June 19, 2025 • 13 mins
Dr. Vanessa Tyler delves into the tragic story of Qaadir and Naazir Lewis, twin teenagers whose deaths were ruled as a murder-suicide. Friends, family and Georgia community leaders see major flaws in the case and are calling for an independent investigation. In this episode of Black Land, hear the suspicious details surrounding the death of these 19 year old twins and hear from family members who are still fighting for justice.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Too handsome, everything to live for. Twins nineteen year olds
found dead in the strangest way.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Their arms were out, their heads were facing upward.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
With the brown faces of Qaadir and Naazir Lewis pointing
toward heaven.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
You know when when you see this how they how
their bodies were positions, you know that it was execution.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
And staged.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Those who know about these things say, it sure looks
like a good old Georgia lynching.
Speaker 5 (00:37):
So in one hundred and sixteen years that the naacp
He has responded to lynchings.
Speaker 6 (00:42):
We know what a lynching looks like, we know what
it smells like, and.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
This one, they say, really stinks in black Land and
now as a brown person, you just feel so invisibles.
Not where we're from. Brothers insists this is a welcome
you to this joyful xaie. Please celebrate freedom where we are.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
I know someone heard something and where we're going.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
We the people means all the people.
Speaker 6 (01:12):
The black information that worth presents Blackland with your host,
Vanessa Tyler, Qaadir and.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Naazir Lewis were inseparable twins in the wound, together from
birth to death. Together. The initial report from GBI the
Georgia Bureau of Investigation murders suicide, then double suicide, like
they both committed suicide in a pact. Those who knew
and loved them say, no, way, never, that just didn't happen.
Speaker 7 (01:42):
They were found as if it was. They were sacrificed.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
The twins' uncle, knowing as uncle Tiger, strongly believes despite
what the GBI says, he's certain his nephews were murdered.
Speaker 7 (01:56):
Thank you so much, Vanessa. I appreciate you and your
timing it, and I appreciate your audience to listen.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Let's start with where they were found.
Speaker 7 (02:06):
Yes, so they were found at Bell Mountain and Towns County,
which is located in hiawassee Georgia.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
How were they found?
Speaker 7 (02:19):
They were found as if it was they were sacrificed
and heads faced up, bodies spread out, legs together and
arms outs laying on top of the mountains. On the
very top of the mountain, both boys together formed a
(02:43):
almost a beat.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
So let's get that picture again. Their face up, arms
spread out, feet together in the formation of like a V.
Speaker 7 (02:54):
That's correct. The heads were straight up, well facing straight up.
There was no slat. It was straight up.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
That in itself is bizarre, very much so, even more bizarre
where Bell Mountain, located in Hiawassee, Georgia up a narrow
steep road leading to the summit. Bell Mountain in Towns County,
is about two hours away from the boys home in
Gwinnett County. About ten pm the night of March seventh,
(03:25):
the nineteen year old twins who lived with their father,
stepmother and two younger brothers, went to get gas and
vanished gone until they were found dead on the top
of the mountain by hikers the next day, Saturday morning. Now,
this is ninety miles away in a place family says
they've never gone. But the old head say they know
(03:45):
a thing or two about Hyawassee.
Speaker 7 (03:48):
That area is known to historically be a sundown town.
And not only that, and even as a recently there's
been a whole bunch of KKK activity there.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
That alone is enough, they say to demand a deeper dive.
Uncle Tiger says instead, the family was told nine hours
after the twins were found and was quickly ruled double suicide.
Speaker 7 (04:15):
Want to put pressure on getting you know, wherever the
evidence leads. Let's go ahead and prosecutes whether or not,
it is law enforcement that we that were involved, because
who else could have opened up the gates.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
The gates the area where the twins were found and
that sacrificial pose was normally locked, yet no broken locks,
as if someone had a key.
Speaker 7 (04:43):
In the area known for not the tourist part, but
known for extreme hikers. That people who know that mountain,
who always hike that mountain, will always go through those
walking to else that's not on the tourist path.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
To put pressure on the GBI In Georgia Governor Brian
Kemp to do something. The family is holding a news conference.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
I want to say
Speaker 6 (05:17):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
That's Tyrese Lewis, the father of Naazir and Qaadir. If
he sounds a little odd, he recently had a stroke
and the stress of losing two sons is not helping
his recovery at all. But he's here and beside him
the support of the community, including the NAACP.
Speaker 7 (05:39):
Now let us be clear.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
There could be no real justice in this case. These
young men cannot be brought back. However, what we can
and must pursuit is the truth and accountability. We must
understand exactly what happened to them and how to ended
up in a place they had no known reason to
(06:01):
be there.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Edward Paul, president of the Gwinette County branch of the NAACP, says,
what really gets him. If the GBI is saying the
case is closed to the family, meaning double suicide, that's it,
then release the report, let them see it. If it's
still open, then the family wants to know what's going on.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
The GBI and Towns County law enforcement have demonstrated time
and time again that they cannot be trusted have been
handling cases of mysterious death of young black man.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Attorney Gerald Griggs, president of the State Chapter of the NAACP, says,
we've been here before way too many times.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
So in one hundred and sixteen years that the naacp
has responded to lynching's we know what a lynching looks like,
we know what it smells like. We know where a
cover up.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
starts out like, and this case has a very familiar smell.
Speaker 6 (06:55):
Because if you recall the ahmaud Arbury case, it was
ruled that there was no criminality by at least two
district attorneys after the police department turned it over, so
it's very similar. They gave a similar story that he
was burglarizing a house and necessitated the response by the
(07:17):
three armed vigilantes. And so as somebody who worked on
that particular case, the same thing that I'm hearing right
now gives me calls. And that's why we need an
independent investigation. If the case is not in fact closed,
then the GBI's next question should be have you turned
it over to the district attorney of that circuit? And
(07:39):
then the family needs to meet with the district attorney
that circuit. And so we're going to put the same
amount of resources behind this case that we did that case,
and we hope that it does not take ninety some
odd days and the release of a tape to show
what actually happens. Why I made the connection is because
(08:03):
many times in Georgia, the initial story does not hold
up to scrutiny of independent eyes and independent investigators looking
at it and turning over every stone.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
How could we ever forget ahmud arbery, the black jogger
trapped and shot when three white men, father, son and
their neighbor claimed they thought he was a thief. The
case almost went away, but truth came to light. Those
three white men are sitting in prison and will be
(08:39):
for a while.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
If he looks like a duck walks like a duck and quacks
like a duck, It has to be a doctor. The
investigations Sharley looks like I come up. Yes, I'm not
(09:01):
talking down on law enforcements to do a great job
and the human be sometimes in case these may not
be easy to crack. They quit yourselves any shoes of
this family when I visited them and who they were,
that is strong, honey. But I also knew it that
they have been grew up in Who wouldn't you? There
(09:26):
is a time wrets you how much.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
More to Also attending the news conference, Georgia State Representative
Gabe Okoye, the twins lived in his district. He pleads
with the GBI to take a look at it from
the family's perspective. How none of it makes any sense.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Come on, if you want to commit suicide, why do
you have to travel three hours, say away from your hands?
What stops you? You have your bedrooms, you have your backyard.
It just makes no sense. And hey, you're gonna make
it believable.
Speaker 8 (10:05):
I stand in solidarity, demanding on behalf of all the
grieving mothers all over this country that the gb I
release the information on Qaadir and Naazir's investigation.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Sister Betty Maddox Battle Muhammad founded the organization Grieve after
her son was murdered thirty five years ago. It's a
support group for those who lost loved ones to murder.
She says, the family deserves complete answers. And if it
is a double suicide, how come the gunshots eerily match?
Speaker 2 (10:44):
There were identical headshot shots, wounds to the head, headshot wounds,
gunshot wounds to the head.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Something else about this case the crime scene photos. A
volunteer firefighter is accused of take making pictures of the teens' bodies.
Scott Curlin of Hiawasseee, Georgia was charged with misdemeanor obstruction.
The GBI says he publicly shared the death scene photos.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Scott Curlin and others took so much pleasure in the
systemat white supremacist tradition. They shared Scott's murdercy photos with
their children in order to desensitize them and encourage those
terroristic behaviors.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
For its part, the GBI reports the cases still being investigated,
and the bureau has not said much else. Reportedly, GBI's
findings include information about Nazir buying ammunition three days before
their deaths and a computer showing searches on suicide rates.
Uncle Tiger tells me his nephews were smart and would
(11:49):
not do it too much to live for. Both teens
had girlfriends. He says, Nazir's is the long distance. The
day he disappeared, he missed a flight to see her
and was going to go stand by on the day
he was found dead. Both twins had interest in engineering,
Nazir studying mechanical engineering, Kadeer aviation engineering. He wants you
(12:11):
to remember their names.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Every time we speak their names. We defy the silence
that lynching, demanding the fight is sacred. Stand with us.
This is not just our fight, as a test of
whether black lives truly matter in this country. We will
not rest and sil Justice.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Asserts justice and answers whichever way the truth falls. The
family has a GoFundMe titled Justice For naazir and qaadir.
It will help the family. The father is in poor
health and they want to pay for their own second
opinion investigation.
Speaker 7 (12:51):
And we want the governor Governor camp to find another
agency to investigate this tiger.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Thank you stay strong as your family gets to the
bottom of this tragedy.
Speaker 7 (13:04):
I appreciate you. I appreciate your listeners. I appreciate all
those who have been in constant prayer and the constant
you know, supporting us and supporting this family.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
I'm Vanessa Tyler. A new episode of black Land drops
every week.
Too handsome, everything to live for. Twins nineteen year olds
found dead in the strangest way.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Their arms were out, their heads were facing upward.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
With the brown faces of Qaadir and Naazir Lewis pointing
toward heaven.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
You know when when you see this how they how
their bodies were positions, you know that it was execution.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
And staged.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Those who know about these things say, it sure looks
like a good old Georgia lynching.
Speaker 5 (00:37):
So in one hundred and sixteen years that the naacp
He has responded to lynchings.
Speaker 6 (00:42):
We know what a lynching looks like, we know what
it smells like, and.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
This one, they say, really stinks in black Land and
now as a brown person, you just feel so invisibles.
Not where we're from. Brothers insists this is a welcome
you to this joyful xaie. Please celebrate freedom where we are.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
I know someone heard something and where we're going.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
We the people means all the people.
Speaker 6 (01:12):
The black information that worth presents Blackland with your host,
Vanessa Tyler, Qaadir and.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Naazir Lewis were inseparable twins in the wound, together from
birth to death. Together. The initial report from GBI the
Georgia Bureau of Investigation murders suicide, then double suicide, like
they both committed suicide in a pact. Those who knew
and loved them say, no, way, never, that just didn't happen.
Speaker 7 (01:42):
They were found as if it was. They were sacrificed.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
The twins' uncle, knowing as uncle Tiger, strongly believes despite
what the GBI says, he's certain his nephews were murdered.
Speaker 7 (01:56):
Thank you so much, Vanessa. I appreciate you and your
timing it, and I appreciate your audience to listen.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Let's start with where they were found.
Speaker 7 (02:06):
Yes, so they were found at Bell Mountain and Towns County,
which is located in hiawassee Georgia.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
How were they found?
Speaker 7 (02:19):
They were found as if it was they were sacrificed
and heads faced up, bodies spread out, legs together and
arms outs laying on top of the mountains. On the
very top of the mountain, both boys together formed a
(02:43):
almost a beat.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
So let's get that picture again. Their face up, arms
spread out, feet together in the formation of like a V.
Speaker 7 (02:54):
That's correct. The heads were straight up, well facing straight up.
There was no slat. It was straight up.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
That in itself is bizarre, very much so, even more bizarre
where Bell Mountain, located in Hiawassee, Georgia up a narrow
steep road leading to the summit. Bell Mountain in Towns County,
is about two hours away from the boys home in
Gwinnett County. About ten pm the night of March seventh,
(03:25):
the nineteen year old twins who lived with their father,
stepmother and two younger brothers, went to get gas and
vanished gone until they were found dead on the top
of the mountain by hikers the next day, Saturday morning. Now,
this is ninety miles away in a place family says
they've never gone. But the old head say they know
(03:45):
a thing or two about Hyawassee.
Speaker 7 (03:48):
That area is known to historically be a sundown town.
And not only that, and even as a recently there's
been a whole bunch of KKK activity there.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
That alone is enough, they say to demand a deeper dive.
Uncle Tiger says instead, the family was told nine hours
after the twins were found and was quickly ruled double suicide.
Speaker 7 (04:15):
Want to put pressure on getting you know, wherever the
evidence leads. Let's go ahead and prosecutes whether or not,
it is law enforcement that we that were involved, because
who else could have opened up the gates.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
The gates the area where the twins were found and
that sacrificial pose was normally locked, yet no broken locks,
as if someone had a key.
Speaker 7 (04:43):
In the area known for not the tourist part, but
known for extreme hikers. That people who know that mountain,
who always hike that mountain, will always go through those
walking to else that's not on the tourist path.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
To put pressure on the GBI In Georgia Governor Brian
Kemp to do something. The family is holding a news conference.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
I want to say
Speaker 6 (05:17):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
That's Tyrese Lewis, the father of Naazir and Qaadir. If
he sounds a little odd, he recently had a stroke
and the stress of losing two sons is not helping
his recovery at all. But he's here and beside him
the support of the community, including the NAACP.
Speaker 7 (05:39):
Now let us be clear.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
There could be no real justice in this case. These
young men cannot be brought back. However, what we can
and must pursuit is the truth and accountability. We must
understand exactly what happened to them and how to ended
up in a place they had no known reason to
(06:01):
be there.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Edward Paul, president of the Gwinette County branch of the NAACP, says,
what really gets him. If the GBI is saying the
case is closed to the family, meaning double suicide, that's it,
then release the report, let them see it. If it's
still open, then the family wants to know what's going on.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
The GBI and Towns County law enforcement have demonstrated time
and time again that they cannot be trusted have been
handling cases of mysterious death of young black man.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Attorney Gerald Griggs, president of the State Chapter of the NAACP, says,
we've been here before way too many times.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
So in one hundred and sixteen years that the naacp
has responded to lynching's we know what a lynching looks like,
we know what it smells like. We know where a
cover up.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
starts out like, and this case has a very familiar smell.
Speaker 6 (06:55):
Because if you recall the ahmaud Arbury case, it was
ruled that there was no criminality by at least two
district attorneys after the police department turned it over, so
it's very similar. They gave a similar story that he
was burglarizing a house and necessitated the response by the
(07:17):
three armed vigilantes. And so as somebody who worked on
that particular case, the same thing that I'm hearing right
now gives me calls. And that's why we need an
independent investigation. If the case is not in fact closed,
then the GBI's next question should be have you turned
it over to the district attorney of that circuit? And
(07:39):
then the family needs to meet with the district attorney
that circuit. And so we're going to put the same
amount of resources behind this case that we did that case,
and we hope that it does not take ninety some
odd days and the release of a tape to show
what actually happens. Why I made the connection is because
(08:03):
many times in Georgia, the initial story does not hold
up to scrutiny of independent eyes and independent investigators looking
at it and turning over every stone.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
How could we ever forget ahmud arbery, the black jogger
trapped and shot when three white men, father, son and
their neighbor claimed they thought he was a thief. The
case almost went away, but truth came to light. Those
three white men are sitting in prison and will be
(08:39):
for a while.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
If he looks like a duck walks like a duck and quacks
like a duck, It has to be a doctor. The
investigations Sharley looks like I come up. Yes, I'm not
(09:01):
talking down on law enforcements to do a great job
and the human be sometimes in case these may not
be easy to crack. They quit yourselves any shoes of
this family when I visited them and who they were,
that is strong, honey. But I also knew it that
they have been grew up in Who wouldn't you? There
(09:26):
is a time wrets you how much.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
More to Also attending the news conference, Georgia State Representative
Gabe Okoye, the twins lived in his district. He pleads
with the GBI to take a look at it from
the family's perspective. How none of it makes any sense.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Come on, if you want to commit suicide, why do
you have to travel three hours, say away from your hands?
What stops you? You have your bedrooms, you have your backyard.
It just makes no sense. And hey, you're gonna make
it believable.
Speaker 8 (10:05):
I stand in solidarity, demanding on behalf of all the
grieving mothers all over this country that the gb I
release the information on Qaadir and Naazir's investigation.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Sister Betty Maddox Battle Muhammad founded the organization Grieve after
her son was murdered thirty five years ago. It's a
support group for those who lost loved ones to murder.
She says, the family deserves complete answers. And if it
is a double suicide, how come the gunshots eerily match?
Speaker 2 (10:44):
There were identical headshot shots, wounds to the head, headshot wounds,
gunshot wounds to the head.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Something else about this case the crime scene photos. A
volunteer firefighter is accused of take making pictures of the teens' bodies.
Scott Curlin of Hiawasseee, Georgia was charged with misdemeanor obstruction.
The GBI says he publicly shared the death scene photos.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Scott Curlin and others took so much pleasure in the
systemat white supremacist tradition. They shared Scott's murdercy photos with
their children in order to desensitize them and encourage those
terroristic behaviors.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
For its part, the GBI reports the cases still being investigated,
and the bureau has not said much else. Reportedly, GBI's
findings include information about Nazir buying ammunition three days before
their deaths and a computer showing searches on suicide rates.
Uncle Tiger tells me his nephews were smart and would
(11:49):
not do it too much to live for. Both teens
had girlfriends. He says, Nazir's is the long distance. The
day he disappeared, he missed a flight to see her
and was going to go stand by on the day
he was found dead. Both twins had interest in engineering,
Nazir studying mechanical engineering, Kadeer aviation engineering. He wants you
(12:11):
to remember their names.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Every time we speak their names. We defy the silence
that lynching, demanding the fight is sacred. Stand with us.
This is not just our fight, as a test of
whether black lives truly matter in this country. We will
not rest and sil Justice.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Asserts justice and answers whichever way the truth falls. The
family has a GoFundMe titled Justice For naazir and qaadir.
It will help the family. The father is in poor
health and they want to pay for their own second
opinion investigation.
Speaker 7 (12:51):
And we want the governor Governor camp to find another
agency to investigate this tiger.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Thank you stay strong as your family gets to the
bottom of this tragedy.
Speaker 7 (13:04):
I appreciate you. I appreciate your listeners. I appreciate all
those who have been in constant prayer and the constant
you know, supporting us and supporting this family.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
I'm Vanessa Tyler. A new episode of black Land drops
every week.
Host
Vanessa Tyler
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