Our card this week is Maurice Dupree Green, the Ace of Spades from Arizona.

Maurice was 22 and they were shot and killed in Phoenix, Arizona.

They were just starting to build a name for themselves as a performer, making it to the regional finals for American Idol

and acting in dozens of local productions,

including The Wiz, West Side Story, and Alice in Wonderland. But the curtain fell too soon.

According to friends and family, gender identity was fluid for Maurice. They sometimes presented

as femme and went by Melissa, as they did the night of the shooting,

which led both LGBTQ plus activists and local officials to fear that maybe this was a hate crime.

Maybe.

But investigators have struggled to pin down a definitive motive, and with the lack of that, a killer.

I'm Ashley Flowers, and this is the deck. So, The

The On March 21st, 2006, a security guard named Fidel was stationed outside a central Phoenix apartment complex.

It was shortly after midnight, and he was taking care of some routine paperwork on the trunk of a car.

The streets weren't any busier than normal, but from where he stood, he could see a woman

walking alone on a nearby sidewalk.

And then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a man running towards her.

Fidel watched as the man caught up to her, walked with her for a few steps, and then for no apparent reason, shot her in the back and ran away.

Immediately, Fidel grabbed his phone and started toward the victim.

And just as he did, he saw another man running towards her as well, with his head in his hands.

When this man noticed Fidel, he abruptly changed course and started towards him,

urging Fidel to call 911, which he was already in the process of doing.

Two patrol officers responded as more calls came in from other eyewitnesses.

...