me because I
had told him like, look, I wasn't even in the state.
I wasn't even there, so they had to drop the
charges and everything would me as well. But Melissa, she
was really sweet. I can say that she was a
really good front liner. We've spoken to Melissa a bit
and she, you know, obviously, her son Donya passed away
(06:34):
last year under under certain circumstances that are pretty uh yeah,
pretty sad, and she I'm sure you know, she does
not believe that he took his own life. Um is
this something you've heard about it all like people talking
about um. Well, I don't know if you cattle, but
(06:56):
dying was my ex boyfriend. How long did you date him?
Him forever? Three four years? We actually were getting back
together around the time that he passed away. My life
changed dramatically when he passed away. He was like everything
(07:16):
to me and like, that's why I can't believe that
he did take his own life as well. Like Diane,
he's a old dude. Like members of Donye's family, Desia
didn't believe Donye was suicidal or that he would have
hurt himself. Diane was never suicidal, to be honest. He
(07:37):
never thought about farming himself, That's one thing. And then
I knew about die life. I would see Die getting
Mr Steward with some point before taking his own life.
That's what threw me off. I don't I still don't
believe he took his own life. Like we were each
(07:58):
other's counselor. I would talk to him about days that
he would talk to me about days, like he helped
me through schools. He helped me through a lot of
things because I didn't have a mom or dad, so
it was just like he was there for me. I
would always be like are you okay, and they are
You'll just be like yeah, you know, everything out okay.
(08:21):
And like I said, he was doing it fine house.
So I thought, like I said, I thought everything was fun,
like it took a twish like I said, but it
just didn't make any sense he did it. We asked
Asa when was the last time she had spoken with Donia.
(08:41):
Two days before he passed away. He called me very disturbed.
He was just like, you know, his room was going around.
I'm just like it was roomors. He was just like
his room was going around saying that I I like
boys and things like that. I'm like, oh yeah really
and he was like no, it's just like really bothering me,
Like who's going around saying this? So I asked him.
(09:04):
I was like, so, how did you hear about it?
And he said, well, I was working on my car
and a couple of guys just walked past me and
was just like oh he gave So I was just like, hey,
now you can't let you know, people get to you.
Like a lot of things people say about me. I
don't let it get to me, you know. I was like,
(09:26):
you know you're not gay or anything like that. I mean,
but if you were, I mean, you know, that's just
your choice. So I know you're not. We've been. Yeah,
it was a long so I don't work back to you.
So he was just like, Okay, I really needed to
hear that. Then he said he's going to call me back.
So a couple of days after that, I got a
(09:48):
phone call at ten am saying day they found him
in the back hanging and I was like what I
really thought it was a joke. I'm like, what's going on?
Like y'all playing like career Like he's gone, like not
living no more. So. Desia confirms that Dana was aware
(10:10):
that there was a rumor that he was gay and
that it bothered him. How much it bothered him or
in what way is up for interpretation. It was clear
that Dania was very important to Desia. You changed my
life for my like, and it wasn't like he changed
it for the better. I have been going through so
much since he's been gone. When he was alive, I
(10:34):
was in college, I was happy, I was doing things,
and it was just like he's just really affected me
he dropped out of college, so I guess he was
like my encouraged me, I don't know, encouraged me a
life to do it line. Sorry. After giving her a moment,
(10:59):
we wanted to clarify if the phone call they had
two days before his death was actually the last time
Deja spoke with Donya. Yeah, two days before he was
sailed in to pay you heard I don't know, like
to be honest like Melissa, like you asked me at
(11:20):
the beginner, she was really nice. But when me and
the Diane were talking like she was like and sweet
to him, like he was going through a lot with
smile me. His mom really did get along. She barely
helped him with anything. This was interesting. Deja was the
(11:43):
first person to tell us that Melissa and Danye's relationship
was strained the way she is now trying to make
a thing like she really cares. It's killed me because
she did it man, Diane, who were homeless for wow,
(12:05):
it's who we got an apartment? Like his mom was mad?
Who I thought she would be. I don't know we
talking to him change the fact that how her relationships
be himble was because I don't know. Before me and
we're talking. But during if she wasn't in supportive at all.
(12:29):
We were doing everything on her own. We were going
to protests, we were traveling, and so like that's probably
why I'm just so distant from everyone because there's so
much fakeness going all. I just don't understand. Like I'm
not saying she didn't love him, but she just she
wasn't there like she. Desia is telling us that Melissa
(12:53):
and Donya weren't as close as Melissa suggests, and to
DeAsia even acknowledges here that it was dating her that
upset Melissa and made her distant from her son. When
she spoke to us, Melissa said that she did not
want Donya dating Deja. Deja went on to tell us
that right before Danyae died, he and the Melissa weren't speaking.
(13:16):
They weren't talking, like she blocked his number from our arms,
and every day even though he was living at her house,
they were they weren't having words each other. They were
into it. So that's why she was crying. So going
to say more on this because she didn't even get
to say anything to him, I'm like, I went over there.
Maybe who nights only for the night twice, and like
(13:40):
she was mad about that. I stopped going over there
and we were just talking on the phone. I asked
his cousin once more home and she was just like
in the his mom just had a little words. But
I never could keep what they were into it. So again,
Desia claims that when Danyae died, you know, Melissa, we're
(14:00):
not on speaking terms. We asked Melissa about this. We
got into it a few weeks before that. He went
to my mom's house and he came right back. Wow,
mna come back, because what what we got into about.
I'm sorry. I apologized and I was like yeah, but
(14:21):
I was trying to be like tough about it. I
was like, yeah, he was smelling so good. He had
sued on, he had fresh lining. I ain't smelled good.
I was like. I was like he was warning me,
like he got me. I'm like, so that's how he
gets these girls, you know. It was like that, So
I'm like, yeah, he smiling. He said I love you,
(14:43):
and I'm like, okay, I love you too. There were
several things that Melissa and Deja seemed to disagree about,
but most of them revolved around Danya's relationships with both
of them. Desia implied that Melissa and Danya weren't as
close as maybe Melissa was presenting. Desiah told us that
earlier in the relationship, Donya had wanted to get married.
(15:05):
Then she told us that Donia had been trying to
reignite a relationship with her before he died. He was
exact the person where he wanted to do married, like
right away out to slip. I didn't want to do that,
and I guess it kind of bothered him. I was young,
like I told him. I was like, I'm trying to
get my life to do it right now. Marriage is
(15:27):
you can't afford that right now. I mean that's good,
applantedged that, but I can't afford that. Like I said,
we had a relationship on forever, so I would just
say like he was just like a bit a good
friend m hm, like the end of the relationships that
we had, and he was just like a really differend.
I said he was trying to get back one good
(15:51):
parents with me and things like that. Pend I wasn't
m I was like, no, I don't want to miss
with anything. He ain't going either, so I was just
like no game. We told Melissa and Militia that Deja
said to us that Dane was trying to get back
(16:13):
together with her right before he died. They both thought
this was less than true. That was the opposite. No,
I know, because he sat down and talked to me
about it, like like I said, like when he was
saying about two or three days prior to what happened. Now,
(16:35):
he wasn't the opposite. Seriously, I mean, I'm sorry if
she could hear me out. Deja told us that Dana
did want to be married and have a family and
stuff like that. I mean, she says that he had
like mentioned it to her and she was just like, no,
we're not there yet. He just wanted to be married.
He wanted a baby, That's what I was gonna say.
(16:57):
He just wanted he really wanted a child. Because present
she's pregnant with his baby, and Loreta Loresa did get
bregn his baby, yes, but she lost it. This miscarriage
happened over a year before Donye's death, so it probably
wasn't something weighing on his mind right before he died. Also,
Desia told us he was not excited when Loresa got pregnant,
(17:21):
he called me and was like, I'm going to I'll
think I got a girl to ba and I was
just like, oh, anxiously happy. He's like, no, ied war
bregnant and he wasn't happy about that one. He's like,
I got a crazy baby mom. Now I'm like even though,
(17:42):
yet calmed down. So we have some back and forth here.
Melissa says Done wanted a baby. Desia says he wasn't
excited when Loresa was pregnant. Melissa says Danya wanted to
marry Loretha. Desia says that Danya called Loresa crazy, which
I guess, to be fair, doesn't mean he wouldn't want
to marry her. Deja says Melissa and Danyae were going
(18:05):
through a rough patch before he died, and Melissa, ironically enough,
said that Deja and Donja had actually not been speaking
until only right before his death. He hadn't spoken in
a while because they were into it for a while,
so all of a sudden I saw her pull up.
Something else that seemed to really bother Donyae's siblings, both
(18:26):
Militia and Javan, was that they thought Deja was faking
her crying when she was at their house for a
candlelight vigil right after Danyae died. She had were her
daughter there and what wasn't all in patio just talking
talking about memories about Danya and she she she tried
to talk whatever, and I guess I break out crying.
(18:47):
I Brea got crying and she saw crutch on the
egg like she was crying too. She was fake crying
the day of like THEO when they was still in
the backyard and they gloding and stuff. She came the
false failed to the ground, but she was crying. But
I sure she was fake. Frien was in a patio.
It didn't feel it didn't filing at all. Well what
about it didn't feel genuine? But they cry, they cry
(19:10):
like was that real obvious that it was very walked
out the house. I've seen her shed all seen in
my cora and she wiped the house, walk to aggress
and then she got an ins away. She was fine. Yeah,
she killed fake crime. She didn't come to from We
should acknowledge that we all do grieve differently. Sometimes our
(19:33):
tears explode from our faces and then just stop. And
why Desia didn't go to Danyae's funeral. I don't know.
There could be a lot of very legitimate reasons for
what it's worth, at least in so far as the
morning of Danya's death is concerned. Desia describes herself as
having just been in a daze. Now went over Julie's
(19:54):
mom's house. I went right over there, and when I
got there, she would cry. Everybody was crying, so I
really understood there and kind of blank out. Melissa seemed
to be under the impression that Desia had become aware
of the fact that Dona was reconnecting with Loretha and
(20:16):
that this made Deja jealous. Deja said Donia was trying
to rekindle romance with her, but that she was the
one who was not interested in a relationship. Really, who knows.
Apparently Dania was very open with his family and talked
about his relationships, but maybe he didn't say everything. Maybe
with some things he was more open and honest with Asia.
(20:38):
Obviously we cannot know what was going through the mind
of a man who is no longer here to speak
for himself, but I think it's fair to say that
for many of us, we are never one honest with
our loved ones. Sometimes it's to protect them. We hide
things from them to spare them grief for pain, and
sometimes we have others close to us who open up
(21:00):
to more completely. Was Danye's relationship with Melissa strained when
he died? Was he trying to get back together with Asia?
Was Desia twisting things around? In the end, what mattered
to us was who Danya was with the night he died,
or at least who he was trying to see, So
he dialed in on that question for Asia. The night
(21:23):
he died, he seemingly left the house around nine thirty
or ten, and according to like a medical expert, it
seems like he probably didn't die until earlier in the morning,
So it's probably this period of time in there when
he left the house and went somewhere. But his car
wasn't working at the time, and he didn't have a jack.
It seems as though it's someone probably picked him up,
(21:45):
would be my guess, and that he who would he do?
Did he mention anyone like that? He was he? Did
you know if he was seeing another girl at that time? Him,
I think about was the one that was supposed to
be Craty. So Loretha, who only answered one of our emails,
(22:09):
and who didn't specifically say if she and Donya had
plans the night he died. That is, if Desa was
being honest, getting into Danya's phone would probably be the
best way to solve this. I talked to his sister.
She seems to be under the impression that you might
know the pass code to Danye's phone. Is that true?
(22:35):
I have hit a clue what his cancle might be here.
Is that something you'd be willing to tell me? Because
if we could open up his phone, we might be
able to explore more of like what he was looking
at in the last couple of days before he died,
and it might be something that helps. So are you
telling me that no one has out in his phone
(23:00):
open yet? And there's it's been a whole year. The
one is ex um okay. So Dianne was kind of
like a sequence call persday. He changes how to do it,
like if he has this big Digico us different numbers
(23:20):
he has before Digico to use a different numbers. Could
you give me what your guesses would be for a
four and for a six, and then I will try
them for the four. It will be deja gave us
some guesses at pass codes. By the time we were
having this conversation, Dania had been dead for ten months.
(23:45):
She wasn't terribly confident that she remembered the codes, and
she suggested rightly so that someone should have asked her sooner.
From these first conversations we had with her, Deja seemed
nice and she did give us a lot of good
insight into who Danya was as a person. Before we
entered the call, we asked if there was anything else
(24:06):
there you could think of that may have been weighing
on Donya. He was just really tired of his being sick.
I mean, he always was like very concerned about it
because our hills wasn't good at all, and that was
like one of his major things, like his mom's hilp.
(24:26):
He really was beating up about that. Like we went
to a lot of henactors supports, like he was the
only sun and the major to a doctor's appointment. He
didn't play about that, So I think he really wanted
the love from his mom. But it was just kind
of hard sometimes because Diane, he did have a hard head.
(24:50):
He was hard head. He didn't like to get help.
That was his main thing, like he hate to get
him help from stuff liked. Right when I say he
ended it, had it getting him stale. He wouldn't even
let you see him crown or break or anything like that.
So very very guarded, emotionally guarded. He was. He is
(25:13):
very emotionally guarded. Right, he would said, I had literally
four everything out of them, like, what is going on?
Talk to me? What do you miss about him? The most?
I laughed, it's funny, had a funny laugh. Yeah. I
(25:39):
had just left um Ferguson Market because we had been
at the Ferguson Market four It was a thirty day,
thirty night shut down and that's the place that Mike
Brown Jr. Had last been before he was walking home, right, Yeah,
you know, I promised Mike Brownson you that I would
(26:01):
keep people out there, and so we have been doing
that for like thirty days or something like that. And
it was probably around one o'clock in the morning. We
were leaving going down West Foreson and I saw some
guys running and then I saw him. We were about
to head to St. Louis for the fifth anniversary of
(26:23):
the killing of Mike Brown Jr. Every year, the community
held an event at the location where he died to
commemorate Mike's life and to continue to pressure the St.
Louis County Prosecutor's Office to reopen the case and to
indict Officer Darren Wilson. The year before, for the fourth anniversary,
Melissa told us the activists have been keeping an all day,
(26:44):
all night presents outside the Ferguson Market, and one night,
right after she left, she witnessed something awful. I was
on my way home from where you was, just the
metro bus stop. Some guys, three guys, they went in
the store across the street from me, and that seen
him go in, I seen him leave out, and like,
(27:05):
well two points three seconds, I just know that they
was all three behind me. I got hit with a gun.
This is kay, and they was telling me to go
with them, so'twhere and they was taking my stuff in
my pocket. And then it makes me, you know, I
was shot in the back. When I got shot, I
couldn't run, no nothing, no more. So I started crawling
(27:26):
and the guy tried to shoot me in the head,
but at this time I had turned over and when
he took our running this weel. She got out of
the car and like he was right there to what
They could have still shot her as well, but she
didn't encourage. She got out the cormination. I was okay,
excused here, come, she asked me. I told her. She
asked me what happened. I told her, I just got shot,
(27:48):
and she literally turned to the right and looked and
said that those guys right there do it. That's how
close they were. And I was like, yes, they just
shot you. The street was completely empty except for her.
The guys could have turned around being anything to her
about her being a female, but she didn't. There wasn't
She wasn't thinking about that at the time. She was
trying to make sure I was okay. I was just
(28:09):
thinking that this is a a boy and he's done.
I honestly didn't think that he was gonna make it.
You know, he kept looking like he was going to
pass out. Yeah, I kept trying to I kept waking up,
waking up, come on, you gotta stay up, and then
once I said, um, I just what I remember is
(28:31):
I kept saying, come on, sweetheart, come on, beat baby,
wake up, wake up. What's your name? What's your name?
And he was trying to tell me his name, so
show in his eyes. I said, don't no, no, no,
I said, listen, listen, listen, my son. I would have
a fit if it was himily on the ground here.
I said, where's your mother? Where's your mom? And I
(28:52):
don't remember how I even got her on the phone,
but I got on the phone and she was screaming
and crying, and I was trying to calm her down
and let her know that even though I didn't think
that he would be okay, but I was just trying
to keep her calm. And I was telling her where
we were, and I said, I'm not going to leave him,
(29:15):
you know, I said, I'm not going to leave him.
I'm staying right here. You know, if they come back,
they're gonna have get both of me, all of us.
I said, well, I'm here. I'm not leaving until the
police gets here. I had called my mom on my own,
because if I had called my mom, as I was
feeling myself going in and out, I asked her to
(29:35):
talk to my mom with me, and then she was
talking to mom. She was keeping me up. At the
same time she was keeping me up, and he was
talking to my mom and talking to the offices and
everything is I was going in and out. How thorough
did the investigations? Seeing what was your interaction with the
Ferguson police, Like, the thing is okay, it's a street car.
(29:57):
I might in West floors. Now, simple fact that I
was on the left side of the street light. Hey,
I was in Ferguson Department. If I was on the
right side of street light, it would have been St.
Louis County, Okay. So they found the shirt on the
scene when the guy stood up their shirt after a shot.
Then somebody lost their heat. And on top of that,
(30:18):
I told you they came out the store Ferguson hand
d Nay. They could have got the cameras from the store,
But yet nobody was called my case. When cold They
told me they picked up one of the guys on
another charge and that they were sending my case to
the prosecutor's office. And I literally never heard nothing back
(30:39):
from him. Called Officer Michael bebbout the month or so
straight and he was on vacation. I honestly just gave
up on me because I'm not gonna lie. I know
that Ferguson Police Department is not the right way to be,
especially after the Mike Browns situation, the bullets hare Fingerprinson,
they got one of the guys DNA and my DNA
(31:03):
awful off the shirt and it was like just no riskmates,
and I did the line, picked out the guy, well,
one of the guys, because it was three of them,
I picked up and when they actually shot me and
it was like nobody got caught, and it is I mean,
does that leave you feeling like unsafe? Now in twenty
one and I can conceal and carry, so I'm not
(31:26):
really I just I don't be out as much as
I used to me now of course, because I mean
Kawen was paralyzed that night when he was shot in
the back. He credits Melissa with saving his life, and
he expresses just how grateful he is that she selflessly
ran to his side as he was bleeding out in
the streets. Melissa believes that she would have kept up
(31:48):
with him and his family to see how he progressed.
But two months after kawen shooting, Danye died. All of
that happened in the wake of the four year anniversary
of Mike Brown's death, and now the five year anniversary
was upon us. Melissa wasn't sure at first if she
was going to attend the memorial event on Canfield Drive,
as she was still dealing with the weight of Danne's passing.
(32:12):
But as part of the event, the Ferguson Frontline protesters
were going to be honored for the time they spent
fighting for justice for Mike Brown. So we attended the
memorial to meet up with Melissa and to bring her
the pass codes that Desia had given to us so
we could try them on Danna's phone. A few hundred
(32:36):
people gathered for the event, which featured music and poetry.
There were speeches and chants, and then the moment Melissa
was asked to attend for annual Michael Brown Memorial Weekend
is dedicated to the Furguson front Lighters. This memorial to you,
(33:12):
l Then there was a moment we didn't expect. Yeah,
this ain't no TV show, this is real life. Since
(33:32):
by beers, Edward Crawford Jr. Say no justice, no peace
was murdered. Here, a speaker went through the list of
so called Ferguson mystery deaths. She started by naming Edward
Crawford Jr. Who we explained all the way back in
episode one likely died of a self inflicted gunshot wound,
(33:54):
whether intentional or not. Based on the fact that when
he died he was in the backseat of a car
his sister was driving. Is DeAndrea Joshua was murdered here
and say no justice, no piece, no jice pe. My brother,
Darren Seals was murdered here and say no justice, no peace,
No Nazi was murdered here. Say no justice, no peace,
(34:24):
No DeAndre. Joshua and Darren Seals, if you remember, were
murdered and the cars their bodies were found in were
set on fire. Bosson Masri was a Palestinian American activist
who had been very active in Ferkson. He died the
month after Donya in November. Bosson was riding a city
(34:44):
bus when he passed away from heart failure. A toxicology
report showed that he had Sentinel in his system, and
he was public about his struggle with heroin addictions, so
it's very likely his death was accidental. Don Jones was
murderer here. Stay no justice, no peace, no Really big,
(35:05):
these are front line aftivists. There's a problem in Fergusson
for them to continue to heal us that stood up
for injustice we ain't going nowhere. Something about all of
the names being read together to a crowd that knew
(35:28):
and loved these people, with the emphatic statement that they
were all murdered when some were not, was really interesting.
Surely those who knew Edward Crawford Jr. And Bossa Masry
intimately knew there was more to their deaths than was
being said, But maybe it was beside the point. How
these young men had all died, whether they were shot
(35:50):
by a police officer like Mike, or by a gang
member as was hypothesized for Darren, whether they took their
own life with a gun like Edward, or whether was
taken by a chemical like Bossom. Every single one of
these deaths was tragic and had at its root life
in St. Louis. Life for these young men was a struggle.
(36:11):
They had to navigate so many intersecting worlds, so many
expectations of different people, all pulling them to be something
different from moment to moment. We were reminded of the
words of Tanahasi Coats, who writes in Between the World
and Me that all are phrasing race relations, racial chasm,
(36:32):
racial justice, racial profiling, white privilege, even white supremacy serves
to obscure that racism is a visceral experience, that it
dislodges brains, blocks airways, rips, muscle, extracts organs, cracks bones,
breaks teeth. You must never look away from this. You
(36:53):
must always remember the sociology, the history, the economics, the graphs,
the charts, the regressions, all land with great violence upon
the body. This sentiment was made all the more real
as we walked down Canfield Drive and encountered Dornella Connor.
What I heard was she was an undercover, so I
(37:14):
don't even know who want they shot me. She talked
to us about how during the Ferguson uprising, she was
shot in the head by an officer with a less
than lethal round while in the passenger seat of her
boyfriend's car. They bribing on my daughters uh father and
saying that he was trying to hit off a cop
death reason why they shot me, But it wasn't true.
(37:36):
Dornella and her boyfriend at the time weren't protesting. They
were driving to a gas station when an armored vehicle
blocked their path. Her boyfriend, who was driving, was trying
to maneuver the car into the gas station when officers
began firing at their car. Yeah. I passed out and
you woke up in the hospital. Yeah, okay. How long
how long were you out? I was out for three days. Yeah,
(37:58):
and you were pregnant the time house. Bring me. Don't worry.
Dornella's baby is okay. Dornella, however, is now blind in
her left eye. We walked down West Floris and Ferguson.
Police were posted on the block in a parking lot
not far from the Ferguson Market, the store where Mike
Brown Jr. Had left before being killed. People had set
(38:19):
up booths and stalls, some selling food, some selling books,
some registering people to vote. Several members of the Lost
Voices were there. We met Cheyenne Green in person, and
she still is very involved in local activism. We saw
Dante Carter walking along the road with a big cardboard sign,
getting passing cars to honk. Meldon Moffatt, one of the
(38:40):
Lost Voices members, who like Melissa, was older than the rest,
spoke with us for almost an hour. He was emphatic
that after all the protests, nothing in Ferguson had changed.
Nothing's changed. I'm not saying nothing's changed. Nothing has changed.
When they see us, they see animals. That's what they see.
Let's gonna tame this animal. Let's go, We're told community,
(39:02):
so we can get these animals on control. That's how
they look at us. Meldon quickly touched on the same
themes that Desia had. And I'm telling you all, if
you all ever do any other interview with any of
the other activists or protests, I guarantee you're gonna say
the same thing I'm about to say. No protests or
activists there's been out here has really got their life
back on track since this isn't you know, since after
(39:26):
five years, none of us we all still trying to
get back and it's been hard. And we also have
the high too. Now did it died down? We all
are living in high We had to. They were on us.
It was clear that many of the people who participated
in the uprising in St. Louis were traumatized in a
variety of ways. They had paid and we're paying a
(39:48):
heavy toll to try to change their world for the better.
They locked every last one of us up for something
they can make up. I'm move when they got locked
up more than any of these people out here, I
got locked up six times means manner of walking? What
the hell is that? Then they got um they got
a bunch of they got Dave ship, they got they
even had a book because they even got them on something.
(40:10):
Try't even put Melissa. And but because in a um
a robbery that they had nothing to do with us.
Meldon new Melissa and her family, so we asked him
about her and about don Yae when I when I
met her, I saw her on South floors, and once
we got to you know, protesting all the time, seeing
(40:30):
each other, and we just became became one and we
stew it out of her and we fought hard. She
fought hard. I fell hard. There's nothing that woman wouldn't
do to get justice for whoever childhood was. That woman
has more heart than most of them me and you
see out here that's supposed to have been out here.
But when I found out about her son, it broke
(40:51):
my heart because I know him personally, and she can
tell you that I know her son, both of her
sons and her daughter, and it broke my heart to
find out that this man was. Can you tell us
about Dania like your impression of Dania as a man
to be honest. Somebody be honest. He was real quiet.
It didn't say much. That's all I can say about it.
(41:11):
He was no, he didn't seem he seemed like he
had some things going on that he needed to get out.
What it was, I didn't know, but for my recollection
it was I could. I could sense it may have
there something had something to do with his mom's and
the illness that she's dealing with. It seemed like there
was something Meldon wanted to tell us, And after pausing,
(41:32):
he opened up, I'm gonna be honest. Wish uh. Yeah.
I don't think he was cute. I think he did
that on his own. It was just too much evidence
that I heard. I mean, and I just I just
know how to think, and you put stuff together and
you know, like if you can. This is what I
(41:52):
was talking about. When they found him hanging, there was
a cheer there. They did an autopsy, and this is
where I went in. They did an autopsy, no signs
of a struggle, no stalls, nothing. If you finished someone
trying to hang you, just this is what I'm saying.
This one trying to hang you, You're trying to fight,
(42:13):
You're gonna end up with some type of skulls of
Bruce somewhere. That man had nothing if a cheer was found,
No bruises, no nothing. The son killed himself, and she
don't want me to tell her that. But I didn't
do so because I don't want to make her think
like I'm trying to be against her, because I'm not.
But all honestly, her son killed himself. Meldon wasn't the
(42:38):
only person that day who told us they believe Danye
died by suicide. A couple other people who wanted to
remain anonymous told us they didn't believe he was murdered
for basically the same reasons. They would note the chair
found near the tree where Danielle was hanged, They would
point out that his body didn't have any wounds on it,
and they would mention that Danyae was kind of a
quiet guy. Over the course of our time looking into
(43:02):
his death, people would describe Dania differently based on how
close they were to him, which doesn't seem strange at all.
People acquainted with Danie would say that he was quiet
or introverted, while those who knew him well would describe
him as very funny and goofy. But Melton and these
other individuals were right. It is possible that Danie died
by suicide. While up to this point we did feel
(43:25):
that the investigation into his death was lacking and that
there did seem to be some odd reasoning on the
part of Saint Louis County regarding certain details, we hadn't
yet found anything incontrovertible that would flip the narrative on
its head. We hoped desperately that getting into Danie's phone
would lead us to some new insight or contact that
(43:45):
would help us nail down what happened to him definitively,
regardless of outcome. And now we had the handful of
pass codes the Deja had given us, so we left
the memorial events and met Melissa at the Starbucks and
Ferguson so we could sit down and see if one
of those pass codes would work. That's next time on
(44:06):
After the Uprising. After the Uprising is directed, produced, investigated,
written and reported by myself, Rainovschelski, and John Duffy. John
Duffy was also the editor. Dave Cassidy was producer, Sound engineering,
design and mixed by Josh Condon. Executive producers were Matt
McDonough and Tina x Eros for Now This, Brett Kushner
(44:26):
for Group nine Media, and Jess Borove was executive in
charge of production. Jonathan Hartwig and Bradley Rayford were consulting producers.
Eliza Craig was assistant producer and did additional reporting. Malory
Keenoy was a writer's assistant, Kristen McVicker and Taya Wilson
were production assistants, and Haley Klesmer was a post production assistant.
Fact checking by Alison Humes, theme song and other music
by Zachary Walter, legal by Keith Sclar and Peter Yazy.
(44:49):
Special thanks to Ann Frado, Danny Gonzalez, Barbara Copple, Alex Lester,
Bethan Macalouzo, Emily Maronoff, Ruth Vaka, and the Reporter's Committee
for Freedom of the Press. After the Uprise as a
production of Double asterisk I, Heart Media and Now This
in association with True Stories, you can find us on
Twitter and Facebook. If you have useful information about the
death of Danye Jones or anything we've covered, please leave
(45:11):
a message on our tip line at three four seven
six seven four seven four zero one
Content warning. This podcast discusses violence, murder, suicide, civil unrest,
aggressive policing, racism, and lynching. If you or anyone you
know is considering suicide, her self harm, or just need
to talk about problems, please call the National Suicide Prevention
Lifeline to seven three to five or text the crisis
(00:26):
text line at seven four one. Previously and after the uprising,
did he seem excited about going on that night? Danny
said he did. It's my brother, he said he did.
I saw him leave out the door last night because
I was sitting in kidching. Do you know about what time?
(00:46):
I was about nine o'clock his car and drove off,
not needing leaving the clock does things as well his
calls down. I wish that I had asked him, leaving
him with late nights is more of a day that
said for us, I would get calls like that, Daja,
she didn't got me for some more money And I'm
not just one probably five different feature killer. Hi is
(01:10):
this Desa Jones? Yeah? This is they do activist very wrong.
I did a couple of months kill time. You troll
me back in five minutes? Hey is Dasa? There are
Dad locked up right now? I'm gonna get what what happened.
(01:39):
What you're looking at is the aftermath of the grand
jury deciding not to indict Officer Wilson. A young man
found hanging from a tree in October. His mom believes
someone murdered her son, targeting him. Danye became an activist
(02:05):
in the wake of the shooting death of Michael Brown
by a white police officer. That's why Melissa mckinnis wants St.
Louis County police to dig deeper to her son's death.
He was not suicidal. This is after the uprising, the
death of Donye Dion Jones. This just happened today. Uh,
(02:34):
it had been like two days ago. Okay. I talked
to her on what's that? Talked to her on Wednesday?
So did it happened later in the day on Wednesday? Yeah?
Haven Like where did they like Thursday morning, like three
o'clock in the morning. God damn it? Did they Was
she out or did they come to the house? Uh?
She was out, and then they had what she had
(02:54):
part and then they had when she parked, they had
port loas okay or whatever? Like this was she just
coming home from work? Still, I'll still waiting on how
to get the claims. No, she was getting a hurt done.
She was. I went to the store to get some
more hurt. I waiting on how to get the county.
Now Desia was in jail and we still had so
(03:16):
much to ask her, so full disclosure, we pitched in
one hundred dollars for her bail fund to help get
her out. It was no strings attached. Yes, we wanted
her free so we could schedule another time to speak
with her, but the money we donated wasn't conditional. A
few days later, we spoke to Desa briefly. She was
getting ready to go to work and she couldn't stay
(03:37):
on the phone long, so we just asked why she'd
been arrested. Basically in twenty seventeen, I was started with
something that I wasn't even the way I was waiting for.
I was it work? Answer everything being just be trying
to get a lot of wild voices with the start
(03:59):
you to me before they tried to charge with arson?
Was that? That was that? The thing? Apparently, Desa ran
to a store to grab hair products and was pulled
over when she got back to her apartment complex. I
was get my hair Brady, and I was like, okay,
I really want to go. And so I was like
all right, listen, so aso the way. I made it
(04:21):
all the way home, like I literally space, but I
was literally at home and I sent my car off anything.
I was about to beat up the bar and he
was like hanging out and he's just like, well, you speeding,
And I was like okay, and what was my speed?
If I was speeding, if I was feeding, even though
it was speed out of the barn, but that's the
way came into the bar. I was just like eat out.
(04:44):
And I was like why I wouldn't you He was
like yeah, Desa claimed the officer who arrested her told
her she was speeding and then apparently claimed she had
a probation violation, so he arrested her. We arranged another
time to talk, and when we got back on the
phone a few days later, we didn't want to waste
any time. The last time I talked to you, we
(05:05):
were talking about a lot of the early days of
lost voices and all that, and you were you mentioned
how there had been this thing at a church where
someone was live streaming and and that guy ended up
getting like thrown out of the church. That guy his
name was Chris Schaefer, and one of the people who
ended up getting arrested for that later was Melissa McKinney's.
(05:29):
Do you have an opinion of her back in that time,
She was actually very very strong, even though she was sick.
She generally came out to helpless and we kinda made
her one of us because of the way that she
(05:51):
treated everyone. She was a really good, good person, like
she had a very good heart. And that's why I
didn't understand how the police got her mixed up with
all of that. Like I believe they were just really
oh for everyone. There wasn't the lost voices. They tried
(06:12):
to charge me, but they didn't give me because I
had told him like, look, I wasn't even in the state.
I wasn't even there, so they had to drop the
charges and everything would me as well. But Melissa, she
was really sweet. I can say that she was a
really good front liner. We've spoken to Melissa a bit
and she, you know, obviously, her son Donya passed away
(06:34):
last year under under certain circumstances that are pretty uh yeah,
pretty sad, and she I'm sure you know, she does
not believe that he took his own life. Um is
this something you've heard about it all like people talking
about um. Well, I don't know if you cattle, but
(06:56):
dying was my ex boyfriend. How long did you date him?
Him forever? Three four years? We actually were getting back
together around the time that he passed away. My life
changed dramatically when he passed away. He was like everything
(07:16):
to me and like, that's why I can't believe that
he did take his own life as well. Like Diane,
he's a old dude. Like members of Donye's family, Desia
didn't believe Donye was suicidal or that he would have
hurt himself. Diane was never suicidal, to be honest. He
(07:37):
never thought about farming himself, That's one thing. And then
I knew about die life. I would see Die getting
Mr Steward with some point before taking his own life.
That's what threw me off. I don't I still don't
believe he took his own life. Like we were each
(07:58):
other's counselor. I would talk to him about days that
he would talk to me about days, like he helped
me through schools. He helped me through a lot of
things because I didn't have a mom or dad, so
it was just like he was there for me. I
would always be like are you okay, and they are
You'll just be like yeah, you know, everything out okay.
(08:21):
And like I said, he was doing it fine house.
So I thought, like I said, I thought everything was fun,
like it took a twish like I said, but it
just didn't make any sense he did it. We asked
Asa when was the last time she had spoken with Donia.
(08:41):
Two days before he passed away. He called me very disturbed.
He was just like, you know, his room was going around.
I'm just like it was roomors. He was just like
his room was going around saying that I I like
boys and things like that. I'm like, oh yeah really
and he was like no, it's just like really bothering me,
Like who's going around saying this? So I asked him.
(09:04):
I was like, so, how did you hear about it?
And he said, well, I was working on my car
and a couple of guys just walked past me and
was just like oh he gave So I was just like, hey,
now you can't let you know, people get to you.
Like a lot of things people say about me. I
don't let it get to me, you know. I was like,
(09:26):
you know you're not gay or anything like that. I mean,
but if you were, I mean, you know, that's just
your choice. So I know you're not. We've been. Yeah,
it was a long so I don't work back to you.
So he was just like, Okay, I really needed to
hear that. Then he said he's going to call me back.
So a couple of days after that, I got a
(09:48):
phone call at ten am saying day they found him
in the back hanging and I was like what I
really thought it was a joke. I'm like, what's going on?
Like y'all playing like career Like he's gone, like not
living no more. So. Desia confirms that Dana was aware
(10:10):
that there was a rumor that he was gay and
that it bothered him. How much it bothered him or
in what way is up for interpretation. It was clear
that Dania was very important to Desia. You changed my
life for my like, and it wasn't like he changed
it for the better. I have been going through so
much since he's been gone. When he was alive, I
(10:34):
was in college, I was happy, I was doing things,
and it was just like he's just really affected me
he dropped out of college, so I guess he was
like my encouraged me, I don't know, encouraged me a
life to do it line. Sorry. After giving her a moment,
(10:59):
we wanted to clarify if the phone call they had
two days before his death was actually the last time
Deja spoke with Donya. Yeah, two days before he was
sailed in to pay you heard I don't know, like
to be honest like Melissa, like you asked me at
(11:20):
the beginner, she was really nice. But when me and
the Diane were talking like she was like and sweet
to him, like he was going through a lot with
smile me. His mom really did get along. She barely
helped him with anything. This was interesting. Deja was the
(11:43):
first person to tell us that Melissa and Danye's relationship
was strained the way she is now trying to make
a thing like she really cares. It's killed me because
she did it man, Diane, who were homeless for wow,
(12:05):
it's who we got an apartment? Like his mom was mad?
Who I thought she would be. I don't know we
talking to him change the fact that how her relationships
be himble was because I don't know. Before me and
we're talking. But during if she wasn't in supportive at all.
(12:29):
We were doing everything on her own. We were going
to protests, we were traveling, and so like that's probably
why I'm just so distant from everyone because there's so
much fakeness going all. I just don't understand. Like I'm
not saying she didn't love him, but she just she
wasn't there like she. Desia is telling us that Melissa
(12:53):
and Donya weren't as close as Melissa suggests, and to
DeAsia even acknowledges here that it was dating her that
upset Melissa and made her distant from her son. When
she spoke to us, Melissa said that she did not
want Donya dating Deja. Deja went on to tell us
that right before Danyae died, he and the Melissa weren't speaking.
(13:16):
They weren't talking, like she blocked his number from our arms,
and every day even though he was living at her house,
they were they weren't having words each other. They were
into it. So that's why she was crying. So going
to say more on this because she didn't even get
to say anything to him, I'm like, I went over there.
Maybe who nights only for the night twice, and like
(13:40):
she was mad about that. I stopped going over there
and we were just talking on the phone. I asked
his cousin once more home and she was just like
in the his mom just had a little words. But
I never could keep what they were into it. So again,
Desia claims that when Danyae died, you know, Melissa, we're
(14:00):
not on speaking terms. We asked Melissa about this. We
got into it a few weeks before that. He went
to my mom's house and he came right back. Wow,
mna come back, because what what we got into about.
I'm sorry. I apologized and I was like yeah, but
(14:21):
I was trying to be like tough about it. I
was like, yeah, he was smelling so good. He had
sued on, he had fresh lining. I ain't smelled good.
I was like. I was like he was warning me,
like he got me. I'm like, so that's how he
gets these girls, you know. It was like that, So
I'm like, yeah, he smiling. He said I love you,
(14:43):
and I'm like, okay, I love you too. There were
several things that Melissa and Deja seemed to disagree about,
but most of them revolved around Danya's relationships with both
of them. Desia implied that Melissa and Danya weren't as
close as maybe Melissa was presenting. Desiah told us that
earlier in the relationship, Donya had wanted to get married.
(15:05):
Then she told us that Donia had been trying to
reignite a relationship with her before he died. He was
exact the person where he wanted to do married, like
right away out to slip. I didn't want to do that,
and I guess it kind of bothered him. I was young,
like I told him. I was like, I'm trying to
get my life to do it right now. Marriage is
(15:27):
you can't afford that right now. I mean that's good,
applantedged that, but I can't afford that. Like I said,
we had a relationship on forever, so I would just
say like he was just like a bit a good
friend m hm, like the end of the relationships that
we had, and he was just like a really differend.
I said he was trying to get back one good
(15:51):
parents with me and things like that. Pend I wasn't
m I was like, no, I don't want to miss
with anything. He ain't going either, so I was just
like no game. We told Melissa and Militia that Deja
said to us that Dane was trying to get back
(16:13):
together with her right before he died. They both thought
this was less than true. That was the opposite. No,
I know, because he sat down and talked to me
about it, like like I said, like when he was
saying about two or three days prior to what happened. Now,
(16:35):
he wasn't the opposite. Seriously, I mean, I'm sorry if
she could hear me out. Deja told us that Dana
did want to be married and have a family and
stuff like that. I mean, she says that he had
like mentioned it to her and she was just like, no,
we're not there yet. He just wanted to be married.
He wanted a baby, That's what I was gonna say.
(16:57):
He just wanted he really wanted a child. Because present
she's pregnant with his baby, and Loreta Loresa did get
bregn his baby, yes, but she lost it. This miscarriage
happened over a year before Donye's death, so it probably
wasn't something weighing on his mind right before he died. Also,
Desia told us he was not excited when Loresa got pregnant,
(17:21):
he called me and was like, I'm going to I'll
think I got a girl to ba and I was
just like, oh, anxiously happy. He's like, no, ied war
bregnant and he wasn't happy about that one. He's like,
I got a crazy baby mom. Now I'm like even though,
(17:42):
yet calmed down. So we have some back and forth here.
Melissa says Done wanted a baby. Desia says he wasn't
excited when Loresa was pregnant. Melissa says Danya wanted to
marry Loretha. Desia says that Danya called Loresa crazy, which
I guess, to be fair, doesn't mean he wouldn't want
to marry her. Deja says Melissa and Danyae were going
(18:05):
through a rough patch before he died, and Melissa, ironically enough,
said that Deja and Donja had actually not been speaking
until only right before his death. He hadn't spoken in
a while because they were into it for a while,
so all of a sudden I saw her pull up.
Something else that seemed to really bother Donyae's siblings, both
(18:26):
Militia and Javan, was that they thought Deja was faking
her crying when she was at their house for a
candlelight vigil right after Danyae died. She had were her
daughter there and what wasn't all in patio just talking
talking about memories about Danya and she she she tried
to talk whatever, and I guess I break out crying.
(18:47):
I Brea got crying and she saw crutch on the
egg like she was crying too. She was fake crying
the day of like THEO when they was still in
the backyard and they gloding and stuff. She came the
false failed to the ground, but she was crying. But
I sure she was fake. Frien was in a patio.
It didn't feel it didn't filing at all. Well what
about it didn't feel genuine? But they cry, they cry
(19:10):
like was that real obvious that it was very walked
out the house. I've seen her shed all seen in
my cora and she wiped the house, walk to aggress
and then she got an ins away. She was fine. Yeah,
she killed fake crime. She didn't come to from We
should acknowledge that we all do grieve differently. Sometimes our
(19:33):
tears explode from our faces and then just stop. And
why Desia didn't go to Danyae's funeral. I don't know.
There could be a lot of very legitimate reasons for
what it's worth, at least in so far as the
morning of Danya's death is concerned. Desia describes herself as
having just been in a daze. Now went over Julie's
(19:54):
mom's house. I went right over there, and when I
got there, she would cry. Everybody was crying, so I
really understood there and kind of blank out. Melissa seemed
to be under the impression that Desia had become aware
of the fact that Dona was reconnecting with Loretha and
(20:16):
that this made Deja jealous. Deja said Donia was trying
to rekindle romance with her, but that she was the
one who was not interested in a relationship. Really, who knows.
Apparently Dania was very open with his family and talked
about his relationships, but maybe he didn't say everything. Maybe
with some things he was more open and honest with Asia.
(20:38):
Obviously we cannot know what was going through the mind
of a man who is no longer here to speak
for himself, but I think it's fair to say that
for many of us, we are never one honest with
our loved ones. Sometimes it's to protect them. We hide
things from them to spare them grief for pain, and
sometimes we have others close to us who open up
(21:00):
to more completely. Was Danye's relationship with Melissa strained when
he died? Was he trying to get back together with Asia?
Was Desia twisting things around? In the end, what mattered
to us was who Danya was with the night he died,
or at least who he was trying to see, So
he dialed in on that question for Asia. The night
(21:23):
he died, he seemingly left the house around nine thirty
or ten, and according to like a medical expert, it
seems like he probably didn't die until earlier in the morning,
So it's probably this period of time in there when
he left the house and went somewhere. But his car
wasn't working at the time, and he didn't have a jack.
It seems as though it's someone probably picked him up,
(21:45):
would be my guess, and that he who would he do?
Did he mention anyone like that? He was he? Did
you know if he was seeing another girl at that time? Him,
I think about was the one that was supposed to
be Craty. So Loretha, who only answered one of our emails,
(22:09):
and who didn't specifically say if she and Donya had
plans the night he died. That is, if Desa was
being honest, getting into Danya's phone would probably be the
best way to solve this. I talked to his sister.
She seems to be under the impression that you might
know the pass code to Danye's phone. Is that true?
(22:35):
I have hit a clue what his cancle might be here.
Is that something you'd be willing to tell me? Because
if we could open up his phone, we might be
able to explore more of like what he was looking
at in the last couple of days before he died,
and it might be something that helps. So are you
telling me that no one has out in his phone
(23:00):
open yet? And there's it's been a whole year. The
one is ex um okay. So Dianne was kind of
like a sequence call persday. He changes how to do it,
like if he has this big Digico us different numbers
(23:20):
he has before Digico to use a different numbers. Could
you give me what your guesses would be for a
four and for a six, and then I will try
them for the four. It will be deja gave us
some guesses at pass codes. By the time we were
having this conversation, Dania had been dead for ten months.
(23:45):
She wasn't terribly confident that she remembered the codes, and
she suggested rightly so that someone should have asked her sooner.
From these first conversations we had with her, Deja seemed
nice and she did give us a lot of good
insight into who Danya was as a person. Before we
entered the call, we asked if there was anything else
(24:06):
there you could think of that may have been weighing
on Donya. He was just really tired of his being sick.
I mean, he always was like very concerned about it
because our hills wasn't good at all, and that was
like one of his major things, like his mom's hilp.
(24:26):
He really was beating up about that. Like we went
to a lot of henactors supports, like he was the
only sun and the major to a doctor's appointment. He
didn't play about that, So I think he really wanted
the love from his mom. But it was just kind
of hard sometimes because Diane, he did have a hard head.
(24:50):
He was hard head. He didn't like to get help.
That was his main thing, like he hate to get
him help from stuff liked. Right when I say he
ended it, had it getting him stale. He wouldn't even
let you see him crown or break or anything like that.
So very very guarded, emotionally guarded. He was. He is
(25:13):
very emotionally guarded. Right, he would said, I had literally
four everything out of them, like, what is going on?
Talk to me? What do you miss about him? The most?
I laughed, it's funny, had a funny laugh. Yeah. I
(25:39):
had just left um Ferguson Market because we had been
at the Ferguson Market four It was a thirty day,
thirty night shut down and that's the place that Mike
Brown Jr. Had last been before he was walking home, right, Yeah,
you know, I promised Mike Brownson you that I would
(26:01):
keep people out there, and so we have been doing
that for like thirty days or something like that. And
it was probably around one o'clock in the morning. We
were leaving going down West Foreson and I saw some
guys running and then I saw him. We were about
to head to St. Louis for the fifth anniversary of
(26:23):
the killing of Mike Brown Jr. Every year, the community
held an event at the location where he died to
commemorate Mike's life and to continue to pressure the St.
Louis County Prosecutor's Office to reopen the case and to
indict Officer Darren Wilson. The year before, for the fourth anniversary,
Melissa told us the activists have been keeping an all day,
(26:44):
all night presents outside the Ferguson Market, and one night,
right after she left, she witnessed something awful. I was
on my way home from where you was, just the
metro bus stop. Some guys, three guys, they went in
the store across the street from me, and that seen
him go in, I seen him leave out, and like,
(27:05):
well two points three seconds, I just know that they
was all three behind me. I got hit with a gun.
This is kay, and they was telling me to go
with them, so'twhere and they was taking my stuff in
my pocket. And then it makes me, you know, I
was shot in the back. When I got shot, I
couldn't run, no nothing, no more. So I started crawling
(27:26):
and the guy tried to shoot me in the head,
but at this time I had turned over and when
he took our running this weel. She got out of
the car and like he was right there to what
They could have still shot her as well, but she
didn't encourage. She got out the cormination. I was okay,
excused here, come, she asked me. I told her. She
asked me what happened. I told her, I just got shot,
(27:48):
and she literally turned to the right and looked and
said that those guys right there do it. That's how
close they were. And I was like, yes, they just
shot you. The street was completely empty except for her.
The guys could have turned around being anything to her
about her being a female, but she didn't. There wasn't
She wasn't thinking about that at the time. She was
trying to make sure I was okay. I was just
(28:09):
thinking that this is a a boy and he's done.
I honestly didn't think that he was gonna make it.
You know, he kept looking like he was going to
pass out. Yeah, I kept trying to I kept waking up,
waking up, come on, you gotta stay up, and then
once I said, um, I just what I remember is
(28:31):
I kept saying, come on, sweetheart, come on, beat baby,
wake up, wake up. What's your name? What's your name?
And he was trying to tell me his name, so
show in his eyes. I said, don't no, no, no,
I said, listen, listen, listen, my son. I would have
a fit if it was himily on the ground here.
I said, where's your mother? Where's your mom? And I
(28:52):
don't remember how I even got her on the phone,
but I got on the phone and she was screaming
and crying, and I was trying to calm her down
and let her know that even though I didn't think
that he would be okay, but I was just trying
to keep her calm. And I was telling her where
we were, and I said, I'm not going to leave him,
(29:15):
you know, I said, I'm not going to leave him.
I'm staying right here. You know, if they come back,
they're gonna have get both of me, all of us.
I said, well, I'm here. I'm not leaving until the
police gets here. I had called my mom on my own,
because if I had called my mom, as I was
feeling myself going in and out, I asked her to
(29:35):
talk to my mom with me, and then she was
talking to mom. She was keeping me up. At the
same time she was keeping me up, and he was
talking to my mom and talking to the offices and
everything is I was going in and out. How thorough
did the investigations? Seeing what was your interaction with the
Ferguson police, Like, the thing is okay, it's a street car.
(29:57):
I might in West floors. Now, simple fact that I
was on the left side of the street light. Hey,
I was in Ferguson Department. If I was on the
right side of street light, it would have been St.
Louis County, Okay. So they found the shirt on the
scene when the guy stood up their shirt after a shot.
Then somebody lost their heat. And on top of that,
(30:18):
I told you they came out the store Ferguson hand
d Nay. They could have got the cameras from the store,
But yet nobody was called my case. When cold They
told me they picked up one of the guys on
another charge and that they were sending my case to
the prosecutor's office. And I literally never heard nothing back
(30:39):
from him. Called Officer Michael bebbout the month or so
straight and he was on vacation. I honestly just gave
up on me because I'm not gonna lie. I know
that Ferguson Police Department is not the right way to be,
especially after the Mike Browns situation, the bullets hare Fingerprinson,
they got one of the guys DNA and my DNA
(31:03):
awful off the shirt and it was like just no riskmates,
and I did the line, picked out the guy, well,
one of the guys, because it was three of them,
I picked up and when they actually shot me and
it was like nobody got caught, and it is I mean,
does that leave you feeling like unsafe? Now in twenty
one and I can conceal and carry, so I'm not
(31:26):
really I just I don't be out as much as
I used to me now of course, because I mean
Kawen was paralyzed that night when he was shot in
the back. He credits Melissa with saving his life, and
he expresses just how grateful he is that she selflessly
ran to his side as he was bleeding out in
the streets. Melissa believes that she would have kept up
(31:48):
with him and his family to see how he progressed.
But two months after kawen shooting, Danye died. All of
that happened in the wake of the four year anniversary
of Mike Brown's death, and now the five year anniversary
was upon us. Melissa wasn't sure at first if she
was going to attend the memorial event on Canfield Drive,
as she was still dealing with the weight of Danne's passing.
(32:12):
But as part of the event, the Ferguson Frontline protesters
were going to be honored for the time they spent
fighting for justice for Mike Brown. So we attended the
memorial to meet up with Melissa and to bring her
the pass codes that Desia had given to us so
we could try them on Danna's phone. A few hundred
(32:36):
people gathered for the event, which featured music and poetry.
There were speeches and chants, and then the moment Melissa
was asked to attend for annual Michael Brown Memorial Weekend
is dedicated to the Furguson front Lighters. This memorial to you,
(33:12):
l Then there was a moment we didn't expect. Yeah,
this ain't no TV show, this is real life. Since
(33:32):
by beers, Edward Crawford Jr. Say no justice, no peace
was murdered. Here, a speaker went through the list of
so called Ferguson mystery deaths. She started by naming Edward
Crawford Jr. Who we explained all the way back in
episode one likely died of a self inflicted gunshot wound,
(33:54):
whether intentional or not. Based on the fact that when
he died he was in the backseat of a car
his sister was driving. Is DeAndrea Joshua was murdered here
and say no justice, no piece, no jice pe. My brother,
Darren Seals was murdered here and say no justice, no peace,
No Nazi was murdered here. Say no justice, no peace,
(34:24):
No DeAndre. Joshua and Darren Seals, if you remember, were
murdered and the cars their bodies were found in were
set on fire. Bosson Masri was a Palestinian American activist
who had been very active in Ferkson. He died the
month after Donya in November. Bosson was riding a city
(34:44):
bus when he passed away from heart failure. A toxicology
report showed that he had Sentinel in his system, and
he was public about his struggle with heroin addictions, so
it's very likely his death was accidental. Don Jones was
murderer here. Stay no justice, no peace, no Really big,
(35:05):
these are front line aftivists. There's a problem in Fergusson
for them to continue to heal us that stood up
for injustice we ain't going nowhere. Something about all of
the names being read together to a crowd that knew
(35:28):
and loved these people, with the emphatic statement that they
were all murdered when some were not, was really interesting.
Surely those who knew Edward Crawford Jr. And Bossa Masry
intimately knew there was more to their deaths than was
being said, But maybe it was beside the point. How
these young men had all died, whether they were shot
(35:50):
by a police officer like Mike, or by a gang
member as was hypothesized for Darren, whether they took their
own life with a gun like Edward, or whether was
taken by a chemical like Bossom. Every single one of
these deaths was tragic and had at its root life
in St. Louis. Life for these young men was a struggle.
(36:11):
They had to navigate so many intersecting worlds, so many
expectations of different people, all pulling them to be something
different from moment to moment. We were reminded of the
words of Tanahasi Coats, who writes in Between the World
and Me that all are phrasing race relations, racial chasm,
(36:32):
racial justice, racial profiling, white privilege, even white supremacy serves
to obscure that racism is a visceral experience, that it
dislodges brains, blocks airways, rips, muscle, extracts organs, cracks bones,
breaks teeth. You must never look away from this. You
(36:53):
must always remember the sociology, the history, the economics, the graphs,
the charts, the regressions, all land with great violence upon
the body. This sentiment was made all the more real
as we walked down Canfield Drive and encountered Dornella Connor.
What I heard was she was an undercover, so I
(37:14):
don't even know who want they shot me. She talked
to us about how during the Ferguson uprising, she was
shot in the head by an officer with a less
than lethal round while in the passenger seat of her
boyfriend's car. They bribing on my daughters uh father and
saying that he was trying to hit off a cop
death reason why they shot me, But it wasn't true.
(37:36):
Dornella and her boyfriend at the time weren't protesting. They
were driving to a gas station when an armored vehicle
blocked their path. Her boyfriend, who was driving, was trying
to maneuver the car into the gas station when officers
began firing at their car. Yeah. I passed out and
you woke up in the hospital. Yeah, okay. How long
how long were you out? I was out for three days. Yeah,
(37:58):
and you were pregnant the time house. Bring me. Don't worry.
Dornella's baby is okay. Dornella, however, is now blind in
her left eye. We walked down West Floris and Ferguson.
Police were posted on the block in a parking lot
not far from the Ferguson Market, the store where Mike
Brown Jr. Had left before being killed. People had set
(38:19):
up booths and stalls, some selling food, some selling books,
some registering people to vote. Several members of the Lost
Voices were there. We met Cheyenne Green in person, and
she still is very involved in local activism. We saw
Dante Carter walking along the road with a big cardboard sign,
getting passing cars to honk. Meldon Moffatt, one of the
(38:40):
Lost Voices members, who like Melissa, was older than the rest,
spoke with us for almost an hour. He was emphatic
that after all the protests, nothing in Ferguson had changed.
Nothing's changed. I'm not saying nothing's changed. Nothing has changed.
When they see us, they see animals. That's what they see.
Let's gonna tame this animal. Let's go, We're told community,
(39:02):
so we can get these animals on control. That's how
they look at us. Meldon quickly touched on the same
themes that Desia had. And I'm telling you all, if
you all ever do any other interview with any of
the other activists or protests, I guarantee you're gonna say
the same thing I'm about to say. No protests or
activists there's been out here has really got their life
back on track since this isn't you know, since after
(39:26):
five years, none of us we all still trying to
get back and it's been hard. And we also have
the high too. Now did it died down? We all
are living in high We had to. They were on us.
It was clear that many of the people who participated
in the uprising in St. Louis were traumatized in a
variety of ways. They had paid and we're paying a
(39:48):
heavy toll to try to change their world for the better.
They locked every last one of us up for something
they can make up. I'm move when they got locked
up more than any of these people out here, I
got locked up six times means manner of walking? What
the hell is that? Then they got um they got
a bunch of they got Dave ship, they got they
even had a book because they even got them on something.
(40:10):
Try't even put Melissa. And but because in a um
a robbery that they had nothing to do with us.
Meldon new Melissa and her family, so we asked him
about her and about don Yae when I when I
met her, I saw her on South floors, and once
we got to you know, protesting all the time, seeing
(40:30):
each other, and we just became became one and we
stew it out of her and we fought hard. She
fought hard. I fell hard. There's nothing that woman wouldn't
do to get justice for whoever childhood was. That woman
has more heart than most of them me and you
see out here that's supposed to have been out here.
But when I found out about her son, it broke
(40:51):
my heart because I know him personally, and she can
tell you that I know her son, both of her
sons and her daughter, and it broke my heart to
find out that this man was. Can you tell us
about Dania like your impression of Dania as a man
to be honest. Somebody be honest. He was real quiet.
It didn't say much. That's all I can say about it.
(41:11):
He was no, he didn't seem he seemed like he
had some things going on that he needed to get out.
What it was, I didn't know, but for my recollection
it was I could. I could sense it may have
there something had something to do with his mom's and
the illness that she's dealing with. It seemed like there
was something Meldon wanted to tell us, And after pausing,
(41:32):
he opened up, I'm gonna be honest. Wish uh. Yeah.
I don't think he was cute. I think he did
that on his own. It was just too much evidence
that I heard. I mean, and I just I just
know how to think, and you put stuff together and
you know, like if you can. This is what I
(41:52):
was talking about. When they found him hanging, there was
a cheer there. They did an autopsy, and this is
where I went in. They did an autopsy, no signs
of a struggle, no stalls, nothing. If you finished someone
trying to hang you, just this is what I'm saying.
This one trying to hang you, You're trying to fight,
(42:13):
You're gonna end up with some type of skulls of
Bruce somewhere. That man had nothing if a cheer was found,
No bruises, no nothing. The son killed himself, and she
don't want me to tell her that. But I didn't
do so because I don't want to make her think
like I'm trying to be against her, because I'm not.
But all honestly, her son killed himself. Meldon wasn't the
(42:38):
only person that day who told us they believe Danye
died by suicide. A couple other people who wanted to
remain anonymous told us they didn't believe he was murdered
for basically the same reasons. They would note the chair
found near the tree where Danielle was hanged, They would
point out that his body didn't have any wounds on it,
and they would mention that Danyae was kind of a
quiet guy. Over the course of our time looking into
(43:02):
his death, people would describe Dania differently based on how
close they were to him, which doesn't seem strange at all.
People acquainted with Danie would say that he was quiet
or introverted, while those who knew him well would describe
him as very funny and goofy. But Melton and these
other individuals were right. It is possible that Danie died
by suicide. While up to this point we did feel
(43:25):
that the investigation into his death was lacking and that
there did seem to be some odd reasoning on the
part of Saint Louis County regarding certain details, we hadn't
yet found anything incontrovertible that would flip the narrative on
its head. We hoped desperately that getting into Danie's phone
would lead us to some new insight or contact that
(43:45):
would help us nail down what happened to him definitively,
regardless of outcome. And now we had the handful of
pass codes the Deja had given us, so we left
the memorial events and met Melissa at the Starbucks and
Ferguson so we could sit down and see if one
of those pass codes would work. That's next time on
(44:06):
After the Uprising. After the Uprising is directed, produced, investigated,
written and reported by myself, Rainovschelski, and John Duffy. John
Duffy was also the editor. Dave Cassidy was producer, Sound engineering,
design and mixed by Josh Condon. Executive producers were Matt
McDonough and Tina x Eros for Now This, Brett Kushner
(44:26):
for Group nine Media, and Jess Borove was executive in
charge of production. Jonathan Hartwig and Bradley Rayford were consulting producers.
Eliza Craig was assistant producer and did additional reporting. Malory
Keenoy was a writer's assistant, Kristen McVicker and Taya Wilson
were production assistants, and Haley Klesmer was a post production assistant.
Fact checking by Alison Humes, theme song and other music
by Zachary Walter, legal by Keith Sclar and Peter Yazy.
(44:49):
Special thanks to Ann Frado, Danny Gonzalez, Barbara Copple, Alex Lester,
Bethan Macalouzo, Emily Maronoff, Ruth Vaka, and the Reporter's Committee
for Freedom of the Press. After the Uprise as a
production of Double asterisk I, Heart Media and Now This
in association with True Stories, you can find us on
Twitter and Facebook. If you have useful information about the
death of Danye Jones or anything we've covered, please leave
(45:11):
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John Duffy
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