15 Real Black Crime Stories With a Plot Twist We Did NOT Expect

In March of 2023, Bettersten Wade told the world she reported her son, Dexter, missing. With little to no help from the Jackson Police Department, she launched a search herself for her son. However, after a long, agonizing five months of no leads, it came forward that her son was dead. She said she was told her son was fatally struck by a police vehicle driven by an off-duty cop. Though Dexter’s remains were found with identification, the medical examiner’s office considered him a John Doe and authorized to have him buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave.

A 12-year-old boy wound up in the intensive care unit of the hospital after a seemingly normal day at school. Tristian Weekley was seen on school surveillance footage walking through the cafeteria and putting his backpack down before running off, per CBS. The camera then showed him running in the opposite direction. Soon, he was found unresponsive. His mother tells Smash da Topic her son said a woman approached him inside his school by the bathroom offering him ice cream. When he refused, he told his mother she shoved it in his face. A toxicologist found a large amount of acetone was found in Weekley’s system as a result.

In April, a Milwaukee family reported 19-year-old Sade Robinson missing after she stopped responding to messages and phone calls one evening. The following morning, authorities were notified of a series of body parts found floating onto the shores of Lake Michigan: a leg and an arm. Weeks later, another arm was found on the coast of Illinois. The Michigan Coroner’s Office found the DNA of the remains matched to Robinson. Her car was also found burnt to a crisp feet away from a Milwaukee park near the lake. Authorities identified 33-year-old Maxwell Anderson as the prime suspect: the man she was last seen with while on a date. Police charged him with her killing and dismembering of her body.

A bystander video captured a chaotic scene where Darnay Cockrell was confronted by Mesa, Arizona police officers. The video shows them force him to the ground and detain him despite his knee injuries. However, the reason they were called was not to arrest him for any crime. He told ABC15 News he called 911 to report his daughter was allegedly kidnapped by her mother who he claimed was a drug addict. Luckily, after the ordeal, Cockrell’s daughter was returned safely to him the same day. However, after his employer identified him in the footage of the scene, he was fired, the report says.

In the wee hours of Aug. 20, the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office says Kenneth Hardin Jr. and his wife got into a heated argument. Following the dispute, he handed over his finances and bank information to his father. He then told him the reason for the sudden transfer: he confessed to fatally shooting his wife in “self-defense” and explained his plan to skip town. Immediately, the father reported him to police, authorities said. At Hardin’s home, officers found the wife’s remains burned and buried in a shallow grave. They also found a sloppily cleaned crime scene inside the home. Hardin was tracked down at a local motel in Covington, Louisiana. He awaits extradition to Georgia to face his charges.

In September 2023, white women in NYC began documenting on  TikTok the moment they were suddenly socked in the face by a mysterious man. Their posts began circulating the internet as civilians kept their eyes out for a potential suspect. The trend became so consistent and concerning that the NYPD launched a BOLO for this seemingly anti-white serial-puncher.

However, this year the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced they found their suspect: a Black man who was ironically running for mayor. Skiboky Stora, 40, was charged in connection to three incidents where a white person was assaulted and allegedly slammed with a racial/anti-semitic slur. Stora faces three counts of third-degree assault as a hate crime, one count of third-degree stalking as a hate crime and aggravated harassment in the second degree, per the prosecutor’s office. That he was running to become of NYC made it even weirder, but as the saying goes, “only in New York”

Corey Harris went viral this summer for giving the internet a much needed chuckle. In a recorded court Zoom hearing, Harris was seen driving in a vehicle, pulling up to the courthouse. The funny part is that Judge Cedric Simpson pointed out Harris was driving on a suspended license... which he was due to address in court. However, the story doesn’t end there. An error discovered in court documents found Harris never had a valid driver’s license in the first place but instead a state ID, per The Detroit News. Harris is now ordered to go to square one, obtaining his learner’s permit and taking driving lessons to earn his license like everyone else.

Well, that’s an interesting way to honor the dead. In the midst of handling the late NFL star’s outstanding debt of $270,000 and pending payment in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Ron Goldman, attorney Malcolm LaVergne said he received a surprising request. Following O.J. Simpson’s cremation, his children opted to turn his ashes into various pieces of jewelry, the lawyer said via TMZ. The attorney had to give the okay for the decision. The process itself could cost over $4,000.

The longest running criminal trial in Georgia against rapper Young Thug was put on indefinite pause after what was originally considered a conspiracy was proven to be true. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville conducted a secret meeting with prosecutors and a star eyewitness, potentially showing bias to the state’s position, per The Washington Post. A previous motion ordering the judge to recuse himself was granted by another judge who agreed taking him off the case was the best option for the sake of “public trust.” Now, the proceedings are on halt until a new judge is appointed.

The last member of the so-called “Newburgh Four” was granted a compassionate release from prison after spending 15 years of his 25-year prison sentence, per The AP. James Cromitie and three other men were convicted of terrorism as a result of a lying FBI informant who claimed the group attempted to shoot down planes and bomb synagogues, per court documents. Cromitie was painted as the ringleader. However, in a surprising granting of a motion on behalf of Cromitie, he is able to return home.

Ramona Brown was only three years old when she vanished amidst a house fire in 1984. Though New Orleans authorities assumed she perished along with her siblings, a detective suggested to the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children she may have not been in the house during the fire at all. Now the organization is working with local police to investigate the claim that she may have been abducted. With updated photo renderings of what she would look like at an adult age, Ramona’s family has hope she may turn up again - forty years later.

Tennessee police say a sleepover between 12-year-old and 8-year-old cousins went horribly wrong. According to the Office of the District Attorney General, 28th Judicial District, a home video revealed the two girls got into an argument over an iPhone. What was assumed to be a petty dispute resulted in the eldest child pursuing extremely violent matters. Police say she suffocated the 8-year-old with a pile of bedding. They allege she then cleaned up the girl’s body and repositioned her. District Attorney General Frederick H. Agee said in a statement he plans on charging the now-13-year-old girl as an adult for the “horrendous nature” of her actions.

In July 2023, the 26-year-old called 911 while driving down I-459 past Hoover, Alabama reporting a lone toddler walking alongside the highway. By the time the Hoover Police Department got to the location, officers said they only found her car and belongings. The internet went into a frenzy trying to use hints to locate her. The local Hoover neighborhood exercised all their resources scouring the area to look for any signs of her whereabouts. However, 49 hours later, the police said said she mysteriously returned home to her family and told detectives she was abducted by a couple and taken to a desolate location. However, after pressure from the police department, she eventually admitted the abduction was a hoax, per a statement from Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis.

What was supposed to be a typical job interview for a job with a Florida police department ended in a shocking confession by the wannabe cop. The Office of the Ninth Judicial Circuit State’s Attorney said Stephen Bodley was seeking a position to be a sworn officer when he stumbled on a question of whether he sexually assaulted someone. He then confessed about an incident when he was twelve, which is when he tricked a girl even younger than him to perform sexual acts with him as “a game.” He was arrested and charged with sexual battery on a child less than 12.

Teri Clark, a dispatcher from the Orleans Parish Communication District, received a 911 call in October 2023 reporting an armed woman entering a local McDonald’s, per WDSU. To the dispatcher’s surprise, the voice on the line was that of her daughter, who was hiding inside the kitchen freezer with other employees during her shift. Clark told reporters it broke her heart to hear her daughter’s trembling voice whisper, “Mama, please hurry up. She got a gun!” Luckily, the police arrived in time to the restaurant before anyone got hurt. Though, authorities never announced the arrest of the suspected gunman.