Episode Transcript
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Hi everyone, this is your host Raven Syad and welcome back to Forgotten Echoes, a podcast
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where we dive into the mysterious and unexplained cases of black women that often get lost in
time.
Today, we're diving into the chilling case of Kanika Powell, a woman whose death left
us completely puzzled.
Despite her promising career, her ambition, and her dedication to her country, Kanika
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was murdered in cold blood.
15 years later, her case remains unsolved.
We'll explore her life, her mysterious murder, the strange occurrences leading up to it,
and the theories that have emerged since that fateful day in August of 2008.
As we dive deeper, we'll also shine a light on the unanswered questions that continue
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to haunt her family, friends, and the public.
This is Forgotten Echoes, episode 3, the murder of Kanika Powell.
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Prices for today's episode include TraceEvidence.com, Discover Hubpages, True Crime News, A Killer
in the Shadows, The Murder of Kanika Powell, Black Girl Gone, A True Crime Podcast, Crime
Lines Podcast, Official Unsolved Mysteries, and True Crime Daily.
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Now let's get into today's episode.
Our story begins in Prince George's County, or PG County, Maryland, where 28-year-old
Kanika Powell was living her best life.
Born on January 31, 1980, Kanika grew up in a close-knit family.
Her mother, Judy Powell Forrest, recalls Kanika as a spirited, feisty, fun, and ambitious
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child.
And if that's not the best way to describe a child, I don't know what is.
Kanika wasn't like the other kids.
She had a determination that set her apart.
After graduating from Largo High School in upper Marlboro, Maryland, Kanika decided to
enlist in the U.S. Army, a complete surprise to her family and friends.
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Kanika's family doesn't know what made her so determined to join the military, but her
strong desire became reality in 2000, where she served overseas in Korea.
Throughout her service, Kanika maintained close ties with her family and her hometown
friends.
In 2004, Kanika left the military and returned home to Prince George's County, Maryland.
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Not long after moving back home, she landed a contract position with the John Hopkins
University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.
Kanika's job at the laboratory involved security work related to national security projects.
She worked as a contractor, but just after a few months, she was brought on as a full-time
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employee, immediately earning the respect of her colleagues.
The exact details of her work were kept private, but what we do know is her work at the lab
was of critical importance.
I mean, at just 28 years old, Kanika was crushing it, but she wasn't one to boast about it.
She was humble.
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We also know that she had top security clearance, and much of her work remained a mystery, even
to her closest friends and family.
Her mother, Judy Forrest, recalls how Kanika would occasionally leave town for work, picking
up supplies and materials for her lab, but she would never say exactly what she was doing.
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When asked, Kanika would always reply, quote, Mom, you know I can't tell you that, quote.
Now despite the secrecy surrounding her work, Kanika lived a relatively quiet life.
She was unmarried, no boyfriend, no children, and had a close circle of friends from high
school that she remained in touch with.
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But it was in the summer of 2008 that things began to take a dark turn.
Kanika's life, which had been full of promise, would be cut short in a tragic and mysterious
way.
On Saturday evening, August 23, Kanika called her mother, Judy.
The words Judy heard that night would haunt her forever.
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Quote, it was a Saturday evening.
I'll never forget it, says Judy Forrest.
She called and said, Ma, these two men just knocked on the door saying that they were
from the FBI.
She said they called her by name.
She said, I've already called the FBI to find out if they had sent anyone, and they didn't.
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And she said they showed her a fake badge.
I guess she could tell that it was a fake from the peephole.
She didn't open the door, Forrest continues.
She called the police.
They searched the area.
They didn't find anyone, of course.
Quote.
According to her mother, the visit left Kanika feeling uneasy.
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She took the necessary steps to protect herself, contacting the authorities and alerting her
friends and family about the strange encounter.
In an email to her loved ones, Kanika recounted the event in detail, urging them to be cautious.
The email states, quote, I just wanted to share with you the scariest thing that happened
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to me this weekend.
Saturday evening around 7 p.m., a man was knocking at my door.
And as all of you know, I live alone.
I asked who it was, and he didn't answer.
So once I looked close to the door and looked out at the peephole, I saw a male figure that
was not familiar to me at all.
I asked who he was, and all he stated was that he was from the FBI and that he was looking
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for Kanika Powell.
It freaked me out completely because this man knew my name.
He held his shield up, but no picture ID, and he never gave his name.
He told me he was looking for me in regards to an investigation.
I told him that I had no idea as to what he was talking about and that he would need to
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show me documentation as well as a warrant of some sort.
So he left, and I looked out my bedroom window and saw him walking.
I also heard a voice tell him to walk in the opposite direction.
The whole situation was scary and seemed so false.
So because of this incident, not only did I get no sleep for the rest of the weekend,
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but I'm now trying to get an alarm system installed in my apartment.
And then adding a final warning stating, pass this on ladies, who knows who these guys are
and what they're doing.
Kanika also thought a second man was there as she heard someone say, go the opposite
way after the unknown assailant flashed his ID.
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But that wasn't the end of the strange visits to Kanika's door.
Now, just adding my commentary here, I think it's so terrifying that it's just the normal
evening for her.
And she's like, who is that at my door?
And she doesn't recognize who this person is.
She calls to confirm with the FBI that they sent someone and they verify that they did
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not send anyone.
How scary is that?
And I'm just thinking about Kanika.
She's 28.
She's living alone.
She's single.
Like, I mean, it's in the night and this guy is clearly trying to get her to open the door
and knows her by name.
Like she you know, it's not like he's trying to get someone to open a door for whatever
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the reason is.
He specifically asked for her name, which is super scary.
I mean, I that alone is so terrifying to me.
I also want to just recognize Kanika for how much of a badass she was in this situation
because not only did she immediately call her mom about the situation, she did all the
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proactive steps.
She got it in writing, sending an email out to friends and family, recalling the situation,
the time and day, what she saw.
I mean, she's got a paper trail.
She calls the authorities immediately.
They come out, they don't find anyone, but nonetheless, it's documented.
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You know what I mean?
She verifies and follows up with the FBI that, you know, are asking, did they actually send
somebody, which they didn't.
But the fact that she immediately calls to verify is like incredible on its own because
I think a lot of people would be like, oh, they're asking for me.
This is strange.
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You know, huh?
This is weird.
This happens again.
I'll say something, but she took immediate action.
So just for that, I'm like, what a badass Kanika.
That was, I mean, amazing.
And I don't think a lot of people would have reacted so quickly in a similar situation.
Also want to mention at the time of her death, we don't really know much about the physical
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appearance of the assailant.
It's very vague in the email she sends to family and friends stating that it was a male
figure, but that's pretty much all we know.
Just want to throw it out that later in the episode, we will get into a little bit more
of it.
But at the moment, immediately after this happens, we don't really know how, you know,
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the person or the man looked in the peephole.
So four days later on August 27th, another man came knocking.
This time, the man claimed to have a package for Kanika.
Kanika didn't let him in, and when he left to retrieve the package, he never returned.
And that's not all.
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There was yet another strange visitor.
Yes, if you're counting correctly, a third knock on her door, just hours later at 730
AM on August 28th, the very next day.
This time, the man claimed again to have a package for her.
Kanika already on edge from the previous encounters was super confused.
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Judy, Kanika's mother, in an interview said, quote, she called me early, seven or 730 in
the morning.
And she said, somebody knocked on my door again, saying they had a package for me.
Judy recalls.
She said, it's 730 in the morning.
Who delivers a package this early?
Quote.
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She also expressed her confusion over the visits.
She didn't know why these men were bothering her, and she began to wonder if she had somehow
angered someone.
She didn't seem overly frightened, but Judy could hear the concern in her voice.
Kanika decided to skip work that day, opting to run errands and get her car serviced instead.
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She told her mother she wanted to take care of things during the day, just to be safe.
Judy couldn't imagine that would be the last time she spoke with her daughter.
Now, just kind of going over the last minute or so of me talking.
I mean, this is her third knock on her door by some unknown assailant that has nothing
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that she doesn't recognize.
And the package that they're trying to deliver to her, she also doesn't recognize.
Think it's really important.
At the beginning, I was hearing this and I was like, you know, why is it so unbelievable
that somebody would try to be sending you something at 730 in the morning?
Also remembering it's 2008 and there was no overnight two day Amazon delivery and you
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didn't pay an extra $15, you know, to get things delivered overnight.
So I mean, if something was getting delivered to you at 730 in the morning, let alone that
early, which wasn't common back then, which is insane because that was 15 years ago and
I've aged myself.
You knew what you were waiting for because chances are you were waiting for a while,
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unless you had, you know, more means to get things faster, which means more money or whatever
the case is.
But majority of people were not getting things overnighted and they didn't lose track of
what was being delivered to them and what wasn't.
So that's something just fruit for thought because I just didn't think about it.
And I was like, she was so shocked that she was getting something delivered at that time,
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which that makes it all the more eerie.
They literally go to her house the night before, try and deliver a package, never come back
with the actual package.
Hours later, the following morning, they try again at like 7 to 730 in the morning to get
her to sign for this package.
Now it's just really insane and really speaks on the fact that this person or persons were
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trying to get her to open that door.
I mean, they were fake FBI agents.
They said they had a package and you know, they want her to take a look at something.
Then they're have, they're saying, Hey, we have the package now.
Can you sign for it?
And they're quoting her or asking for her by name.
It's just really, really scary.
Now later that day, just before noon, after running her errands, Kenneka was returning
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home when tragedy struck.
She was ambushed by an assailant who had been waiting for her just inside the doorway to
her apartment.
The gunman opened fire, shooting Kenneka four or five times.
She was found unconscious outside of her apartment and emergency responders rushed her to a nearby
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hospital, but it was too late.
Kenneka Powell succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead the following day, August
29th, just days after those ominous knockings at her door started.
Now I am very impressed that the neighbors called the police really fast in this case.
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I mean, it was so fast that they had mentioned to investigators that after coming out their
apartments, they could still smell gunpowder in the air.
The only thing that's really odd with this is that was the assailant that fast?
Like I mean, it's 2008.
We don't know if there's any surveillance cameras and I don't know if there was or wasn't.
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I would assume around that time, more than likely there wasn't, but also just because
we the public don't know doesn't necessarily mean it didn't happen.
It could be police are holding it close to the chest at the moment because it still is
an ongoing investigation.
But I just think it's really interesting that, I mean, they looked out, you know, they came
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out of their apartment so fast that they smell gunpowder, but they don't see anybody.
I mean, no one sees like someone running away, no one seen someone fleeing the apartments
or you know, I mean, just nothing.
No going down the elevator or running downstairs.
I just that's the part that's really mind boggling to me is just no one saw anything
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and police came fairly quickly.
I mean, they came within minutes and the fact that she was shot four or five times and they
still were able to get her to a nearby hospital unconscious but still alive speaks to kind
of how fast they showed up and we know nothing.
I think that's the part that's just really kind of crazy to me.
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Kenneka's murder baffled investigators from the start.
There was no sign of forced entry and her wallet and keys were found near her body,
ruling out robbery as a motive.
Kenneka had no boyfriend, no known enemies and there were no signs of gang activity or
personal vendettas.
Detectives began to dig into her life looking for answers.
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They noted that Kenneka had no criminal history and had always been a standup citizen.
She was a respected security contractor, a US Army veteran and someone who had worked
on sensitive national security projects at the John Hopkins lab.
But still, no one could explain why she was killed.
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The mysterious circumstances surrounding Kenneka's death led to a number of theories to say the
least.
Some people speculated that her work might have been a factor, that perhaps her murder
was related to her involvement with highly classified projects.
Maybe she found out something that she wasn't supposed to, but when investigators looked
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into her job, they found no direct link between her work and the murder.
Even her coworkers were shocked and none of the theories seemed to make any sense.
Her mother urged the police to dig deeper stating, quote, she was just living a normal
life.
It doesn't add up.
Somebody knows something and they're holding on to it and we don't know why.
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Quote.
As investigators searched for clues, more unsettling questions arose.
Who were these strange men who had knocked on Kenneka's door in the days leading up
to her murder?
Why had they targeted her?
Was it a case of mistaken identity or was she being specifically stalked?
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Was she being set up for something much darker?
How did they know her name when they approached the door?
Adding to the mystery is a series of eerie details that were found after Kenneka's
death.
Police believe the gunmen had been lying in wait inside of her apartment complex.
Kenneka was shot just before noon and neighbors reported hearing the gunshots shortly after
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the attack.
But the most unsettling detail, Kenneka wasn't even supposed to be home that day.
She had planned to go to work but chose to run errands and get her car serviced instead.
So how did the killer know she would be home?
I mean the fact that they were waiting for her in her doorway and obviously we know that
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they had tried to get into her home three times, six days leading up to her murder is
so eerie.
I mean they waited in her doorway.
And why?
Why was she being stalked?
I mean it just it doesn't make sense.
The fact that this person either was stalking her, they must have waited for her to leave
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her house to go run errands.
Were they stalking her the entire day?
Because she was supposed to be at work.
It was a work day and she had decided last minute she was going to do errands to get
them done during the day because she felt unsafe.
So they must have been one, stalking her throughout the day to know hey she didn't go to work
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she's going here.
We're gonna stalk her all the way until she gets home.
But it's also a little weird because they were waiting for her when she came up to her
apartment.
So that leads me to maybe thinking it's theory number two that there was an inside man.
Maybe she mentioned this to somebody without even thinking about it.
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Hey I'm not gonna be in today I'm actually gonna go get my car serviced.
I'll be home around noon.
You know what I mean?
Something like that because they were waiting for her.
Even the theory of stalking her throughout the day they would be coming home with her.
So all of it is just really strange or they were waiting by her door the entire day.
And that seems a little unlikely just because I feel like somebody would take notice that
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hey there's this guy around you know her house the entire day or somebody that we don't know
or doesn't live here or whatever the case is.
All in all very eerie but definitely puts a different spin to the theories.
Now after her death a second theory began to emerge.
In 2008 just three months after Kenneka's murder a man named Sean Green was also murdered
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in the area.
Well around 45 minutes away.
He was also shot to death and he was working in the security field.
He also seemingly lived a very low maintenance life.
Was his death connected to Kenneka's?
Could these murders have been the work of someone targeting people involved in sensitive
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government projects?
No solid connection between their deaths was ever made and as we know it police have ruled
it out.
Another theory investigators began to look into was the possibility of a serial killer
operating in the region at the time.
Jason Thomas Scott known as the mother daughter killer was a convicted murderer with a strange
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connection to Kenneka's death.
Scott worked for UPS and used his job to find victims.
His murders followed a chilling pattern.
Most of his victims were mothers and daughters in all of Black Descent.
Was Kenneka's murder part of this pattern?
I encourage you to take a deeper look in a Sean Green's case and the mother daughter
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serial killer and let me know what you think about these theories in the comments.
However even after all the theories and speculation Kenneka's murder remains unsolved.
Law enforcement continues to struggle to make sense of the events surrounding her death.
As investigators looked into Kenneka's background and pieced together the timeline leading up
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to her death the questions only multiplied.
Kenneka's mother believes there is more to her daughter's death than anyone is willing
to admit.
Police have never shared a specific theory on her murder but they are still investigating.
However in 2023 Unsolved Mysteries released an article that gave more insight to the case.
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Here are some of the main points.
So the summer of 2008 Kenneka was hanging out with a new group of friends and while
it was previously stated that she had no angry exes or boyfriend that turned out to be not
the entire truth.
Kenneka was bisexual and one of the newer people she was hanging out with that summer
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was her girlfriend Melissa.
Her mother did confirm that she was in fact bisexual and while it wasn't a secret she
wasn't exactly shouting it from the rooftops.
Her mother did meet Melissa a couple times and described her as quote warm and had no
red flags quote.
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However after Kenneka was shot her core friends mentioned that none of the new group she was
hanging out with that summer came to the hospital and they don't recall them even being at the
funeral.
Was the murder connected to this group?
Another bit of evidence was descriptions of the assailants that came to Kenneka's door
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over a span of six days.
The first person to knock on her door or the fake FBI agent was quote a black male with
a black hat, black north face jacket and black framed glasses quote.
And I just like to throw out the point a jacket in August in Maryland can we get any more
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suspicious?
If I had to think of a costume at like Party City or something for a fake FBI agent that
would be it.
Now the second person or the fake FedEx delivery man said they had a package for Kenneka.
He was a six foot tall black man he was wearing a FedEx uniform shirt, Timberland boots and
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shorts but there was no FedEx truck parked in front of the apartments or in sight and
FedEx confirmed they had no sign delivery under Kenneka's name.
Another point that we learned of was Kenneka came home from work to blackened mouth cigarette
buds near her front door days leading up to her murder which was odd because it indicated
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maybe somebody was waiting for her in front of her house and for a while at that.
And the last point was her mom and friends pushed for her to stay with them or to just
go somewhere safe but she refused because her and her girlfriend Melissa were driving
to ATL for a pride event August 29th the day after she was murdered and that's where the
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updates end.
Now to wrap up the new updates we learned I have a couple questions.
One did we ever test the cigarette buds for DNA and I mean this is assuming that Kenneka
bagged them took them to the lab to even be tested.
I only asked because I just am curious and Kenneka was so proactive and I mean the entire
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case all the evidence or the very little evidence we do have comes from Kenneka.
So I'm just thinking you know and just because we don't know doesn't mean it didn't happen
but did it ever happen?
Did she ever get those bagged and tested because it seemed like from the Unsolved Mysteries
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interview or article this might have happened a couple times leading up to her murder.
My second question was was her new group of friends ever questioned?
I'm sure they were but I mean I'm really just thinking about the fact that things started
taking a turn for the worse for Kenneka the summer she was murdered.
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I mean that same summer she was already a top you know secret clearance employee prior
to this summer.
So you know in a sense that kind of knocks a theory out that all of a sudden somebody
wants her murdered because of something connected to her job unless something had come up that
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we don't know about and that's a possibility.
But I do think it's really strange that she starts hanging out with these new group of
friends the same summer she's murdered.
They're nowhere to be found.
They don't come visit her at the hospital.
They don't come to her funeral and it's not a hundred percent clear but I also never saw
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any conflicting statements but I believe this might even include Melissa.
I'm not sure they just say she was part of the group of friends but they don't specifically
say Melissa never came to the hospital or funeral.
But if that's true that's even more suspicious.
I don't know something about it just doesn't feel right.
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My third question was it three different men or one man in disguise.
I don't think we ever get clarity on that.
So we find out the description of the three men but the only overlapping physical attribute
is the fact that they are tall black men.
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Now is it hard to fake you know a beard or get fake glasses or different costumes the
fake FedEx sure or the North Face jacket.
It's not and there's only so much Kanika realistically could have seen out of a peephole.
Mind you that she never came in contact with him until the day she was murdered.
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Before that she had only spoken to the person through a peephole.
So I mean these descriptions are from her point of view which can be kind of skewed
or it just doesn't give a lot of room for her to really pay attention to the small features
or to be able to see is this a fake beard or whatever the case is.
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So we don't really know if it's three different people or one person.
I myself have the theory that I do believe it might have been one person in disguise.
However we don't know for sure if that is the case or not.
And my last question is was it three knocks on her door or two.
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And I say this because you'll see different reports at least while I was doing research
for this episode I found different reports on both sides they were conflicting.
So I definitely I think everybody or all reports can come to the same conclusion that the first
knock happened the fake FBI agent.
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Now where it gets a little weird is people can either separate the second and third knock
on the door.
So the second one happens the night of the 27th.
So that evening is when she's approached by a fake FedEx worker.
They say they have a package for her.
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Kenneka notices that they don't actually physically have the package.
They say they're gonna go get it in the truck.
They never come back.
Ten hours later that following morning the day that she was murdered 730 in the morning
they come back with the package and ask for her signature.
So that's one theory I see in other reports that they kind of mesh those last two together
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and just speak on the morning that she was murdered.
So that 730 in the morning visit from this fake FedEx person saying that she needs to
sign for a package definitely happened because she called her mother right after and her
mother references that call quite a bit.
So that's my last question.
Just if I get clarity on it from what I've read and what I've gathered there were in
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fact three different visits to her door by this unknown assailant.
But I wish we would just get a little bit more clarity on that from the Prince George
County Police Department.
Let's forward to 2025 and we haven't received any further updates on her case.
Kanika Powell was a loved daughter, a skilled professional and a woman full of potential.
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Her death shocked her family, friends and colleagues.
And as the years have passed her case has remained a tragic mystery.
Now here's the call to action.
If you or anyone you know has information about the murder of Kanika Powell please contact
the Prince George's County Police Department at area code 301-352-1200 or the crime solvers
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hotline at area code 866-411-TIPS.
A reward of up to $25,000 is being offered for any information leading to an arrest.
Kanika was a bright woman who had the whole world in front of her.
Her family deserves justice.
She deserves justice.
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Thank you for tuning into episode three of Forgotten Echoes.
Please do me a favor and show your support by following the podcast and liking subscribing
and sharing this episode.
I'm Raven Thiad and I'll see you next week with another case that needs to be remembered.
Stay vigilant, stay aware and keep the echoes of the forgotten alive.
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I'll see you soon.