Janiya Brown was a 15-year-old Black girl trying to find her way after immense loss. In 2021, her mother had been murdered in Ohio, and in April 2022, her aunt brought her to Berkley, Michigan, hoping a new city would offer a fresh start. Janiya’s father remembered her as a free-spirited child who loved music and being outdoors. But within days of arriving in Michigan, she ran away from her aunt’s home and was reported missing on April 23, 2022.
The search for Janiya took a dark turn
with a crime that occurred two weeks later. On the night of May 9, 2022, a 20-year-old man told Detroit police he had been carjacked. He explained that after meeting a young woman online, he picked her up and drove to a residential area near Clarita Street. When she got out of the car, two armed men approached, robbed him, and stole his black Chevrolet Malibu. The young woman, who police believed was Janiya, then got into the stolen car with the two men, and they drove off.
Two days later, on May 11, 2022, police found the abandoned Malibu in a debris-filled alley on Detroit’s west side, in the 8800 block of Burnette Street near Joy Road. Janiya’s body was discovered outside the vehicle. She had been shot multiple times. Investigators quickly connected her death to the carjacking two nights prior. While police initially considered Janiya a person of interest in the carjacking, her family insisted she was a child who had been forced into a dangerous situation she could not escape. Police noted that even after her phone was disconnected, she appeared to be using Wi-Fi to make social media posts that showed her with people who had firearms.
For four years, the case remained under investigation. Then, in late May and early June of 2026, prosecutors announced a major development. Two Detroit men who reportedly knew Janiya were arrested and charged in her killing. Russell Deshawn-Deangelo McGilary, 23, and Andrew Angelo Walker Jr., 23, were each charged with first-degree premeditated murder and felony firearm.
Prosecutors alleged that Walker assaulted Janiya with a handgun before both he and McGilary shot her multiple times and fled the scene. Both men were arraigned and remanded to jail without bond. As of June 2026, the case was moving forward, with a preliminary examination scheduled for the following month.
