If you are popular, life is easy
at the top of the social ladder.
She had high hopes for them to become friends.
MARIE: But the women were practically enemies.
It was not a pleasant situation.
They made her feel unwelcome in her own home.
It was a ticking time bomb that was just about to explode.
She felt threatened by KC.
His existence was threatening to her, because
he represented something that she had never experienced.
When I arrive on scene, there is a lifeless person on
the floor, and there's blood everywhere.
MARIE: How does she turn into a violent killer without
any remorse, just like that?
I've never seen anything like it, ever.
[theme music playing]
♪♪
Murfreesboro is a small town right outside of Nashville.
MTSU, or Middle Tennessee State University,
was definitely the heart and soul of Murfreesboro.
It's just a very awesome university.
I loved going there, and everybody just gets along,
and, uh, it's just like a very homey feel.
NARRATOR: The Division 1 school is known
for its first-rate sports program,
and in 2011, the women's basketball team,
the Lady Raiders, are riding high as queens of the campus.
We had been successful the last four or five years,
winning conference championships,
progressing on to the NCAA tournament.
The Lady Raiders were a big part of MTSU.
Our fan base was phenomenal.
We were one of the top athletic teams at MTSU.
These girls are definitely at the top of the social ladder.
Athletes are always most revered on campus,
as well as the cheerleaders.
Next in line, you would have the sororities and fraternities.
And then I would say it just breaks down to your class,
um, whether you're a senior, junior,
sophomore, and, of course,
that would leave the freshmen to be at the bottom.
So we kind of had it, like, made.
When any of us think back about our college career,
those are some of the best friends we've ever had.
[indistinct radio chatter]
KRISTY: When I arrive at the apartment,
the scene is so chaotic.
We don't know who might be a suspect,
who might be a witness, who might be a victim.
And there is a lifeless person
on the floor, and there's blood everywhere.
NARRATOR: When freshman, Shanterrica Madden,
and junior, Tina Stewart, move
into Raiders Crossing Apartments,
they are both on full scholarships,
Tina for athletics, and Shanterrica for academics.
I'm not quite certain how Shanterrica
and Tina got paired -- from what I heard,
Raiders Crossing Apartments
tried to get people from the same background together.
Shanterrica and Tina were both from Memphis.
They both attended the same high school,
Central High School,
NARRATOR: But just because they came from the same
high school does not mean they ate lunch together.
Tina is a popular athlete, while Shanterrica
is a brainy wallflower.
The basketball team at Central High School did very well.
It would be a natural for Tina to be very well known
in her high school and be a popular person there.
I think that Tina would have had a celebrity status.
ANNE MARIE: Tina grew up in a hard place in Memphis,
but she grew up in a family that was super close knit.
They were very supportive of each other, and I know her mom
and her dad worked really, really hard
to provide a living for them.
RENEE REECE: Shanterrica was very smart.
She was on the honor roll, very in her books.
I would definitely call Shanterrica a hard worker,
determined.
I do believe Shanterrica was maybe one of
the first in her family to go away to college.
So that's a big deal.
I know that she came up in a good family.
I definitely feel like Shanterrica parents expected her
to hold her morals
and go to MTSU for what you're going there for.
So she was very loving
and happy and quiet.
MARIE: She came from a very sheltered childhood,
from a strict family.
I don't think that Shanterrica went to prom.
She did not date.
Shanterrica was quiet, studious,
shy, and unfortunately, easily forgotten.
NARRATOR: Tina and Shanterrica are as good a fit
as oil and water.
MARIE: Shanterrica did not have a social life,
so she wasn't even on the social ladder
compared to Tina.
RENEE REECE: I highly doubt Tina knew who
Shanterrica was before them becoming roommates.
I do know that Shanterrica
already knew who Tina was from high school.
Shanterrica, I would assume, would have had
high hopes for them to become friends.
NARRATOR: But as the semester kicks off
and Tina's busy practice and social life ramp up,
it doesn't include hanging with nerds like her roommate.
The core group that hung out with Tina would've been
Keke, Lauren, Kortni, and Icelyn.
MARIE: They would hang out in the common area together,
eat, watch TV,
probably do some homework, as well, while Shanterrica
would remain alone in her bedroom.
I think Shanterrica was very concerned about her grades.
I think she also felt the pressure to be
the perfect student.
RENEE REECE: So Shanterrica, if she's trying to study,
but her roommate has 10 people in the living room,
it can be hard, and she felt like it was to make her
uncomfortable and to make her leave.
NARRATOR: To avoid the tension with Tina,
Shanterrica finds her own group
of supportive and like-minded friends.
I stayed in Corlew Dorm, and I met Shanterrica through
a mutual friend that lived in the same dorm.
It was typically me, Lesha, Shanterrica.
MTSU is not an easy school to get in.
You have to have a certain ACT score,
so we were all very studious.
Our friend group was small.
We were all new to college life.
So I feel like that just really connected us.
As far as parties and things of that nature,
she never came off as that type
that wanted to party or hang out.
It was definitely stay in my books and do what
I have to do so that I can move further in life.
NARRATOR: Shanterrica may be a serious
and hard-working student,
but when it comes to cleaning up the apartment,
Tina gives her an F.
ANNE MARIE: Tina came into the locker room
one day before practice.
She came in to tell us a story about Shanterrica was eating
her food, and we're all like, that's your food.
You bought that food.
Why would someone else be eating
your food without at least asking?
MARIE: Shanterrica was also the messy roommate.
She did not clean up after herself after cooking.
She left dirty dishes in the sink,
trash in the common area.
Her room was generally messy.
She came across as someone who had never even, like,
had to clean up growing up.
NARRATOR: In retaliation,
Tina, with the support of her basketball sisters, fights back
with a little passive aggression.
Tina ended up labeling the house.
There was two of everything, two toasters,
two water jugs, and if it was Tina's, it had her name on it.
It definitely made Shanterrica feel unwelcome in her own home.
Felt like she -- she felt like it was a little petty.
ANNE MARIE: We would just laugh about it,
because some of the stuff was ridiculous.
Like, it was just so simple and just like, what in the world,
like, why would someone be, you know, acting like that?
Tina even tweeted that Shanterrica was unable to --
to cope with basic responsibilities.
NARRATOR: A public attack from one of the campus
queen bees is the social kiss of death.
Shanterrica was mortified by being called out
on social media.
So I think she just became very resentful toward Tina.
Shanterrica definitely didn't like it,
because she felt like she was being cyber-bullied,
felt like she was being picked on.
Although her name wasn't used,
she knew that everyone knew that she was Tina's roommate.
NARRATOR: Neither can move out, as the apartment
is paid up for the entire semester.
Stuck living together,
the roommates soon find a new cause for conflict.
We did smoke marijuana occasionally, whether to
experiment or just to
wind down from a long day, just to relax and chill out.
You couldn't smoke in the dorms.
Really the only option
or only place to smoke would be at someone's apartment.
NARRATOR: And since Shanterrica's friends
all live in the dorms,
there's only one place they can go.
[exhales heavily]
One day, Tina came home from practice, and when she got
in there, she could smell, uh, marijuana,
and she knows, like, that's not
allowed for her, because we're athletes, and we're drug tested.
So she was not very happy about it.
DIANE: If a coach came over to check curfew,
and there was the smell of marijuana in the air,
that's not gonna be a good situation.
We randomly drug test our athletes throughout the year.
Those were concerns for Tina or any athlete.
Tina was extremely upset about the situation, because she could
lose her academic scholarship if she tested positive
for marijuana.
So she confronted Shanterrica and asked her
not to smoke pot in the apartment.
ANNE MARIE: And from there, I assumed Tina thought, okay,
she's gonna respect me.
We've talked about it, and it's not gonna happen again.
Shanterrica obviously didn't respect her,
because she continued to do so.
MARIE: I'm sure that Tina was thrown off
by Shanterrica's behavior.
Tina was not used to anyone questioning her authority,
and I think for Tina,
you don't disrespect people.
You don't get away with that.
NARRATOR: But Shanterrica feels even more
disrespected than Tina,
and it's because of Tina's strapping basketball
boyfriend, KC Anuna.
She was scared and really didn't know what to do.
RENEE REECE: I never thought that it was going
to escalate the way that it escalated.
Both of them were so caught up in the situation
that they couldn't leave it, and it's going to explode.
MARIE: Petty issues between Shanterrica and Tina escalate
beginning in the spring semester.
Things do not improve -- their relationship does not improve
after a winter break, it only gets worse.
NARRATOR: In their Raiders Crossing apartment,
the tension between Tina Stewart
and Shanterrica Madden is getting thicker,
and the spark that will set off an explosion is
Tina's boyfriend, KC Anuna.
DIANE: KC played on the basketball team,
and the men's and women's teams are always
in the gym overlapping.
So I think that's probably how they met.
MARIE: KC was well known.
He is a nice guy.
I've dealt with a lot of jocks in my life.
Like, he's not one of the -- he's not a bad one.
You saw him walking down the hall,
you might go, ooh, who's that dude?
Because he's well built.
Took care of himself and was very confident.
He carried himself well.
So that might be intimidating to some people.
NARRATOR: When Tina and KC started dating in 2008,
it was like two stars colliding.
It was a connection that I really,
you know, you can't really explain.
It's just like, wow, these two are, like,
perfect for each other.
KC was such a positive influence on Tina, and he
improved her basketball skills, her game,
her commitment to improving herself and that he was a --
a net positive on her life.
NARRATOR: In the pecking order that is college,
this power couple is at the very top.
If you were involved in campus and aware of campus life
and what was going on,
you knew that they were a couple.
They could be considered a little celebrity.
You just knew, like, they're it.
There's the it couple.
NARRATOR: Without consulting
Shanterrica, Tina invites KC to spend
time with her at the apartment,
and soon, he becomes a fixture.
RENEE REECE: Maybe because Tina was older
or because of her school status,
she didn't feel that she needed the permission.
Oh, I -- I don't have to ask anyone permission.
This is my place, too.
Shanterrica definitely felt like it was more of Tina
and her boyfriend's apartment than her and Tina's apartment.
So there was definitely times where she
would come home, and they're just hanging out.
And so she felt okay, well,
let me just go in my room and close my door.
MARIE: She never had a boyfriend before.
So this was totally new to her, everything was.
I don't even think she had kissed a boy.
Shanterrica felt threatened by KC.
His existence was threatening to her, because
he represented something that she had never experienced.
But do I think that he necessarily
cared about her opinion on certain matters? No.
NARRATOR: Then, one afternoon, things with KC go
from awkward to disturbing for the bookish roommate.
Shanterrica was home taking a shower, probably either
in between class or getting ready for class.
She's wrapped up in a towel or a robe
and came out to KC being there.
Tina was not there, it was just her and KC.
She was in shock and just didn't know what to do.
MARIE: She just was not prepared for that.
She took it as a threat when most anyone
else would have thought of it just as an accident.
I truly don't think that Shanterrica had gotten
to that point in life where she was familiar
with the boyfriend spending the night
or staying over or even a couple living together
that's not married -- that was foreign to Shanterrica.
NARRATOR: Frightened and embarrassed,
Shanterrica calls her mother.
RENEE REECE: Her mom was very protective over her,
especially with her being away, away from home,
not just a five-minute drive.
It's a few hours to get to and from.
Shanterrica's mother contacted the apartments,
and the apartment contacted Tina
to set up a mediation between Tina and Shanterrica.
Shanterrica never told Tina about the situation
with KC before calling her mother to complain.
Tina probably felt like Shanterrica was snitching on her
and just another thing that was added to everything that
was going on.
I think Shanterrica wanted the apartments
to snuff KC out.
Like, I think she was hoping that they could be her weapon.
NARRATOR: But when the mediation day arrives, Tina doesn't show.
They were saying Tina just didn't show up,
but Tina wasn't at the mediation because we were
gone on the road for a basketball trip.
And so she wasn't able to be present at the meeting.
So that put more strain on their already
nonexistent friendship.
MARIE: The two women were practically enemies.
They did not speak to each other unless
absolutely necessary.
Their dislike for each other was out in the open.
There was no hiding how they felt about each other.
RENEE REECE: With KC being there,
I know Shanterrica was very uncomfortable,
probably also a little scared.
ANNE MARIE: The feeling in the apartment would have
been like a ticking time bomb that was just about to explode.
We were all excited, because most of us have
finished up with our exams, and we were
about to be leaving for spring break.
ANNE MARIE: We were getting ready to leave for a tournament.
Tina was at basketball practice.
Practice was great, and Tina goes
back to her apartment after practice.
Me and Shanterrica decided to meet up
at the dining hall
that was attached to the dorm that I stayed in.
The plan was we were gonna go eat,
go back to her apartment so that she could wash
her clothes and smoke.
We got to the apartment -- we were under
the impression that we were the only ones there.
All the doors were closed, there was no TV
or no music playing.
We went into her room, we twisted the joint,
and we started smoking
pretty much once we got there and just sat
there for a minute while she's gathering clothes,
putting clothes in the washer and the dryer.
NARRATOR: But the girls don't know that
there's someone else in the apartment.
MARIE: While Shanterrica and Renee are smoking marijuana,
Tina is in her bedroom unbeknownst to them,
Tina smells the marijuana.
I think that she was furious and decides
to call security to file a formal complaint.
She hopes that security will stop
the situation and confiscate the weed.
NARRATOR: Then campus queen Tina decides to go public,
outing the conflict in real time to her large audience
on social media.
At 5:33 PM,
Tina tweets, "I really hate this bitch.
My roommate, that is."
[tweeting noise]
RENEE REECE: Probably about 10 minutes
after we get done smoking,
there's a knock on the front door,
[knocking noises]
and I'm thinking, you know, if it's Tina,
she's not gonna knock, so I'm like, who is it?
And Shanterrica's like, "It's the cops."
So Shanterrica opens the door,
and he let us know that he had gotten a call from
her roommate.
We thought we were there alone, and of course, we were a little
upset, as anyone would be after
getting the cops called on them.
We knew that we shouldn't be smoking.
By this point,
that's when I noticed Tina is there, because she's
standing kind of propped up
against the doorway, listening to what's being said.
At 5:55, a follower posts, "Snitches get stitches."
Tina replied saying, "That bitch is getting stitches."
She stayed out there the whole time,
kind of with a smug look, like,
"Yeah, I finally got you. You're in trouble now."
NARRATOR: As the security officer
searches Shanterrica's room,
Tina turns her roommate's drug bust
into a live humiliation event.
At 6:01 PM,
she tweets, "I hope he finds some.
Please. Please. LOL."
RENEE REECE: I was scared.
If we had gotten arrested for marijuana,
it would have definitely been a big deal,
not just with our parents, but also with the school.
He sees what was left of the blunt.
He made us throw everything away, flush what we could.
And then the cop walked Shanterrica out
to throw away the remainder trash that we had.
Shanterrica comes back in and walks directly
to Tina's door, and was like,
"What's going on? Why did you call the cops?"
I don't know if she was fed up or what
gave her that courage to go talk to her.
But I was shocked, because that wasn't her.
She wasn't the confrontational type.
MARIE: Tina is fed up with the situation.
She is ready for some type of resolve, whatever that may be.
She wants this done.
She's reached her limit.
And from there, it was just a lot of back and forth yelling.
I can't remember it word for word but, "Oh, well,
"you told the office,
so yeah, I called the cops -- y'all in there smoking."
You know, yada yada,
"I told you I didn't like y'all in here smoking."
So at that point, that's where they were just throwing out,
oh, well, you did this or you did that,
kind of going back and forth.
I definitely thought Tina was getting the best of Shanterrica.
NARRATOR: Ninety minutes after Tina called security
about the pot smoking,
a 911 call comes in from the Raiders Crossing Apartments.
[phone beeps]
ANNE MARIE: KC played on the men's basketball team
at MTSU, and he had plans to come to
the apartment afterwards, after practice.
KC: I just finished practice.
I get my phone, and I call -- I call, uh,
it rings all the way through the same time I call,
and it's like somebody's pressing ignore,
and I'm just like, you know, what's going on?
So I text, what are you doing?
Tina said, "About to get in the shower."
Something -- it just wasn't right.
She was the type of person that she wanted me to be
on time, you know, like it's one of things -- we, like,
you gotta understand, we've been dating for a while,
know each other's schedules.
It's just kinda like, why are you just getting in the shower?
It just felt odd.
It totally felt odd.
I just got in my car and went -- went over there.
I go upstairs, and I open the door.
Shanterrica was right by the door.
I was like, "Have you seen Tina?"
And then she was like, "No," then she just takes off.
Every light is off except that hall --
the light leading to the hallway.
So, uh, I'm walking back, I open Tina's door,
and I see her laying flat on the floor.
I'm like, split second, I'm seeing, like, she's not moving.
And then that's when I see the blood.
So I immediately went towards her, turned her over.
I'm just like this -- this doesn't happen.
This is not, like -- this is --
this is not what happens in real life.
You know this -- this is like -- it's -- it's like a movie.
KRISTY: At the time, I was on patrol in
my zone, which was Zone Three in Murfreesboro.
Once dispatch gives me the information as to
the location, I go up to the apartment.
As I came around to the actual apartment,
the door was ajar.
And as I entered the bedroom,
the male subject was yelling, he was crying.
[phone beeps]
He was just distraught and not really making much sense.
I send him out to go downstairs to --
to direct EMS up to the apartment.
KC: My mind's going so many different places.
I'm sad. I'm angry.
Shanterrica was just handcuffed,
and she's sittin' in front of the steps,
and she was like, "It's not me.
I didn't do it. I didn't do it. I didn't do it."
Shanterrica fled the apartment, and my zone partner arrived on
scene, and she tried to hide under a car.
Luckily, there were witnesses around.
They could tell that something just didn't seem right.
So they were able to direct him to her location.
After a brief foot pursuit, she was apprehended.
NARRATOR: Moments later, Tina is rushed to a nearby hospital.
KRISTY: Even though KC called 911,
we never know who might be the suspect.
But he was visibly distraught,
very emotional, and you could just see that he was just
so upset, in disbelief almost.
KC: They didn't make me feel like I was a suspect.
I'm sitting in the police car, and they're telling me
I have to write a -- write a statement,
so I'm writing a statement.
NARRATOR: With the apartment cleared,
the crime scene is processed.
J. PAUL: There appeared to be a stab wound.
Because of the nature of the wound and that
she had more than one wound that appeared to be caused by
a same type instrument,
they determined that they were probably looking for a knife.
They begin the search of the apartment to see if
they can find an instrument that could have caused
those injuries.
They're wanting to recover the weapon.
NARRATOR: There's no sign of the knife in the apartment,
so the search continues outside.
The police discovered that nearby there is a dumpster.
Now their focus shifts to looking inside of that dumpster.
During the search, the police discover a clear plastic bag.
When they open up the bag, they discover
a Tinker Bell blanket.
The blanket has blood on it.
When they open up the blanket,
a broken knife with blood on the knife
falls from the blanket.
NARRATOR: The knife is sent to the crime lab for testing,
along with other evidence collected at the scene.
As Shanterrica is driven to the police station,
KC gets devastating news.
While I'm sitting in the police car,
the police came down, and, uh, I was just like,
you know, hey, will she be okay?
Will she be okay?
She just kind of was like, you know, "She didn't make it."
So I just remember, I just -- I just dropped.
I dropped.
NARRATOR: Tina has died as
a result from a stab wound to the chest.
How is this possible?
How did, you know, we not see this?
How did it get to this point?
A lot of just disbelief and shock that it, you know,
this happened to someone who has had
such a promising future.
NARRATOR: Meanwhile, wallflower turned mean girl
Shanterrica, is questioned at the station.
We didn't know each other.
J. PAUL: During the interview itself,
her demeanor is very calm, very matter-of-fact.
She does not appear to be emotional or overwrought.
NARRATOR: Detectives press Shanterrica
about what happened in the apartment.
NARRATOR: Nae-Nae is actually Renee, her bestie.
Yeah.
J. PAUL: She told investigators that after that altercation,
Shanterrica decides to leave the apartment.
Renee Reece has left the apartment,
but the apartment door is unlocked.
She says that while she was outside in the parking lot,
she noticed a man.
Yeah.
NARRATOR: Shanterrica Madden is telling police her theory
about who killed her roommate, Tina Stewart.
J. PAUL: Detective Taylor, after listening to the story,
realizes that this story doesn't make a lot of sense.
And through the investigation, that was
never determined to be the truth.
NARRATOR: Detectives also realize they have a new person
of interest who left the scene of the crime.
NARRATOR: And with Shanterrica sticking to her story,
detectives are desperate to speak to Nae-Nae -- Renee --
but she is nowhere to be found,
so they turn to the media for help.
RENEE REECE: The first thing I see on the news was my actual
description, my name,
what I was wearing, that they had one suspect in custody
and one suspect that fled the scene
and had my description down as
the suspect that fled the scene.
I was terrified.
Um, I was willing to take a drug charge
if it came down to it, because I was smoking.
I was not willing to take a murder charge.
I instantly called 911.
I let them know I'm not a suspect.
I'm more than happy to answer any questions to clear myself.
NARRATOR: When she gets to the station,
Renee gives police her account
of what happened in the apartment earlier that night.
RENEE REECE: I told them when they started arguing,
I was in Shanterrica's bedroom.
The yelling started turning to boom, boom, boom,
like furniture moving.
They hitting walls at this point.
So I closed and locked the door, and I knew that it
had escalated to not just a verbal fight
but a physical fight.
NARRATOR: What Renee hears next makes her blood run cold.
I told them I heard, you know, "Stop,
oh, she's got a knife," and something along those lines
of I -- "Stop," "My heart's beating,"
or "My heart hurts."
[knocking noises]
Shanterrica is like, "We have to go."
And I'm like, first thing that comes to my mind,
I'm like, "Where'd your roommate go?"
And she was like, "Oh, she left."
So I'm like, okay, so I'm grabbing my stuff,
getting ready to head out
as Shanterrica is going back and forth into
Tina's room.
And I noticed kind of blood on her arm.
I asked her, you know, "What happened?"
You know, I'm thinking it's just
from the struggle of the fight.
And she was like, "Oh, she cut me."
It was at that point that she came out,
wrapping something in a purple Tinker Bell blanket.
That's where I'm like, something's not adding up.
That's when I see the knife drop.
When I seen the knife drop, I instantly -- she tries to,
you know, "Hurry, here, take this with you."
And I'm like, "No, I'm not taking it with me."
At that point, I'm scared,
not knowing what had happened,
not knowing what was coming next.
NARRATOR: Renee tells detectives she quickly contacted friends,
who picked her up nearby
and that she was the anonymous 911 caller.
RENEE REECE: And then I hung up.
NARRATOR: Detectives don't believe Renee is involved,
just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Renee Reece is cooperative with
the police during their interview with her.
She was never charged with anything regarding
the death of Tina Stewart,
NARRATOR: But they can't say the same for Shanterrica,
and they need a confession.
Mm-hm.
NARRATOR: Shanterrica decides to tell her version of the truth.
And then a fight began.
She said that Tina Stewart was much stronger than her
and that Tina Stewart got her down on the floor
and that her head was hurting and that she was being
beat about the head
and that she reached up,
and she saw on Tina Stewart's bed a knife.
NARRATOR: In that moment, after months of bickering
and humiliation, Shanterrica snaps.
She says that she was acting in self-defense
and that it was an accidental stabbing in self-defense.
NARRATOR: But Tina's wounds tell a very different story.
She only said she stabbed her once,
but this was a vicious attack.
It was the state's theory that Shanterrica
went to the kitchen and retrieved the knife
and then took the knife back to Tina Stewart's bedroom
before the attack -- this was something
that had multiple wounds and multiple efforts
to injure someone that showed a settled intent
to actually cause harm and to inflict
those injuries on Tina Stewart.
NARRATOR: And even more disturbing
are Shanterrica's actions after the attack,
in the almost 45 minutes
between Renee leaving and KC arriving.
Shanterrica Madden continued to do her laundry.
She did not call 911.
She actually took Tina's phone and removed it from her
so that she couldn't have access to it.
The most compelling evidence against Shanterrica Madden was
the cellphone and the fact
that she had taken the cellphone away from Tina.
She sent out false texts to KC Anuna,
texts that were designed to help throw off the timeline
and help to disguise what the truth was.
She then decided that she wanted
to get rid of the murder weapon,
and she took the murder weapon in
a blanket and then put it into the dumpster.
NARRATOR: The DNA on the bloody knife is found
to be a match for Tina's.
The blood samples taken from Shanterrica's hands
during her interrogation test positive for Tina's DNA.
I truly believe that because of the major
differences between the two,
built to the animosity and the tension and the anger.
But I honestly felt like it was
just a in-the-moment self-defense.
The shock...
it -- it reverberated throughout every aspect of this community.
You would not pick Shanterrica, because
she was such a quiet bookworm.
How does this meek,
18-year-old turn into a violent killer,
without any remorse, just like that?
I've never seen anything like it,
ever, and I've covered other murder cases.
This one is an enigma to me.
NARRATOR: In court, Shanterrica tries to claim self-defense,
but the jury doesn't believe her.
MARIE: Shanterrica was convicted of second-degree murder.
She was sentenced to 25 years,
as well as four years for tampering with evidence.
NARRATOR: She will be eligible for parole
when she is almost 50.
Now Tina's friends and loved ones are left
wondering how things could have gone so wrong.
No one saw how severe it was.
I don't think Tina would have -- it would have ever
crossed her mind that Shanterrica would come in
and kill her like that.
And that's probably the thing that
bothers all of us the most today.
Why? Why could we not have resolved this
in a non-violent way?
NARRATOR: Tina was a young star with
a bright future that was snuffed out too soon.
ANNE MARIE: She could just walk in the room
and just light up the room.
She had a heart, a pure heart.
Even though she was hard-nosed and tough,
she still cared deeply for people.
KC: I miss the laugh and the jokes, for sure.
And the love, definitely the love.
That was the first person, like, I --
I brought home to my parents, you know.
I was young but, you know, that was like, you know,
it was genuine.
She was a success story, you know, in athletics,
you want that success story,
that person who beat all the odds
and made a difference, and...
while her life was short,
she made a difference.