In the late summer of 2008, the life of 37-year-old Tangie Swanson was cut short by gunfire in her native Baton Rouge, Louisiana. On the morning of Thursday, August 14, 2008, Swanson, a floor technician and graduate of McKinley High School, was fatally shot in the parking lot of the Service Market Grocery store on East Boulevard. The brazen nature of the attack left the community shaken and searching for answers. Authorities with the Baton Rouge Police Department quickly determined that Swanson was the intended target of the shooting, which also resulted in injuries to another individual.
The investigation into Swanson's murder would stretch on for more than a decade, becoming a cold case that her family and friends feared would never be solved. However, in a significant breakthrough in August 2020, twelve years after her death, police arrested 40-year-old Dexter Collins, charging him with second-degree murder in connection with Swanson's killing. Investigators believed the motive for the murder was retaliation, as Swanson had been accused of involvement in the death of Collins' uncle, Kevin Collins, earlier that same year. Before she could be arrested in that case, she was killed.
The legal proceedings that followed took an unexpected turn. In February 2021, Dexter Collins, who had also been implicated in other murders, was released from jail. The release came after it was determined that formal charges had not been filed within the legally required timeframe. While there was believed to be probable cause for his arrest, prosecutors felt there was insufficient evidence to secure a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt.
Shortly after Collins' release, a second suspect was taken into custody. Damon Franklin was arrested and charged with second-degree murder for his alleged role in Tangie Swanson's death. According to police reports, Franklin was the getaway driver on the day of the shooting and was aware of the plan to murder Swanson. Franklin was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. The case against him represented a new chapter in the long and winding road to justice for Tangie Swanson, a woman survived by her parents, a son, and a daughter.
