The Murder of Sakia Gunn | True Crime

REDRUM true crime

redrumpodcast

History, True Crime

4.6 • 532 Ratings

🗓️ 1 June 2026

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sakia Gunn was a 15 year old girl from Newark, New Jersey, whose life was taken in the early hours of the 11th of May 2003.

This episode follows the case as we unpack the final moments of Sakia’s life, the confrontation at a Newark bus stop that changed everything, and the devastating moments that followed. We explore the investigation into her murder, the arrest of the lead suspect, and the legal questions surrounding hate crime legislation in the early 2000s. We also look at the wider social context of the case... what it meant to be a young Black lesbian teenager in 2003, the realities of navigating identity at a time of far less acceptance, and how Sakia’s death sparked outrage, activism, and lasting calls for change.

But what happened to Sakia Gunn didn’t end at that bus stop… and the questions her death raised are still being asked more than 20 years later.

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Transcript

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0:31.4	It was just after 3am in Newark, New Jersey.
0:34.9	Five teenage girls were waiting for a bus home when a white car
0:38.8	pulled up beside them. Inside were two grown men. What started as unwanted attention on the
0:45.0	street quickly turned into one of those girls fighting for her life and a night that would end
0:51.2	in tragedy. This is Red Rum, stories about the true victims of crime.
0:56.0	I upload episodes every Monday and Thursday. Make sure you're subscribed so you never miss an episode.
1:03.5	Our case today is about a teenage girl called Sequea Gunn. She was born on the 26th of May
1:09.1	1987 and so our case takes place in 2003.
1:13.4	Sequea lived in the Velsberg section of Newark, with her mother Latona and her grandmother
1:18.9	Felma. Sechia was a star basketball player, she actually wanted to play as a guard in the NWBA.
1:26.9	That was her life goal, and her uncle Maurice said that she was just loved by everyone.
1:33.3	Quote, my mother said she never worried about this kid because she always reported in. That was a routine.
1:40.3	So by all accounts, Sakia is super responsible. And I want you to remember that for where we're about to get to.
1:48.5	Because she's young, but she is trusted. Her mother, her grandmother, they know she's a smart teenager.
1:56.1	And because of that, and I think a little bit because of the time we're in, 2003, she is allowed
2:02.8	at night, she's allowed to go out late, she's allowed to hang out with her friends because
	...

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