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Trace Evidence

027 - The Murder of Kanika Powell

Trace Evidence

Steven Pacheco

True Crime, Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.74.2K Ratings

🗓️ 18 November 2017

⏱️ 54 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Kanika Powell was a brilliant twenty-eight year old woman living in Prince George County, Maryland. After a tour of service in the Army, she came out and began work as a security contractor. Much to her delight, she found work at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. After two years working as a contractor, she was hired on as a full time employee. Her work required a top secret classification and she was involved in securing projects related to National Security and in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security.

The nature of her work has never been revealed for public consumption, and though the Lab did confirm that she worked there, they would not release even what her job title was. On Saturday, August 23rd, 2008, Kanika had a frightening experience where a man posing as an FBI agent had tried to gain access to her apartment. He knew her name, and approached her door, but Kanika was intelligent enough to not allow him inside. She later called the police to report the incident and sent out an email to family and friends telling them the strange story.

Four days later, a different man showed up, claiming to have a package for her. Again she did not open the door. She called her mother about the second incident, took the day off from work and ran some errands. When she arrived back at her apartment at approximately 11:50am, someone was waiting in the hallway and shot her multiple times. Kanika never regained consciousness and passed away as a result of her injuries the next day.

Police were baffled by the seemingly motiveless crime and didn't have so much as a single suspect. Three months later, Sean Green, a thirty one year old man working in as an IT professional for a National Security contractor was shot nine times while sitting at a red light. The attack took place just twenty-five miles from where Kanika had been murdered, and the similarities didn't end there. Many have speculated that both Kanika and Green were murdered by the same individual, or possibly for the same reason.

Why was Kanika Powell murdered? Was it simply a random act of violence? Was the murder perpetrated by someone she knew? Is she a yet unproven victim of the "Mother Daughter Killer" Jason Thomas Scott? Was her murder part of a larger plan which also targeted Sean Green or was Kanika the victim of a murder for hire scheme?

Join host Steven Pacheco as he attempts to unravel the mystery of this violent murder with possible ties to a serial killer, a hired hitman or a greater conspiracy in the underbelly of National Security.

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Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sources: https://www.trace-evidence.com/kanika-powell

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

28-year-old Kaniika Powell was a hard working and ambitious woman with a great love for

0:13.6

her family and a strong drive towards her dreams.

0:18.0

After graduating from high school, Kaniika was unsure of where she wanted to go, but eventually

0:23.1

found her place in the United States Army.

0:26.9

After spending time in Korea and sharpening her skills, Kaniika began working as a security

0:32.0

contractor.

0:33.9

When she returned home to Prince George County, Maryland, she continued to look for opportunities

0:39.1

in her field of expertise.

0:41.6

She was very close with her mother and talked frequently, sharing stories about her life

0:46.3

and just looking for the love that only a mother can give.

0:50.3

In 2004, Kaniika landed a security contract with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics

0:56.4

Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.

0:59.4

Though the exact nature of her job has never been revealed, it is known that she worked

1:03.7

as a security officer and was responsible for protecting items related to projects in

1:08.9

the field of national security.

1:11.7

The lab had over 400 active projects, many of which were being done in conjunction with

1:17.0

the Department of Homeland Security.

1:20.1

Kaniika often traveled for her job as far away as California, working as a chaperone for

1:25.6

project materials and information.

1:28.9

Despite her closeness with her family, she took her job extremely seriously and never

1:33.7

revealed any information, often telling her parents that she would be going out of town

1:38.3

for a few days but could not share her whereabouts with them.

...

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