In the early morning hours of May 31, 2018, the life of 22-year-old Shavondes Martin, a Black/African American male, was tragically cut short in a Waterloo, Iowa alley. A neighbor discovered his body around 5:30 a.m. off of the 1200 block of W. Washington. He had been shot nine times with two different types of ammunition in what was described as a personal and execution-style killing.
The investigation into the death of Shavondes Martin led authorities to his own cousin, Danaesha L.
Martin, and a man named Raymond D. Birden Jr. The motive for the murder was rooted in a previous homicide. Earlier in 2018, Shavondes Martin had been acquitted in the 2016 drive-by shooting death of Raymond Birden's brother, Otavious Brown. Prosecutors argued that in an act of retaliation, Birden orchestrated a revenge killing.
Investigators determined that Birden enlisted the help of his ex-girlfriend, Danaesha Martin, to lure her cousin to his death. On that fateful night, Danaesha picked up Shavondes and drove him to an apartment complex on South Street, leading him into an ambush. He was then shot and killed in the nearby alley by Birden and another individual. The investigation was extensive, leading to the arrest of Danaesha Martin in Virginia on November 13, 2018, on a warrant for first-degree murder. Raymond D. Birden, who was already in the Black Hawk County Jail on unrelated weapons charges, was charged with first-degree murder on January 14, 2019.
In the ensuing legal proceedings, Raymond Birden Jr. was convicted of first-degree murder by a jury. In June 2021, he was sentenced to life in prison and ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution to the Martin family. Danaesha Martin initially faced a first-degree murder charge as well. However, she later pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of conspiracy and testified against Birden. For her role in her cousin's death, she was sentenced to ten years in prison.
