On the evening of April 14, 2020, tragedy struck in the Marine Villa neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. Nineteen-year-old Malik Henderson, a Black male from the area, arrived at an apartment complex on the 3600 block of South Broadway. He was visiting a friend, 25-year-old Zenobia Johnson, who had provided him with a key to her residence. As Henderson entered the apartment, he was confronted by a man already inside the unit. The encounter quickly turned violent, and Henderson was shot.
First responders arrived to find him on the sidewalk suffering from a puncture wound. He was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The investigation into Henderson's death took a complex turn just three days later. On April 17, police were called back to the same block on South Broadway, where they discovered Zenobia Johnson fatally shot inside a vehicle. Detectives theorized that Johnson, who had been interviewed by police regarding Henderson's death, was killed to prevent her from testifying. Investigators focused their attention on 28-year-old Darrell Fisher III. Authorities alleged that Fisher had been inside Johnson's apartment when Henderson arrived and was responsible for both killings. Evidence presented during legal proceedings included a fingerprint found on a glass in the apartment and cell tower data that placed Fisher in the vicinity of the crimes.
In June 2020, prosecutors charged Fisher with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action. The case eventually went to trial, but the initial proceedings ended in a mistrial due to a hung jury. A retrial was held in May 2022. During this second trial, the defense argued against the state's circumstantial evidence, and the jury ultimately found Fisher not guilty on all charges. He was acquitted of the murders of both Malik Henderson and Zenobia Johnson, leaving the cases legally resolved without a conviction.
