The Murder of Aquilla Flood
For this case I watched an episode of Suspicious Minds. It’s season 1 episode 4, titled ‘Rumors in the Halls.’
A popular teenager is found dead, just two weeks before graduation.
Background
Aquilla Flood was just 17 years old when she died. Her family described her as having a lot of personality, and that she always had something to say.
Aquilla was excited to go to her senior prom. She was going to go with a friend, who was the prom king to her queen. She was also close to graduating high school, and starting her adult life.
Aquilla Flood
The 911 Call
On June 5, 2013, Aquilla’s mom Nicole called 911 around 7am. She said her daughter wasn’t breathing, and lying in a pool of blood. Nicole went on to say that she had just woken up and found her daughter. Aquilla’s uncle Dana, can be heard in the background, saying “hurry up.”
Detective Tyrone Crawley with the Essex County Prosecutor’s Homicide Task Force, arrived around 8:30am. He walked into Aquilla’s bedroom, where she was lying on her bed. She had been shot, and had dried blood on her face and head. There was also blood on her comforter and sheets.
There was no sign of forced entry. Aquilla’s belongings were still in her room, and nothing was missing from the home. Det. Crawley did find a hole in the wall by the foot of her bed, which looked like it came from a bullet.
When the police spoke to Nicole and Dana, they both said they didn’t hear anything unusual. The police had to ask them to come down to the station since they lived in the home.
A Possible Motive?
By 9am, Nicole was the first to be interviewed by the police. She told them that she hadn’t heard anything unusual because she had taken some sleeping medication. The police confirmed this with her physician. Nicole said she went into Aquilla’s room at 7am, to wake her up for school, and noticed she had blood on her arm. She then noticed Aquilla was actually lying in blood, and tried to shake her.
Nicole was ruled out, and the next person to be interviewed was Dana. Dana had a criminal history, and had been staying with Nicole and Aquilla after being released from prison.
At this point, the police now learned that Aquilla’s time of death was around 1:30am, which her autopsy confirmed. Dana said he went to his girlfriend’s house around 6pm, and returned home around 2:50am. He said he heard Aquilla’s TV blasting, and went into her room to turn it off.
The police were able to clear Dana as well. His whereabouts from that day were checked, and his girlfriend confirmed he was with her.
Dana was interviewed in this episode, and he said Aquilla was more like his daughter than niece. He noticed that something was bothering her in the weeks before she died. Dana also told the police about a female employee at the school. Dana went on to say that the female had issues with Aquilla, but that Aquilla wouldn’t tell them much information because she didn’t want to be a snitch.
High School Rumors
The next day, Det. Crawley and Lt. Daniel Francis were at East Orange Campus High School. Det. Crawley was very familiar with the school, he had worked as a resource officer for many years.
They soon learned from Aquilla’s close friends that there was a woman that worked at the high school that didn’t like Aquilla. She was constantly staring at her and rolling her eyes. One friend said that the day Aquilla died, while the rest of the school was emotional, she was seen smirking and smiling.
The woman refused to talk to police, but soon the focus of the investigation shifted to three boys in Aquilla’s life: her ex, her current boyfriend and her prom date.
The Suspects
The first suspect was Al-Muqqadin Means, Aquilla’s ex-boyfriend. He had been expelled from school. Aquilla told her mom that Al was high all the time, so she broke it off with him.
The next suspect was Aquilla’s current boyfriend, who they named Fresh, which was probably a nickname. Aquilla’s friends say he went to a different school, but that they had only been dating about a month. Aquilla’s friends were suspicious of him because he said he had gone to sleep when Aquilla didn’t respond to his text messages. Fresh knew that Aquilla was going to prom with someone else, and apparently was fine with it.
Before the police spoke to the final suspect, Lt. Francis was able to obtain surveillance footage from across the street from Aquilla’s home. After hours of watching the footage, Lt. Francis spotted something. A boy is seen running to an adjacent lot from Aquilla’s home, and then walking back inside.
Lt. Francis believed the person had ditched the murder weapon, and he went to search. He looked in bushes, in dumpsters and under vehicles that were in the lot. He hit the jackpot when a handgun was found sitting under a car, and the killer had left behind a fingerprint. It was sent in for testing.
The final suspect Shamier was immediately ruled out. He told the police that the last time he had seen Aquilla was at school a few days prior. He was also a lot taller than the person in the surveillance video.
Arrest and Conviction
The police were really happy to learn that the fingerprint came back to one of their three suspects. It was a match to Al-Muqqadin Means. He was in the database due to previous criminal activity.
On June 10, Al was found hiding at a friend’s home, and was arrested.
Al said he went over to Aquilla’s that night to speak to her about the prom. She told him that her new boyfriend was probably coming over soon, and told him to leave. Al said he started fighting with Aquilla, and his gun fell out of his waistband. He said they struggled with the gun, and it went off, killing her.
Det. Crawley then remembered the small detail that came from Dana. He said he had turned off Aquilla’s TV because it was so loud. The police now believed that Al and Aquilla got into an argument because she was moving on without him, he turned the TV up, and shot her. He then ran to ditch the gun, went back inside and staged the crime scene.
Al pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and unlawful possession of a weapon. He was sentenced to 24 years in prison.
Al-Muqqadin Means
FINAL THOUGHTS
My heart truly breaks for this family, as it does for every family that has lost someone in this manner. Aquilla’s grandmother said this has completely destroyed Nicole and the rest of the family.
Aquilla had her whole life ahead of her, and her piece of shit ex-boyfriend took her life because he wasn’t going to be a part of it. He deserves a lot longer than 24 years in prison. If he killed Aquilla over nothing, I believe that he would do something like this again if he ever gets out.
Sources
https://www.nj.com/essex/2015/07/ex-boyfriend_gets_24_years_for_killing_17-year-old.html
https://www.nj.com/essex/2013/06/east_orange_prom_queen_was_dea.html
