A Party With New Friends Ended With Her Torn… | True Crime Documentary
Officers stood in the parking lot of a student apartment complex in Kalamazoo trying to make sense of the strange disappearance of 24year-old student Anna Mac. No one had been able to reach her for several days. Her car was sitting in the parking lot without license plates. Nearby was another nearly identical Chevrolet Malibu displaying her plates.
The lights were on inside her apartment. The television was still running. The bathtub was filled with water. A load of men’s clothes was spinning in the washing machine. But Anna herself was nowhere to be found. Her friends were convinced she would never have disappeared voluntarily. Police searched the apartment, spoke with people who knew her, and tried to locate her boyfriend, Donovan Lewis.
They came up empty-handed. Then late that night, as officers were preparing to continue the search, a man with a backpack slung over his shoulder emerged from the darkness and walked toward them. It was Donovan. The officers asked him a few questions about Anna. What he told them was nothing like what they expected to hear.
Within minutes, what had started as a possible missing person case turned into a homicide investigation. Donovan then began telling a story about an argument, messages on a cell phone, a married pastor, and the events he claimed had unfolded inside the apartment that Sunday. And the more he talked, the more disturbing the picture became of what had really happened to Anna Mac.
Hey guys, let me grab you for just a second. I’m really curious where my audience is watching from. So, I’d love for you to drop a comment and tell me what city you’re in and what time it is for you right now. Thanks for taking a moment. Go ahead and share that in the comments. And now, let’s keep going. During the early morning hours of Thursday, June 28th, 2018, officers with the Calamazoo Police Department responded to a call at Hunter Ridge Apartments in Western Michigan.
The complex consisted of a multi-story building with numerous apartments and a parking lot. It was used as off-campus housing, and all of its residents were local college students. Officers arrived there to look for 24year-old Annia Mack, a psychology student at Western Michigan University.
No one had heard from Anna since the previous Sunday. Nia, as her friends and family called her, was an extremely outgoing person who was always active and involved in a wide variety of activities. In school, she was an honor student, served on the student council, participated in the health occupations association, performed in both the marching band and concert band, competed as a varsity cheerleader, and also played volleyball and softball.
While attending college, she continued singing in her church choir, and danced with a women’s dance team at WMU. For Anna, it was completely out of character to go out of contact with so many friends for even a few hours, let alone several days. Her close friend, Flequenta Watson, contacted the Calamazoo Police Department.
She explained that she normally spoke with Anna every day, and when she had been unable to reach her for several days, she began to fear that something was wrong. Every phone call went straight to voicemail. Her concern grew even stronger when she visited Anna’s new workplace, the Great Lakes Alternative Research Center, where she worked with children who have autism.
There, she learned that Anna had already missed two consecutive days of work. She had started the position only 3 months earlier and had been incredibly excited about the opportunity. There was simply no way she would have intentionally missed work unless something serious had happened.
childhood friend Dominic Thomas met with police outside the apartment complex after speaking with Anna’s mother Loretta who lived in Louisiana as well as with Laquenta. All three of them were becoming increasingly worried because they had been unable to reach her. It’s unlike it’s unlikely. It’s unlikely to just not answer her phone.
It sounds like it’s if anything is going on I’m like pretty much the only person that she has here besides her family. But like me and her, we have been best friends for 24. I’m only 24, but we have been best friends our entire being. Basically, I got friends like that. And it it’s just it’s driving me real crazy that if anything was going on, she would call me.
If if nobody she would call me, I know for a fact she medical issues. No. No psychological orders? Did she take any medication for anything? As of right now, that’s my language. Does she ever have any drug abuse issues? No. I mean, I’m not talking marijuana. That’s almost legal. Like harder stuff than that. Police learned that Anna owned a white 2008 Chevrolet Malibu.
They spotted it in the parking lot without any license plates attached. Not far away was another nearly identical vehicle. That second Malibu was displaying Anna’s license plates, but the car itself was registered to a man named Gustavo. Both vehicles had two flat tires and appeared to be undrivable. The lights were on inside Anna’s apartment, and it sounded like the television was still running, but no one answered when officers knocked on the door.
room’s room with the TV flashing. Looks like somebody is home. He’s working on getting a phone number for roommate right now. 61. Did you hear what I found about the plates? Her car, her Malibu over there in the corner. The plates’s missing off of it. I found it on another Malibu a couple spots down.
It’s not registered to her, which is kind of strange. Somebody swapped the plates on the cars. Yeah, there’s a white Malibu that’s comes back to her by the bin. No plate. The plate that belongs on is another Malibu a few spots down. Another white Malibu. Somebody else’s name. Gustavo fell. Yeah. Hi. Is this Cora? Cora. This is Annaya’s best friend.
Are you the home? Um, Annayia has been missing for two days to my understanding. I drove here from because I Yes, cuz the police are here as well. Is she up there? She’s coming here. Okay, thank you. Dominic told officers that Anna had experienced some problems in the past with her boyfriend, 25-year-old Donovan Lewis.
Donovan, or Donnie, as his friends called him, was a former student at a local college. He had been a basketball player and also worked as a lifeguard at the YMCA. He had recently returned to Kalamazoo after spending a short time with his brother in Indianapolis where he was completing an internship with a multimedia company. After coming back to Michigan, Donovan took whatever work he could find.
For the past week and a half, he had been working the night shift as a janitor at a large local manufacturing facility. Has there been any issues with him that you know of? Um, yeah. six months. There’s been several occasions that they went back and forth. They had arguments. I know one time the police was called.
Say to ever escalate the violence. Really? Um, anyone? He threw water on her several times. He took off in that car when she came out. She was getting ready to talk to him. He rolled her arm up in the window like to drag her down the street. When Cora arrived to let the search team into the apartment, she told officers Lockett and Labret that it was not unusual for her and Anna to go several days without seeing each other.
The two had been assigned as roommates less than a year earlier through a housing placement process managed by the student housing administration. When was the last time you were you were here before? Um, this morning I came back from work around like 6:00 and I went to the movies and I came back here. When’s the last time you saw her? Um, not before Saturday.
I left home for graduation. I graduated Saturday. Come here. And then this is her room right here. But someone was here today because they turned on the um the air and they put some clothes in the washer. So when I was gone, like I thought maybe she came. But have you seen her boyfriend around here? I haven’t seen anybody honestly, but I left for the weekend, so I thought maybe she just went home.
I really haven’t seen her. Nothing looks out of ordinary in here. Obviously, boyfriend, go check mom’s boyfriend’s mom’s place. Do we have a number phone number for boyfriend? Uh, I don’t know if there probably went in the eyelids, too, or for me. Yeah, let’s check with like if she was going somewhere, she would she would definitely pack her makeup. That’s here.
This looks like what would be her purse? A bag that she do her hair stuff with. That’s here. Like I’m just like what the [ __ ] There was no sign of Anna anywhere inside the apartment. A quick search did not uncover any immediate evidence that she had been in danger, but several details stood out as unusual. The bathroom Anna used was filled with water, as if she had drawn a bath, but never actually gotten in.
Can you ask her to use the bathtub in here? Hey, Jerry, what’s up? Can you ask if she uses the bathtub? It’s like full of water. As Core pointed out, someone other than her had recently been inside the apartment. Someone had turned on the air conditioner and started a load of laundry. Inside the washing machine were men’s clothes along with two turquoise bathroom rugs.
There were no matching rugs in the bathroom that Anna used. Yeah, somebody definitely came in today for sure because when I left the air wasn’t on. Does her boyfriend ever come over here and do any laundry or anything? Yeah, they always do laundry together. Okay. So, it’s not like out of the ordinary.
Does he have a key or I don’t think so. That’s what I’m saying. Like somebody was scared because I don’t think he has a key. Usually if he’s coming like we’ll leave the I’ll leave the door unlocked like if I know he’s he’s here or like she’ll leave the door alone. So many of Anna’s personal belongings were still in her bedroom including items she would normally have taken with her if she had gone on a trip.
The situation involving the two Malibu vehicles also remained unexplained. Neither car appeared to be in condition to drive. If Annia had left the apartment voluntarily, the obvious question was how she had gotten anywhere. I think it’s just a little fishy. He’s the only person we haven’t talked to. She’s going to end up calling morning.
I hope so. Where the hell’s she been at, though? Both she both of her cars are here. boyfriend has no car. Her best friend, her parents, her godsister, her pastor, she’s been at work. And from what other people have said, his boyfriend been around her the last couple days? Well, he claims he hasn’t seen her since Sunday either.
What about talking? Yeah, I need to get that from him. Yeah. So, she’s been missing since Sunday. Yeah. So, that’s how I saw her. Yeah. I don’t know, man. The officers left the apartment with mixed impressions about the seriousness of the situation. They had found no clear signs of a crime, but many of the circumstances simply did not seem right.
So, you think this is an actual an actual like an actual missing person? Well, nobody knows where she’s at right now. She’s missing like Okay. Wow. I’m I’m Do I think that she’s endangered? No. Absolutely not. Okay. Uh we’ve got nothing to lead us to believe that she’s endangered other than the fact that boyfriend was an [ __ ] at one point.
Is that just a dispute that you were talking about or like a DV? Uh but they didn’t find I don’t know. There’s still somebody coming and going from the apartment. That’s the weird part. Yeah. But like roommate hasn’t [snorts] seen her in almost a week, doesn’t think anything of it. Police were unable to make contact with Donovan Lewis.
Everything they knew about him came from Anna’s friends, who had been communicating with him. Both Dominic and Lquenta told officers that Donovan had also been trying unsuccessfully to reach Anna since Sunday. Officer Labret located the address of Donovan’s mother’s home, and officers later went there to look for him. However, no one answered the door.
After the unsuccessful attempt to find Donovan at his mother’s house, Anna’s close friend and godsister, Luenda, contacted Officer Lockett again. This time, she said she knew where Donovan was. He was finishing his shift as a janitor at Striker, a company that manufactures medical equipment. According to the information she provided, he was expected to return to Anna’s apartment at 3:30 in the morning.
Later that same night, officers Adday and Lockett returned to Hunter Ridge Apartments to find him. By then, Core and Dominic had already left. Once again, no one answered when the officers knocked on the door. I guess we’ll wait outside for a little bit. See if he shows up. Just feel like you’d be a little bit more concerned if your girlfriend’s missing. anything.
That’s the one person who hasn’t talked to us at all yet. So, this is the other thing I thought was weird, but I think it’s just plate fraud. That down here, that [snorts] white car is actually hers, but they’re both on flats. So, those cars have not moved recently. What the [ __ ] I know. This is a weird one.
I’m telling you, that person that you’re talking to is What is that? That’s her god sister. Like her other best female friend. cuz you think the guy’s cheating. Yeah. Oh [ __ ] Yeah. I tried to speak to mom. I got to call mom back. Apparently she just called me back. Uh her other male best friend who has a Houston mill on the other side of the fence.
He hasn’t seen her or heard from her. Her roommate hasn’t seen her or heard from her since Friday cuz she was out of town all weekend. What about you got any friends for this suspect? The boy. We haven’t got that far yet. You’re getting to his friends. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like this is almost just being detectives.
Yeah. I definitely think this is detective report like now. So I think some fish is going on here. Damn, dude. Something there could be nothing. Maybe she’s out with a new boyfriend. But why she she never Why would she completely cut off everybody? best friend. The officers were standing beside their patrol vehicle, discussing their concerns about the case when events suddenly took an unexpected turn.
Out of the darkness, a man approached them wearing a black t-shirt, khaki shorts, and a backpack slung over his shoulder. What’s up? What’s going on, sir? Talk about on the way. Just tell me now. I killed my girlfriend. 616. Can you come to the apartment, please? Where is she? We’re out with boyfriend.
Uh, he’s reporting at 10:35. Where is she? Creek. We’re at You got any weapons on you, John? I don’t have anything. P down. All right. I got to read some stuff to you real quick. Okay. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can will be used against you in the court of law.
You have the right to talk to the lawyer and have him or her present with you before during any questioning. If you want a lawyer, Tell me from the beginning what’s going on. Hey, give me one second. Okay. 612. Not sure if you record my last track. We got one more. When I got back in town about a week ago or 3 weeks ago on the 16th, I found out I went to their phone and I found out they’re messing around.
Try to get over it. I, you know, told her it’s okay. I understand what you did. I respect that you took care of yourself and we move forward and we had a great couple weeks and listen to me. Sunday we had an argument cuz I just moved back so I don’t have a job. I don’t have any money. week before Sunday or maybe two weeks, I don’t know.
She told me, you know, you’re not doing enough. I told her I could call my dad, ask for some help and whatever. And she just ra everything about me. Saturday, Sunday came. Let’s have a seat in the back of my car real quick, man. Yep. Hey, sit tight. Okay. So, he straight up admitted to everything.
He said she’s out in the river on the east side of the city somewhere. He said at city. Yeah. What did he say? East Maine or something. He told me. He didn’t tell me that much yet. However, Donovan was willing to keep talking. The officers preferred to wait for detectives before questioning him any further.
As he was being formally taken into custody and placed in a patrol vehicle, he continued sharing details in fragments. By the time Officer Labret returned to the scene, the case that had been treated as a possible missing person investigation just minutes earlier had already become a homicide investigation. Is she all these cars? Uh, no.
He told us that he creeks somewhere on the east side. I’m thinking maybe on the east side of town, too. in a creek. In a creek. Okay. Well, that took a twist. Yeah. Thinking that way at all. At that point, Officer Lockett became the primary point of contact in the case. He transported Donovan to the police station and kept up a casual conversation with him while they waited for detectives to arrive.
If he chooses, spontaneously utter things after the fact, then then that’s him. Okay? You’ve already told them twice now. Hey man, you don’t you don’t want to talk. You don’t have to talk. Those kind of things. Okay. When you move when you go back in, move his chair to the other side of the table. Okay. Okay.
And just tell I want you in that corner. I’d like you closer to me. My sergeant’s kind about safety. So stay where I’m at. See you where you’re at. Keep him put him over in that little corner so we can see him. Okay. Okay. But other than that, do a great man just During his conversation with Donovan, Officer Lockett heard several unexpected allegations.
The 25-year-old told him that after looking through his girlfriend’s phone, he had found intimate messages from her pastor. He was convinced that the two were involved in either a romantic or sexual relationship. Donovan also claimed that Anna had allegedly been blackmailing the pastor because of financial difficulties.
According to him, while he was out of state, the pastor had been paying her rent, covering her phone bills, and had even provided her with a second Malibu. What’s been going on? Just had a rough week last week. Uh, the car had to pass that tire went flat. How was that? On Sunday house, she wanted to go to church. She went outside tire thinking.
You think the car is just old and the tires are bad or what? [snorts] I don’t know. I don’t know. whatever she got going off the pasture. Oh, and when she got the car, she told me came to pick her up and she told me, you know, she got a new car from the church. reason that you told me after I kind of g I want to have a sit down with him because he ended up picking her up and apparently threatened her.
The pastor threatened her with the car. Why? Because she was using them. She told him, she would tell. You said you can’t do this to me. How was he using her? Like they had relationship something going on. You mean I went through? Who’s her pastor? What’s her second station? Okay.
[clears throat] Pastor Stew. That Sunday, an argument erupted inside Anna’s apartment. What began as another conflict between two people quickly escalated into a serious confrontation. Tension that had been building for a long time finally reached a breaking point that day. The atmosphere inside the apartment was strained, [music] and the grievances and resentment on both sides only made the situation worse.
One of the ongoing sources of tension was Anna’s relationship with Pastor Strick Strickland of Second Baptist Church. That subject had repeatedly become a source of suspicion and arguments. According to [music] people connected to the case, issues involving the pastor frequently led to emotional conversations and misunderstandings.
Over time, they became one of the major sources of strain in the relationship. The pastor, who was married, also served as the local president of the NAACP. He was a well-known and respected figure in the community. His influence extended far beyond his role in the church, and his name was familiar to many people throughout the area.
Because of that, any mention of him tended to attract attention both among church members and within the broader community. Annia had started attending his church earlier that year. She became involved in the church community and participated in its activities. As time went on, her name became increasingly connected to events that would later become part of the investigation.
At the time, no one could have imagined that relationships and circumstances that began within the church community would eventually find themselves at the center of a high-profile criminal case. And I went to her phone. She tussled with me about her phone. She died on her phone kind of got in like a fetal position, put on her knees in her hands and saw that I was passing.
That’s all he said and she and she kind of just gave up and gave the phone and the whole time she was laughing grinning and she gave me the phone she was grinning and laughing cuz she know okay if I do make that accusation she could have that reaction that she used to think about that after we find out. After detectives arrived, Donovan Lewis provided a full written confession to the killing.
His statement became one of the key documents in the case. In it, he laid out his version of events in detail, beginning with the circumstances he claimed led up to the tragedy and ending with what he said happened after Anna’s death. In his statement, he wrote that the tires on Anna’s Malibu were constantly being flattened.
According to him, the problem happened repeatedly and created serious difficulties for her. The situation became so frequent that it required ongoing repairs and additional expenses. He claimed that Pastor Strickland paid for those repairs on at least one occasion. Donovan said this was one of the factors that fueled his growing suspicions about the nature of the relationship between Anna and the pastor.
After that, Strickland allegedly offered her the use of a second Malibu, which he claimed belonged to him. However, that vehicle did not solve the problem permanently. According to Donovan, the car was given to Anna for daily use after issues with her original vehicle became more frequent. Eventually, that car also began experiencing problems with flat tires and ultimately became unusable as well.
Donovan claimed the same pattern seemed to repeat itself. As a result, that vehicle also stopped being a reliable means of transportation. According to Donovan, the pastor began stopping by Anna’s apartment more and more often to pick her up. He said those visits became increasingly frequent, which only deepened his suspicions about their relationship.
Earlier that year, Anna had also traveled to Mississippi with the pastor and other members of the church choir. The trip was fully paid for. Donovan said that trip was another reason he began paying closer attention to the interactions between Anna and the pastor. He claimed that Anna admitted to him that she was using the relationship as leverage.
According to Donovan, she allegedly discussed this with him during private conversations. He further claimed that she threatened to reveal the relationship to the pastor’s wife and to other people. Donovan also alleged that Strickland responded by making threats toward Anna. He claimed the tension between them continued to grow and that the situation became increasingly hostile.
Around the same time he provided her with the Malibu, Donovan said Anna told him the pastor had made it clear that he was willing to harm her. According to Donovan, those words made a lasting impression on him and stayed in his memory. That Sunday, Donovan had been drinking alcohol. Anna was drawing a bath.
He claimed that he was intoxicated and exhausted from lack of sleep after spending the entire night going through her phone. According to him, he had barely rested and was under intense emotional stress. He said that certain messages from Pastor Strickland particularly enraged him. Those messages, he later explained, triggered the strongest reaction.
An argument broke out between them. It began as a verbal dispute, but the tension escalated quickly and emotions intensified. During the confrontation, Anna told him that she wanted him out of her life for good. She pulled out one of his suitcases and began packing his belongings into it. According to Donovan, that moment became the turning point of the argument and pushed the situation to its most intense point.
He stated that this was when he struck her and rendered her unconscious. He then admitted that he went into the kitchen, took a large knife, returned to the bedroom, cut her throat, and stabbed her multiple times. During questioning, he acknowledged that those actions caused her death. He also admitted that afterward he pulled a trash bag over her head and placed her body inside the suitcase.
According to his statement, that was the next step he took after the killing. He carried the suitcase to a dumpster near the guest parking area where it remained for a period of time until he returned for it the following day. The next night, after dark, he came back in his mother’s minivan. He drove to Comtock Creek on East Maine near Sprinkle Road.
According to his statement, he had chosen the location in advance and went there after nightfall. There he left Anna in a deep section of the creek, weighing the suitcase down with mud and debris so it would sink to the bottom. That is how he described his actions in the [music] written confession that later became a significant part of the criminal case file.
One of Anna’s friends later recalled she walks into a room and you know it’s night like all eyes are on night like it’s just always been like that. She was supposed to start summer school yesterday and it’s just like heartbreaking to hear like how it happened. She didn’t deserve it. She always said if something happened to me I don’t want everybody to be sad.
I don’t want nobody to wear black. I want everybody to be in bright colors. Trust me, I’ve been crying, but that ain’t what she want. She want us to be as happy as possible and give her the best homegoing we can. Investigators questioned several details of Donovan’s account. Although he provided his version of events and cooperated with certain aspects of the investigation, detectives did not simply accept his statements at face value.
Every claim was carefully compared against the available evidence, forensic findings, and the facts established during the investigation. What concerned the most was the way the killing had allegedly taken place. That part of his story raised the greatest number of questions. Detectives wanted to determine whether the attack he described was consistent with the physical evidence recovered from the apartment.
During their initial search of the residence, officers did not find the large amount of blood that would normally be expected in a fatal knife attack. That immediately caught investigators attention. Given the nature of the injuries involved, they expected to see far more evidence supporting the sequence of events Donovan described.
In fact, at first, they found no obvious signs that a fatal assault had even occurred inside the apartment. On the surface, the residents did not appear to be the scene of a violent homicide. Many of the indicators investigators typically encounter in cases like this were absent, prompting them to examine every detail much more closely.
However, a more thorough search revealed small but recognizable traces of blood in the hallway, on the edge of Anna’s bed, and on the bedroom carpet. While the stains were limited in size, they became important pieces of evidence. For experienced forensic investigators, even seemingly minor findings can help reconstruct what happened inside a crime scene.
Investigators also determined that cleaning products already present in the apartment had been used to clean certain surfaces. That discovery drew additional attention from detectives. They considered the possibility that some evidence had been intentionally removed before police arrived.
Donovan had thrown away a mattress pad in a dumpster near the apartment complex. Investigators believed the item could have contained important evidence, but they were unable to locate it in time. By the time officers reached the dumpster, the trash had already been collected and removed. As a result, what may have been a significant piece of evidence was lost and could no longer be examined.
He also placed the bathroom rugs in the washing machine and got rid of his clothing at his mother’s house. Those actions became another part of the timeline detectives worked to reconstruct during the investigation. Anna’s personal belongings, including her purse, identification, and bank cards were discarded in a dumpster near Donovan’s workplace.
To investigators, those items were particularly important because personal belongings often help establish a victim’s last known activities and the sequence of events following a crime. Only some of that evidence was ever recovered. Other items were lost permanently, making the investigation more difficult and limiting what could be examined later.
Physical evidence was not the only part of Donovan’s story detectives sought to verify. They also carefully reviewed statements from people connected to the case and examined claims that could affect their understanding of both motive and circumstance. Pastor Strickland told Kalamazoo police that Anna Mack was simply a member of his church and a participant in the church choir.
According to him, there had never been any romantic relationship between them. He insisted that their interactions were strictly related to church activities and never went beyond the normal relationship between a pastor and a member of the congregation. Furthermore, during questioning, Donovan acknowledged that Anna had never directly admitted to having an affair with the pastor.
He said she had only claimed to be using him for financial assistance. That detail became important to investigators because it related directly to the motives Donovan had discussed during interviews. Strickland confirmed that Anna had traveled with him to Mississippi as part of the church choir.
According to him, the trip was connected to church activities and events. He said that while there, Anna met a young man she liked and began a relationship with him. The pastor claimed that because she already had a boyfriend in Kalamazoo, she kept the relationship secret. According to his account, she saved the young man’s phone number under the pastor’s name in her contacts in order to conceal his identity.
That way, if Donovan saw the messages, he would assume they were coming from the pastor and would not suspect anything else. This was how Strickland explained the messages and contacts that later drew attention during the investigation. About a month after giving his statement, Strickland contacted police again.
This time, his request was not related to the progress of the investigation, but to property that remained in law enforcement custody. He wanted to recover the white 2008 Malibu. However, a problem quickly emerged. He was unable to properly prove ownership of the vehicle. The lack of documentation immediately complicated the process and raised additional questions.
Strickland stated that the car belonged to his wife Jasmine. He claimed that he had purchased it from a man named Gustavo, but he had neither the vehicle title nor a bill of sale. Without documentation to support his claim, investigators could not establish legal ownership in a manner that would allow the vehicle to be returned.
Hello, I’m looking to speak with Pastor Strickland. This is Hi there. This is Sergeant Charles Strap at Yazoo Public Safety. How you doing today? I’m doing great. How about you, sir? Not too bad, sir. I got a voicemail message from Chief Boyce and saying that you had some questions about an automobile.
Yes, sir. Um, one of the automobiles that was taken related to the Annia Mac [music] um murder. Yes, sir. Um, one of those vehicles belonged to my wife. Okay. And, um, we are trying to recover it. We had actually misplaced the title prior to going out of town and um Annayia had reached out to us while we were out of town and told us that she had found the title.
Okay. And that the title was supposed to be in the console, which I had looked in the console, I know, 20 times. But anyway, she said that the the title was folded up really small. So, I’m thinking that this is going to be the car that you all find. Uh, it’s the one that doesn’t have any tinted windows or any rims on it.
It’s just factory. Okay. In the console, you should find I’m hoping that she didn’t take it out or put it anywhere. Um, you should find a title in the console. Like I said, I don’t know how much information that the guy had filled out on the title because he gave me like a bill of sale which had all the information on it. Yes.
But I misplaced that and the title. Yeah, I know how that goes. In the end, ownership of the vehicle was never proven and the car was not returned to the pastor. Despite his efforts to recover the vehicle, the question of legal ownership remained unresolved. Because there was not enough evidence to establish that the car belonged to him, it was never released back to the pastor.
The dispute became yet another consequence of the events that had drawn law enforcement attention to his [music] activities. Before long, however, that became the least of his concerns. events began moving in a far more serious direction. New allegations that later surfaced carried much greater consequences and threatened to completely change his situation.
Later that same year, three teenagers from his church accused him of sexual abuse. Their allegations led to a separate investigation and attracted significant attention from both law enforcement and the local community. The accusations involved incidents that according to the alleged victims had taken place over a period of time in circumstances where the pastor held authority and influence.
Both the pastor and his wife were accused of using their positions within the church and the local school [music] to pressure teenagers into sexual activity. Investigators examined claims that their social standing and the trust they had built among young people and members of the community may have been used to exert influence over minors.
Those allegations became one of the central focuses of the investigation. One of the alleged victims said he felt unable to refuse the pastor because he depended on a vehicle the pastor had provided for his use. According to his statement, that dependence created significant pressure and greatly affected his ability to make decisions freely.
He explained that this was why in his view he found himself in a situation where he did not feel capable of saying no to someone who held considerable influence over him. Uh Pastor Strickland is here. He hasn’t gone anywhere. Uh he’s been here throughout this. He he remains pastor uh at Second Baptist. three different things.
Those bank [clears throat] teens for sex, CSC, and pandering. Can Can Mr. Strickland or did someone respond to this? No. No. And no. Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty. Didn’t do it. Didn’t do it. Didn’t do it. Given your role at the church, is it typical for you to to give teens, boys in the community money? Well, I let there there are a lot of programs through through the church uh that uh help kids out.
But does he does Pastor Strickland personally give kids money himself? I don’t know of of any situation where that has happened. The Michigan State Police investigation determined that the alleged crimes took place between January and May of 2018. After reviewing the evidence, witness statements, and digital records, investigators identified that period as the key time frame in the case.
Over the course of several months, law enforcement worked step by step to reconstruct the events and establish a complete picture of what had occurred. Electronic evidence played a significant role in the investigation. Text messages and photographs recovered from the victim’s phones supported their accounts.
Those materials became part of the evidence and allowed investigators to compare witness statements with information stored on the mobile devices. According to investigators, the content of the messages and the available photographs were consistent with the circumstances described by the alleged victims. After the major stages of the investigation were completed, the case moved closer to its legal conclusion.
In February of 2023, a plea agreement was reached with prosecutors. That decision eliminated the need for a full trial on all charges and established how the case would proceed through the court system. Under the terms of the agreement, Strickland pleaded guilty to one count of using a motor vehicle to facilitate prostitution. After reviewing the agreement, the court issued its final ruling on the sentence.
He was sentenced to one year in prison. With that, the criminal case came to an end through a conviction entered as part of the agreement reached between the prosecution and the defendant. That is during that time within the county. Did you knowingly offer to sell transportation services to TH and or TJ that facilitated travel for the purpose of engaging in what would be a violation of the laws governing prostitution? Yes.
During sentencing, the pastor continued to deny any wrongdoing. Even as the legal proceedings were coming to an end and the court was preparing to issue its final decision, he did not back away from his position. Standing before the court, he insisted that he did not consider himself guilty of the offense that had been the subject of years of investigation and legal proceedings.
His comments were made during one of the most significant moments of the entire case. For those in the courtroom, it was yet another indication that he continued to reject the allegations against him despite the agreement he had reached with prosecutors. He stated that he accepted the plea agreement solely for the sake of his family.
According to the pastor, concern for his loved ones was the primary reason behind that decision. He said he did not want his family to endure further hardship caused by lengthy court proceedings and continued uncertainty about the future. As a result, even while the sentence was being handed down, he maintained his version of events while explaining that his decision to enter the plea agreement was motivated by a desire to protect his family.
I’m not here today to be pious and to [music] pretend as though I am innocent and without fault. However, I am not guilty of what [music] I was accused of. I am glad um that the 10 um most heinous charges were dismissed and eventually um the prosecutors with their backs against [music] the wall um made a deal that I believe was um was too good of a deal to put my family through the risk of going through a trial.
I I know that that they’ll use their imps and the media to try to pretend that they’ve won in some way or that this is some win for the prosecutor’s office. This is not a win for the prosecutor’s office and it’s certainly not a win for the cause of justice. But meanwhile, Donovan Lewis agreed to show Kalamazoo police the location in Comtock Creek where he said he had left Annia.
This became an important development in an investigation that had already been underway for some time and involved the careful collection of evidence. For investigators, obtaining the exact location was especially significant because it could help confirm key details of the case and reconstruct the sequence of events.
Accompanied by law enforcement officers, Donovan pointed out the area of Comtock Creek that he claimed he had used to leave Annia. That information directed investigators attention to a specific location and allowed search efforts to be focused within a defined area. For Annie’s family and everyone following the case, this stage served as another painful reminder of the tragic circumstances at the center of the investigation.
At the same time, it gave detectives an opportunity to verify Donovan’s statements and compare them with the other evidence that had already been gathered as part of the criminal case. It’s a little bit sloped right there. Now, did you Donovan, did you have her on this side of the guard real quick in the suitcase or did you bring her all the way down? All the way down.
All the way down here. Okay. So, you you wheel her in the suitcase all the way down here. Okay. Can you park back up by where the the SUV is? And how do you how do you where the white truck is? Fit that way. And how how do you get her in the water? You just threw her in the suitcase into the water. Okay.
And this is the right spot. Okay. Where where do you want these guys to go? Straight. Straight down. Switch sides. The sun’s not here. No problem. Donovan was a strong swimmer. That fact drew investigators attention during the investigation because it could help explain some of his actions after the crime.
Unlike most people, he was comfortable in the water and possessed the skills necessary to move through difficult conditions, even at night. After analyzing the available evidence, investigators concluded that he had dragged the suitcase much farther into the creek toward a deeper section filled with mud and sediment. In their view, the suitcase did not end up there by accident.
Its location suggested that it had been deliberately moved as far from the shoreline as possible into an area where it would be much harder to discover. The muddy bottom, murky water, and challenging terrain created additional obstacles for anyone searching the area. Because of the depth of the water, search crews could not safely reach the location on foot and were forced to use a rescue boat instead.
Conditions in that part of the creek proved too difficult for a standard ground search. The water became deeper and the creek bed was unstable and heavily covered in mud. As a result, investigators brought in a boat that allowed them to reach the hard to access area and carefully search the location where they believed the suitcase might be.
We’re on camera, guys. Here we Yeah, we’re on camera. Where we headed in there? [clears throat] Well, I don’t think we’re going to get in there. Okay, we’re on camera. Body cam. We’re on camera. All right. Well, are you going to be able to get this thing back there, Terry? No.
No. We’re We’re looking to try to have somehow get the rope for you. And then you’re going to try to rope bag. Tie that off on the uh boat. Yeah. Oh, that’s a problem. 0920 hours. We have connected to the suitcase. Evidence. All right. You want to get it closer? You guys do confirm already? Yeah. [snorts] Yeah. Was that recorded? Yeah, that’s recorded. Yep.
It just a buzz, but it was just a four-minute buzz or whatever. Okay. Now, when we get out, do we want to think of that off of the back so we’re not backing up up string? Stick around. I think all the way out and then probably hand the rope back to someone in the back. Yep. I’ll tie it off. All right, we’re almost back out in the stream.
See that tag is loose sitting on top of there. It’s just laying there. Tag. What tag? The luggage tag. Luggage tag. Okay. Okay. John, you want to test? Y. After recovering the suitcase, investigators continued searching for the murder weapon, a large kitchen knife with a black handle.
Donovan claimed that he had stuck the knife into the bank of the creek near the location where he left the suitcase. Despite clearing a substantial amount of vegetation and conducting an extensive search of the area, investigators were unable to locate the knife. However, the primary objective of the operation had been achieved.
Anna’s family was finally able to bring her home and lay her to rest. giving to other people, being about other people, um was her legacy and it’s her legacy and that’s what we want people to focus on. We got a lot of love for everybody. Yeah. Oh god. Mania was a person about other people. Um Nia was about, you know, um mental mental health awareness.
Um she was about autism research. Um she loved kids. 3 days before he was scheduled to stand trial on a charge of first-degree murder, Donovan Lewis was in the recreation yard at the Calamazoo County Jail, he was playing football with several other inmates. After about 30 minutes, he suddenly dropped the ball and [music] sprinted toward the perimeter fence.
Donovan climbed over two 15 ft walls, cleared a fence topped with barbed wire, then crossed another barrier lined with razor wire, and finally scaled a third fence that separated the jail grounds from Business Loop Interstate 94. He was captured a little more than 30 minutes later. Appears that he was able to just find a spot and get over it without injuring himself.
The first level is a barbwire fence and second level is a uh is razor wire. The person in custody was able to get over both of those. Then uh they went over the barbwire fence that contains the business luca 94 and the jail jumpsuit was found approximately 100 yards south of that spot. Later, Donovan claimed that he had not been trying to avoid punishment for the killing.
According to him, the real reason he escaped was concern for his family’s safety. He said he had received death threats and believed that his loved ones could be in danger. However, no evidence was ever presented to support those claims. Investigators found no information that could verify his statements or indicate the existence of a genuine threat.
As a result, those allegations remained only his version of events. Eventually, Donovan also pleaded guilty to the escape charge. That decision eliminated the need for a lengthy separate trial related to the incident and brought another criminal case connected to him to a close. Meanwhile, Anna’s family continued to live with the consequences of the tragedy.
Her loved ones did not want to endure the additional emotional trauma that a full murder trial would inevitably bring. For them, it would have meant revisiting painful memories, sitting through hours of testimony, and once again facing public discussion of the details of the case. For that reason, near the end of 2018, prosecutors offered Donovan Lewis a plea agreement on a charge of secondderee murder.
I can’t imagine the hurt that I’ve caused. I don’t even know the beginning. I just want to say sorry to the family. Uh-huh. That’s all. When I sentence you, Mr. Lewis, I balance the principles of punishment, rehabilitation, protection of society, as well as deterrence, particularly you being cooperative, taking full responsibility, not minimizing your role in this, and expressing a level of remorse, a decent education.
There are a lot of good things here that you had developed over your life, Mr. Lewis, and you threw all of that out the window back on June 24th. Naiamak didn’t deserve any of these things. She didn’t deserve to be hit to begin with. She didn’t deserve to be put unconscious. She didn’t deserve to be stabbed and murdered.
And her body didn’t deserve to be treated less than garbage. And all of that happened because of you. Nobody else. Donovan Lewis was sentenced to a prison term of 25 to 40 years. For him, the sentence meant decades behind bars and the effective end of the life he had known before his arrest. The court found him guilty, and the sentence marked the conclusion of one of the most significant chapters of the criminal case.
It was a decision that followed months of investigation, legal proceedings, and intense scrutiny of the events surrounding Anna’s death. However, his legal troubles did not end there. for his escape from jail. He received an additional sentence of 17 months to 4 years in prison. That separate conviction increased the amount of time he would spend in custody and served as an additional punishment for attempting to avoid accountability.
Together, the sentences ensured that he would remain incarcerated for many years to come. Once the sentence had been announced and the courtroom proceedings came to an end, attention shifted to Anna’s family. For her loved ones, the case had been a source of grief, uncertainty, and emotional pain for a long time.
They had endured months of waiting, countless developments in the investigation, and repeated reminders of the tragedy that had changed their lives forever. While the verdict brought a measure of legal closure, it could not undo the loss they had suffered. After the sentencing hearing, Anna’s sister was asked, “You feel down with the sentence?” I feel good because my sister is okay with the sentence and so I’m okay with it.
You spoke about forgiveness, not wanting to take pain for pain, but hoping that he can live with what he’s done and talk about that. Well, he have to live with it for the rest of his life. You know, whether he was sincere with what he said in the courtroom or not, he has to live with it. And I hope he can.
And I meant that I haven’t forgiven him. My sister, I haven’t. And in time, I’m sure I will, but not now. Not ready. And talk about Annayia cuz you I remember when the story broke, everyone had beautiful things to say about her. Clearly, she was one of the most loving people. She loved a monster. So there that says a lot about her personality and her as a person.
[singing] I will keep your secret. Just think of the pages. [singing] The story concludes by noting that after serving his sentence, Strick Strickland returned to life outside prison and eventually resumed his involvement in religious ministry. According to information referenced in the case materials, he now goes by the name Dr.
Floyd Strickland. Under that name, he later became the pastor of Galilee Baptist Church in Mount Olive, Mississippi. This detail attracted the attention of many people who had followed the story over the years. For some members of the public, it served as another reminder of the events that once brought [music] him into court and made him the subject of a widely discussed criminal investigation.
Although the criminal case is now part of the past, the mention of his current role illustrates the path his life took after his release. Based on the available information, [music] he is now known as Doctor Floyd Strickland and serves as the pastor of Galilee Baptist Church in Mount Olive, Mississippi.
