In late September of 2016, the quiet of a Phoenix, Arizona neighborhood was broken by a welfare check that led to a grim discovery. Inside a home near 10th Avenue and Buckeye Road, police found the body of 53-year-old Kimmy Brice, an African-American male. He had been fatally shot, marking the beginning of a homicide investigation that would soon center on a woman with whom he was intimately involved.
Investigators quickly identified a suspect: Yaneli Medina, Brice's 23-year-old
girlfriend. The case against her solidified after her own family and friends came forward, telling police that Medina had confessed to the killing. This information gave authorities probable cause to seek her arrest. At the time she was named as a suspect, Medina was reportedly seven to eight months pregnant. Phoenix police issued a warrant for her arrest and appealed to the public for information on her whereabouts.
The case then grew cold, with no public updates on an arrest for years. However, in a 2024 video posted on YouTube, a woman identified as Yaneli Medina claimed that she had been arrested for Brice's death. In the video, she stated that her sister had reported her to the police. She alleged that she served only three months in jail and was released after claiming self-defense, asserting that Brice had been abusive. Despite these claims, publicly available information on the case does not confirm an arrest or a conviction. As of early 2024, at least one online resource for unsolved crimes still listed the murder of Kimmy Brice as an open case.
