GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Crime Junkie is a true-crime podcast, often topping the charts of Apple and Spotify's 'most popular' lists.
This Monday, hosts featured a Grand Rapids case: the death of Shakara Carter.
Carter was found strangled and killed in the 600 block of Chestnut, near Codings Plus, in an industrial area. Her body was found by a worker who was walking in to work in the early morning of March 2007.
She was 33-years-old and set to begin to testify for a sexual assault case just three days after she was found dead.
The man accused of her sexual assault couldn't have been her killer—he was behind bars. The search for who killed Shakara is one that has spanned 15 years, with little to no leads.
Crime Junkie Podcast, through donations, has helped raise money to help solve cold cases.
The Grand Rapids Police Chief spoke with podcast employees after their FOIA requests went unanswered due to a backlog with the department.
“We have a significant FOIA backlog, so the investigative reporter called to complain,” Winstrom said.
From there, Winstrom personally reviewed the file. He found that Shakara's DNA had not been tested against one suspect. He plans to complete the testing to show these types of cases never get forgotten.
Shakara's death was part of a string of sex-worker deaths in Grand Rapids in the early 2000s. A woman's body was found near where hers was dumped just five years prior.
Another woman, Starkyna Vance, who was found dead and dumped on Thanksgiving Day 2006, was also killed under similar circumstances. Police have never linked the cases. In 2014, the Kent County Cold Case team closed Vance's case using DNA evidence.
Shakara's case remains open.
“Breonna, Shakara’s daughter actually reached out. And said I want to make sure the police department doesn’t forget my mom. We haven’t,” Winstrom said.
