Ahyanna Janay Baker-Griffin, a 20-year-old Black/African American woman, disappeared after leaving her South Queen Street home in Dover, Delaware, with her boyfriend, Dishiem Johnson, on the morning of November 8, 2018. They departed in Johnson’s dark-colored Nissan Sentra, which had tinted windows. As the days passed, Baker-Griffin failed to attend a family gathering, did not report to work, and stopped communicating with relatives.
Her family, alarmed by the silence and the break from her normal routine, reported her missing on November 10 at approximately 3:30 p.m. Dover police began searching for her and circulated information about the couple and the vehicle in hopes of tracing their movements.
The investigation took a grim turn on November 15, when Dover police detectives located Johnson’s car in the parking lot of 155 South West Street in Camden, Delaware. Investigators learned that Johnson might have been staying in an apartment near where the vehicle was found. After entering the apartment, detectives discovered Baker-Griffin and Johnson dead inside. Both had suffered apparent gunshot wounds. The discovery ended the missing-person search and transformed the case into a homicide investigation. Although some memorial listings record November 16 as the date associated with her death, the official police announcement states that the bodies were found on November 15, and obituary records also list November 15 as her date of death.
Based on the evidence available at the scene, Dover police said the deaths appeared to be a murder-suicide. Investigators believed Johnson killed Baker-Griffin and then died by suicide. Police initially described that conclusion as preliminary, noting that the Delaware Division of Forensic Science Office of the Medical Examiner would be responsible for making the final determinations concerning the manner of each death. Public reports did not disclose a detailed sequence of events inside the apartment, a confirmed motive, the precise time of the shootings, or whether there had been warning signs immediately before Baker-Griffin disappeared.
Johnson was the only publicly identified suspect. Because he was found dead at the scene, he was not arrested, formally charged, or brought before a court. There was consequently no criminal trial, plea, sentencing, or conviction connected with Baker-Griffin’s killing. Police continued to describe the matter as under investigation following the discovery and requested information from anyone who might have helped detectives establish what happened during the period between the couple’s departure on November 8 and the recovery of their bodies one week later. No credible public reporting located for this synopsis identifies an additional suspect or indicates that another person was arrested in connection with her death.
