Malcolm Evans, a 19-year-old Black man, left his family's home in the Rutledge neighborhood of Bear, Delaware, shortly after 4 a.m. on July 9, 2016. The Delaware State University student was driving to his part-time job at FedEx when a single gunshot was fired into his vehicle near Baywatch Road and the entrance to the development. Mortally wounded, Evans lost control of the car, which left the roadway and crashed into an embankment. Police and emergency personnel found him inside with a gunshot wound, and he was transported to Christiana Hospital, where he died from his injuries.
Evans had been living with his parents and brother while attending college and working. Relatives said he hoped to become a doctor. Investigators found no indication that he had been involved in a dispute or criminal activity before the shooting. The attack appeared especially difficult to explain because it happened before dawn as he followed an ordinary route from home to work. Police later described him as an innocent victim and said he and the person accused of killing him did not know one another.
The New Castle County Police Department opened a homicide investigation but initially released few details about how or why the shooting occurred. Authorities appealed to residents for information, while Evans's family appeared publicly and asked anyone who knew something to come forward. New Castle County officials eventually increased the reward to as much as $40,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction. Police said tips began arriving in late July and that information supplied by members of the public became crucial to identifying a suspect.
On August 24, 2016, detectives arrested Cheryl Jennings, a 46-year-old resident of the same Rutledge neighborhood, at her home in the first block of Terry Court. Two days later, police announced that she had been charged with first-degree murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and possession of a firearm by a person prohibited because of a prior felony conviction. Jennings was held without bail at Baylor Women's Correctional Institution. Investigators did not publicly disclose a motive, and the charging documents were initially kept sealed because the investigation was continuing.
The case ultimately ended without a murder trial. In April 2018, Jennings pleaded no contest to manslaughter, meaning she accepted a conviction without formally admitting guilt. In August 2018, a Delaware Superior Court judge sentenced her to 15 years in prison. The sentence was to be followed by six months of either work release or home confinement and then two years of probation. Public accounts of the resolution did not identify another suspect or indicate that anyone else was arrested or charged in connection with Evans's killing.
