The Murder of Tina Stewart
I watched the very first episode of Investigation Discovery’s new series, Fear Thy Roommate, the episode is titled ‘Three’s a Crowd,’ and it premiered on December 31, 2020.
This case is about a young athlete who was trying to make a living for herself, and was killed because she didn’t get along with her roommate.
Background
Tina Stewart
Tina in her element
Tina Stewart was a 21 year old student athlete at Middle Tennessee University. She was described as being a very girly person, but was tough on the basketball court.
Tina was starting her sophomore year when she was killed, and had just gotten a new roommate named Shanterrica Madden, who was a freshman.
Friends to Enemies
When Tina and Shanterrica first moved in together in an off campus apartment, they didn’t know each other, but seemed to be fine and even friendly at first. However, it soon changed because their different personalities clashed.
Tina and Shanterrica’s families were both interviewed for this episode, and Tina was described as very clean, where Shanterrica was messy. They would often get in fights about the house, and about Tina’s boyfriend, KC, being there all the time.
Tina even started posting on social media about how much she didn’t like Shanterrica, and since she was a popular athlete, people started to take notice of the ongoing feud, including friends of the girls. Several of their friends were also interviewed on this episode, and they all said that Tina was snarky to Shanterrica’s friends and vice versa. It was described as a toxic living situation, until one day it finally escalated.
The Murder
On March 2, 2011, Shanterrica came home with one of her friends and they thought no one was home, so they decided to smoke some marijuana in her room. However, Tina was actually home and was not happy about Shanterrica smoking because she could get in trouble and lose her scholarship even from second hand smoke.
Tina decided she needed to call the police on her roommate, and she even tweeted: “I just called the police on my roommate, I feel like a snitch, but I hate that bitch.” The police came to the apartment, and this made Shanterrica even more upset.
Tina and Shanterrica got into an altercation that night about it, and Shanterrica’s friend, Renee, was there and said she heard them screaming at each other and then it went quiet. Shanterrica told Renee that everything was fine, and Renee said she left the apartment.
Tina had plans with her boyfriend KC that night, and he was alarmed when he got a text message from her saying not to come. KC was interviewed on this episode, and he decided to go to Tina’s apartment anyways. When KC got there the lights were turned off, but Tina’s car was still there, so he went inside. He was confronted by Shanterrica, who just said Tina was not there, and then left the apartment.
KC would find a horrific scene, he found Tina barely alive. She had been stabbed. KC called 911 and then called Tina’s dad, Adrian. Tina was rushed to the hospital, but died on arrival. Tina died from a stab wound to her chest, that hit an artery.
The hunt was on for Shanterrica, and she was found hiding in a nearby parking lot. She had also taken the murder weapon, which was a knife. She had wrapped it in a towel and tossed it.
Arrest and Conviction
Shanterrica Madden was arrested and charged with second degree murder. She was also charged with tampering with evidence, after trying to throw away the murder weapon.
Shanterrica Madden mugshot
At her trial, Shanterrica said she killed Tina in self defense. She said they had gotten into a fight, with both girls shoving and pushing each other. She said she reached for a knife when Tina was on top of her. However, the evidence said otherwise and Tina was beat, stabbed and had two swollen eyes. Shanterrica also sent text messages to Tina’s boyfriend and friends to make it seem like Tina was still alive.
Shanterrica was found guilty of second degree murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison. According to the episode and my sources, Shanterrica showed no emotion at trial when her verdict was read.
Shanterrica at trial
Other
Shanterrica is trying to appeal her case, and possibly get a new trial. She claims she was mistreated and given ineffective counsel. This information was from an article in 2016, and it didn’t give anymore information on whether or not she was given a new trial, so I’m guessing she wasn't.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This story made me really sad. I wonder why nothing more was done about this toxic living situation, or if there was and it was just glossed over in the episode. However, it did say both girls tried to move out for some time, but it was hard to find a new apartment in the middle of the year. It seems like something that could have been prevented and one is dead, while the other is in jail for a very long time. I do think if you take a person’s life like that, then you need to be in jail for life.
I hope Tina’s family can move on, knowing that Shanterrica can’t hurt anyone else.
Sources
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tina-stewart-murder-suspect-shanterrica-madden-claims-self-defense/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tina-stewart-mtsu-guard-stabbed-to-death/
https://www.wkrn.com/news/woman-wants-new-trial-after-brutally-killing-mtsu-roommate/
