On the evening of September 7, 2016, Dinya Farmer, a 49-year-old African-American female from Phoenix, Arizona, was driving her black Honda Accord north on State Route 51 after traveling from the area of 7th Avenue and Broadway. She was a lifelong Arizonan who had spent most of her life in the state, worked in customer service and retail management, and was a divorced mother of three daughters.
Several reports noted that she was also dealing with serious illness at the time of her death, adding to the hardship already facing her family.
Shortly after 7:00 p.m., Farmer called 911 to report that a light-colored or white work-style pickup truck was aggressively following her. She told the dispatcher that the truck, equipped with ladder racks and a toolbox in the bed, had begun trailing her around Broadway Road and 7th Avenue and continued to pursue her as she merged onto SR-51. Inside the truck, she said there were three men whom she described as Hispanic, and she repeatedly indicated that she was frightened and unsure what to do as the vehicle closed in on her. While she remained on the line describing her location and the pursuit, the dispatcher suddenly heard what investigators later identified as multiple gunshots, and then Farmer stopped responding.
Responding officers soon located her vehicle crashed into the median on SR-51 between McDowell and Thomas Roads. Farmer was found inside with an apparent gunshot wound to the head; she was still alive but gravely injured and was transported to a nearby hospital, where she died a short time later that same night. The shooting and subsequent crash triggered a major law-enforcement response, shutting down northbound lanes of the freeway for hours as investigators from Phoenix Police and the Arizona Department of Public Safety documented the scene, interviewed other drivers who had reported the aggressive truck, and searched unsuccessfully for the suspect vehicle in the surrounding area.
From early in the investigation, detectives focused on the white work truck and its three unidentified occupants as the prime suspects. Witness accounts and Farmer's own 911 description indicated that the truck had followed her for roughly eight miles from city streets onto the freeway, suggesting some kind of prior contact or confrontation rather than a purely random attack, though investigators have never been able to determine what, if anything, sparked the pursuit. The men in the truck were variously described in police and media reports as Hispanic or Mexican, but no license plate number was captured, and the vehicle managed to leave the area—possibly exiting near Thomas Road—before officers could locate it.
Years after the killing, the case remains officially unsolved. Silent Witness and Phoenix Police have repeatedly renewed public appeals for information, and the reward for tips leading to an arrest or indictment has been increased to $21,000 in an effort to bring someone forward who can identify the truck or its occupants. Coverage as recently as 2022 and later case summaries still describe the investigation as open and emphasize that no one has been arrested or charged in connection with Farmer's death; the three men in the truck remain unidentified suspects who are being actively sought by authorities. Her family, including her daughters, continue to speak publicly about their loss and to urge anyone with knowledge of the shooting to contact police so that the person or people responsible can finally be held accountable.
