Louisiana: Sterling Blackmon, Brandon Adams & Christine Marcelin
Louisiana has a rich history of cajun food, mardi gras, and good music. When I think of Louisiana, my mind immediately jumps to New Orleans. Located on the Mississippi River it is the most populous city in Louisiana with just over 380,000 residents. It is one of the most culturally diverse cities I have ever been to, don’t get me started on the food because I could go on and on but I won’t.
Like many cities we talk about, New Orleans has an extraordinarily high crime rate. On the Neighborhood Scout Crime Index, it sits at a 2. The chance of becoming a victim of a violent crime is 1 in 72 in New Orleans and 1 in 147 in the whole state of Louisiana. All of those statistics say that New Orleans has its fair share of crime.
There are currently over 2,000 cold cases inside the New Orleans Police Department’s Cold Case Homicide Section alone. That doesn’t include the greater area or any of the other nearby parishes.
While searching for a case this week, it was very difficult to narrow it down to one unsolved case. With that being the case, I have decided to share more than one story today. Like many departments, the New Orleans Police Department is having officer shortages leading to more and more cases having fewer and fewer investigations. NOLA PD is so short-staffed they have put out a request for civilian assistance. They have hired civilians to monitor phones, look at online reports, help with things like securing lose pets, and even go as far as collecting preliminary evidence.
Trenice Blackmon’s son Sterling’s case is one of those over 2,000 unsolved cases. Sterling Derrell Blackmon was her only child but he had two other siblings on his father’s side. He was twenty years old and worked at Rally’s burger shop on the corner of Garden Oaks Dr and General De Gaulle Drive in the Algiers ward southeast of downtown New Orleans. He had a shift on the evening of December 20, 2014. Trenice drove Sterling to work as per usual and dropped him off. He said there was a Christmas Party happening that night and she said told him to just call him when he got off and she would return to pick him up as he didn’t know what time that would be.
At 11 pm a call came into the New Orleans Police Department for shots fired at the 3200 block of Garden Oaks Drive. When they arrived on the scene they found Sterling on the sidewalk outside of the Garden Oaks Apartments with multiple gunshot wounds.
The Apartments were directly behind Rally’s burger shop. It is less than a 2-minute walk.
Before identifying Sterling, Trenice had received multiple phone calls and text messages from family members and friends alerting her of the shooting. As you can imagine, this scared mother rushed to the scene to find out if it was Sterling. When she arrived at the apartment complex, the coroner had already pronounced him deceased. They turned to Trenice to identify Sterling but she was unable to. No mother wants to see their child dead, and other family members were then asked to identify him.
Sterling wasn’t the only victim that evening. A second 24-year-old man was shot in the chest and transported to the hospital. He would survive his injuries. As part of the investigation, police began gathering witness statements as it was a highly populated area, there were people outside that saw as well as cameras in the vicinity but no one wanted to talk to law enforcement. I wonder if it’s due to fear of retaliation or if they just don’t want to cooperate with the police.
The little information they did receive leads to someone with the nickname of “Gunner”. Trenice wakes up every day praying for answers and for other parents who have to go through the same pain she does. Detective Aucoin is still seeking answers in Sterling’s murder. He also wants the public to know that they can submit a tip and remain anonymous. If they will just come forward he can help gain justice for Sterling and his mother. If you know anything you can call New Orleans Police Department at 504.821.2222 or New Orleans Crime Stoppers at 504.822.1111.
Barely 10 miles north of where Sterling was murdered, another
The young man would lose his life. On Friday, April 27, 2012, 15-year-olds Brandon Shane Adams and his girlfriend Christine Domonique Marcelin met up at Sampson Park on the corner of Louisa and Benefit streets in the Desire area of New Orleans. Brandon was an honor student in the 8th grade at KIPP: Believe charter school. He was a good athlete, and student leader and made good grades. One of his best talents was cooking hamburgers and always being fashionable.
At one point Brandon is seen getting into an argument with 2 young men but ultimately he ignores them. Christine said it had something to do with the park being in “their territory”. And because he wasn’t from around the area, he wasn’t allowed to play. As the evening progresses, Brandon’s mother sends her older son Eric to tell Brandon it’s time to come home. Brandon and Christine say their goodbyes and then the two brothers set out to head home. They take Montegut Street on their way home and stop in at a convenience store for some candy and carry on their way. They head down Pleasure Street when they are confronted by 2 masked gunmen on foot. The gunmen fire on the teens and Brandon was struck multiple times, including once in his head. Eric was struck in his back and leg but would survive his injuries. Brandon died on the scene just one block from his home.
Even though the shooting happened in the open, where people were witnesses there were little to no leads for law enforcement to go on.
Sunday after Brandon’s murder, his girlfriend Christine visited Brandon’s family. She was invited to speak at Brandon’s funeral and her name was even added to the funeral program. The community held a candlelight vigil that evening that Christine attended. She called a family member saying she needed a ride home then she called again saying Brandon’s brother Eric would give her a ride home. Sadly Christine never made it home that night
Her body was found by an unhoused person Monday morning about 13 miles away in the wooded area of 5000 block of Alcee Fortier (Fort E AYE) Boulevard. She died from multiple gun shot wounds. Christine had dreams of attending Princeton University and becoming a veterinarian.
Brandon’s mother believes her son was murdered over what seemed to be a claim for turf and that Christine was targeted because she could have pointed out the two males that Brandon had the altercation with. Police believe the two crimes are related and originally police believed Eric was responsible for Christine’s murder. They thought Eric was angry about the encounter between Brandon and the two males at the park and that Christine set him up by inviting him to Sampson park that fateful day. In fact, police even charged Eric with second degree kidnapping, second degree murder, consipiracy to commit second degree murder and obstruction of justice. He was arrested and jailhouse informants said that Eric was bragging about killing Christine. During the trial, Eric would be acquitted of all charges except the obstruction of justice. Eric lied to authorities when he provided them with the wrong cell phone when he had been served with a search warrant. Eric was sentenced to 20 years in prison. As of today, police never found the Eric’s actual cell phone.
To this day no witnesses have come forward in Brandon or Christine’s murders and law enforcement has no listed suspects. Police are still asking for help. If you know something please come forward. You can call in a tip anonymously to CrimeStoppers at 504.822.1111 or also the New Orleans Police Department at 504.821.2222.
Sources:
https://www.npr.org/2022/09/26/1125055305/new-orleans-police-civilians
https://www.wdsu.com/article/mother-grieves-son-s-death-on-mother-s-day/3356964
https://www.fox8live.com/story/18155577/b/
https://www.crimestoppersgno.org/cases/open-cases/brandon-adams-and-christine
https://www.fox8live.com/story/18170113/murder-victims-mom-calls-for-change/
https://themerrowreport.com/tag/christine-marcelin/
https://globalgrind.com/1829097/new-orleans-15-year-old-teen-couple-gunned-down-days-apart-details/
https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/article_999580f3-a99d-5d18-9fc2-2bc4943c2c3d.html
https://www.davismortuaryservice.com/obituaries/5967407
https://uncovered.com/cases/christine-marcelin-new-orleans-la-2012#timeline
