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LaQuandra “Shavonne” Slater (4 of Clubs, Michigan)
00:24:45
Thirty-eight-year-old, LaQuandra “Shavonne” Slater was known for being independent. Everyone who knew her said she was outspoken, knew how to take care of herself, and wasn’t one to be pushed around. So, it was all the more shocking when, in December of 2016, she disappeared without a trace.
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- [00:00]
Ashley Flowers
Hi everyone, it's Ashley Flowers here, and I want to tell you about a wild case that I can't stop thinking about. In 2002, Nathaniel Jones was found murdered outside his home in Winston Salem, North Carolina. In this newest season of Counterclock, investigative journalist Delia D'Ambra digs deep into the details of this case and the stories of the five teenagers who were quickly arrested. At the time, they had all confessed. But 22 years later, the men convicted say that they're innocent, and so does the star witness whose story secured their convictions. This story is still unfolding today, and you will not believe the places that Delia's investigation into this case goes. So make sure you listen to Counterclock now. Wherever you get your podcasts, NetCredit is here to say yes because you're More than a Credit Score Apply in minutes.
- [00:49]
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Ashley Flowers
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- [01:33]
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- [02:01]
Ashley Flowers
Our card this week is Laquandra Slater. The four of clubs from Michigan. Laquandra, or Siobhan as most people called her, was known for being tough and independent. Everyone who knew the 38 year old said she was outspoken, knew how to take care of herself and wasn't one to be pushed around. Which made it all the more shocking when In December of 2016 she disappeared without a trace. I'm Ashley Flowers and this is the deck. It was around December 8, 2016 when Shimonia Wootton went to message her cousin Siobhan on Facebook. Siobhan hadn't posted anything for a while, not since like Thanksgiving Two weeks prior. So Shimonie wanted to see if everything was okay. So she first fired off a message, waited to hear back, but it was 5 minutes, 10 minutes. An hour later, still no response. And that was very unlike Siobhan not to reply. But what was even stranger was after Shimonia sent a bunch more messages, it appeared as though Siobhan had blocked her. Now, Siobhan was known to be pretty headstrong and likely to hold a grudge if you had wronged her. But Shimonia couldn't see any reason why she would just block her out of nowhere. So she decided to switch tactics and call Siobhan's phone. Except it went straight to voicemail. Shimonia called again. Voicemail. Several attempts later. And all of a sudden, the calls stopped going to voicemail. And instead she got an automated message saying that the number had been disconnected and was no longer accepting calls. None of this was making sense. So Chimonia took the next step. She started reaching out to the people in Siobhan's circles. And as it turned out, nobody, including Siobhan's maintenance man, had seen her since Thanksgiving. So at this point, Shimona started to get seriously worried. So she put out a post on Facebook to see if anyone had any information. But no one seemed to know a thing, so it was time to kick things up a notch. That same day, Shimonia drove over to Siobhan's apartment in Flint, Michigan. She didn't appear to be home, and her black Chevy wasn't anywhere in the building's parking lot. But Shimonia did run into her maintenance man, and he said that he usually saw Siobhan leave her house every morning at around 10am but he hadn't seen or heard from her in several days, and she was now late on her rent payment. Here is Florida Flint Township Police Department Detective Lacey Lopez, who was put on this case around 2020.
- [05:10]
Detective Lacey Lopez
He said it was really unusual for her because she typically always paid it on time. So he was also concerned.
- [05:16]
Ashley Flowers
Now, her maintenance man said that he'd called the emergency contact on Siobhan's lease multiple times and left multiple messages, but no one ever answered or called him back. We tried to look into who this emergency contact was, but the detectives never got that information. So with Shimonia there now and all signs pointing to something being wrong, the maintenance man agreed to let her do a welfare check.
- [05:43]
Detective Lacey Lopez
They did go inside. Everything appeared to be normal in her apartment. There was nothing that was alarming or suspicious in the apartment. Laquandra is A very neat person. The refrigerator still had food items that were fresh. Everything appeared to be pretty undisturbed.
- [05:59]
Ashley Flowers
But there was one sign that something wasn't quite right. Siobhan's pets. She had two snakes which she kept in a glass enclosure and they appeared to have not been fed for several days by that point.
- [06:13]
Detective Lacey Lopez
The snakes not being looked after, that was extremely unlike Laquandra. Those were her babies and she took care of them.
- [06:22]
Ashley Flowers
All of this was enough for Shimonia to know know that something was definitely wrong. So that Evening at around 6:30pm she went down to the police station to file a missing persons report. Police immediately did a search of local hospitals and jails, but they didn't find Siobhan in any of them. They did, however, find her Chevy in impound. When they ran the plates on her car, they realized that it had been towed just days earlier after it was found abandoned in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Flint, six miles from Siobhan's home. Now unfortunately, detectives couldn't find any link between Siobhan and anyone in that complex. So the car being there just added to the mystery of her disappearance. Latoya Brown, another one of Siobhan's cousins, said that she would never have just abandoned her Chevy like that. And here's Latoya recalling this.
- [07:19]
Latoya Brown
So I knew something was wrong when they found her truck and not her. And after that I instantly knew something wasn't right. Like I know her. She cherished her thing.
- [07:30]
Ashley Flowers
That same night, Flint detectives went to search Siobhan's apartment themselves. They hoped that they could find something that Shimonia and the maintenance man hadn't. Something that could help them figure out where in the world Siobhan disappeared to. Here is a voice actor reading what the previous detectives notes said about that search.
- [07:51]
Voice Actor
We went into the residence and noticed that everything was very well kept, neat and orderly. The cupboards still had food in them. The refrigerator still had food and other items in it. However, the toilets appeared to have been sitting for a while with cleaner in them. The residence appeared to have been undisturbed and it did not look as though there had been any form of altercation. And there was no forced entry to the residence. We did observe that inside the residence in the master bedroom there were four dressers, all of which were empty of clothing. The closets still had clothing, shoes and other apparel inside of them. We were unable to determine if the residence had been cleared by Slater moving items out.
- [08:30]
Ashley Flowers
Unfortunately, there wasn't much else of note at Siobhan's apartment aside from the two reptiles, but detectives did photograph everything and later collect various items laying around for possible DNA samples just in case. Then, as they were heading out, they ran into someone who was trying to head in one of Siobhan's friends, who we'll call Martin Great at watching tv, Then Get Ready for rewards from Sling with Sling's Watch and Win Sweepstakes. All you have to do is watch 30 minutes of TV daily for chances to win up to $10,000 in cash and other prizes monthly. You can also earn rewards by signing up for Sling or a free account with Sling Freestream, which gives you over 500 channels of always free TV and movies. It feels like I'm never in the same place for more than like a week, but Sling goes wherever I go and I can customize my own channel lineup so I'm never fooling around with an endless hotel guide. Oh, and never be afraid of missing your favorite show because Sling's Cloud DVR lets you record your favorite shows. And with no contracts, Sling TV is a no brainer. Watch TV anywhere at any time and get rewarded with Sling. Sign up for free today@sling.com win that's sling.com win watch TV every day and improve your chances of winning $10,000 in cash and other prizes monthly. Sling.com win.
- [10:03]
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- [11:09]
Ashley Flowers
Martin told detectives that he was one of Siobhan's good friends and that he'd been looking for her for several days, and he'd actually come there to check on her, just as everyone else had. Like many people, he'd had contact with Siobhan on Thanksgiving. His contact had been in person, though the two had gotten dinner together at the Golden Corral. But he'd also had additional contact with her after that over the phone on December 2, which was more recently than anyone else police had spoken to so far.
- [11:40]
Detective Lacey Lopez
When he had spoken to her, she kept talking about her mother and was crying, saying she was tired of being by herself and doing the same thing every day. So from a couple different people, we've kind of heard that Laquandra was kind of like a caretaker for her mom.
- [11:52]
Ashley Flowers
Unfortunately, Siobhan's mom had passed away in the year before she went missing. And from what Detective Lopez heard, she was having a really hard time with.
- [12:02]
Detective Lacey Lopez
But he thought it was suspicious that she got emotional because she didn't normally do that. But that was, like, really the only thing that he could say was odd.
- [12:10]
Ashley Flowers
Martin told detectives that he started getting really worried about Siobhan by December 5, and he'd been driving around every day since looking for her.
- [12:20]
Detective Lacey Lopez
They asked him, do you know of anybody else that she would talk to that we could go talk to and see, like, when they last talked to her? He said no. He knew that she was dating a black male on and off for several years. However, he didn't remember his name. Martin said that the male had gone to prison for crashing a vehicle that belonged to Laquandra in Chiliquandra, and that he had gotten out of prison approximately one month prior.
- [12:41]
Ashley Flowers
This seemed like a pretty good lead to detectives, but without a name, it was going to be difficult to track this man down. It was the next day when Latoya Brown, the cousin we heard from earlier and another cousin went down to the station to file their own missing person report for Siobhan. They didn't know that Shimonia had already been there the day before. But still, detectives took the opportunity to learn more from these cousins about who Siobhan was. And Latoya told detectives that the last time she saw Siobhan in person was on Halloween. Here is our reporter, Madison, speaking with her about this last encounter. Like, what energy did you get from her that day?
- [13:22]
Latoya Brown
I mean, she was Siobhan, but she was just telling me stories, things she was going through with this particular guy. But, I mean, she was being herself, normal, joking.
- [13:32]
Ashley Flowers
You remember the guy's first name that.
- [13:34]
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She was Kind of having trouble with.
- [13:36]
Latoya Brown
Now that I don't know. Like I said, during that time, I hadn't seen her, so I didn't know, like, who she was dealing with. And I can't recall, even if she called me his name, I wouldn't remember now anyway, so.
- [13:48]
Ashley Flowers
Detectives still had no name to run with, but latoya did provide some interesting background on Siobhan that was helpful to them. For one, she assured them that Siobhan was not the kind of person to just lose contact with her friends and family. And two, she implied that Siobhan had built a reputation for herself.
- [14:08]
Latoya Brown
She's known for being tough. She's known for carrying herself in a manner like she ain't to be messed with. So people knew, like, they would have to take her with some force. This wasn't no, oh, she went willingly. This, it was a fight, I'm sure, because I know her.
- [14:26]
Ashley Flowers
Detectives also learned that Siobhan had a gun license and normally was carrying.
- [14:33]
Detective Lacey Lopez
Keep getting the description of like a very strong woman. Like we call it gangster, but I mean, she could take care of herself, obviously.
- [14:41]
Ashley Flowers
Detectives found out that while Siobhan worked in home healthcare, she had a second source of income as a large scale cocaine dealer. And she had a second apartment that she dealt out of. So detectives paid a visit to this second apartment on December 19th. They didn't actually have a warrant at that time, so going in was kind of out of the question. But they figured they'd just go poke around, see if anyone was in the area, see if they could find out anything else about her. Here is more from the previous detective's notes.
- [15:13]
Voice Actor
At the time when we entered the building, we were met by a male walking down from the second floor. The mail would not provide his name and stated he tries to stay out of people's business because of the location where he lives. He was shown the photo of Slater and he stated that he has seen her around the complex and walked us to her apartment door. The mail stated that he has not seen her in a few weeks. And that was out of the normal. I asked the mail where the mailbox bank was located. He stated it was on the second floor.
- [15:42]
Ashley Flowers
It was at that mailbox bank on the second floor where things started to get really strange. Detectives found a note taped to the front of Siobhan's mailbox door and handwritten on it was one deceased. Now, detectives had zero evidence at that point that Siobhan was deceased. So there was no reason anyone would have posted such a sign on her mailbox. Unless they knew something detectives didn't. So the next day, detectives got a warrant to search inside Siobhan's second apartment, thinking maybe from the handwritten note, that this was likely a crime scene. But when they got inside, they found it was almost completely empty, except for a couple of folding chairs and some bottled water. They sprayed the place with luminol, but even that didn't turn up anything interesting or useful. Detectives also sent the deceased note to the state crime lab for testing. But because this is an ongoing investigation, they wouldn't tell us anything more about what the note looked like or what tests were conducted. So the same day they searched her second apartment, detectives also executed a search warrant for Siobhan's car. Inside, they found some spare shopping bags, clothes, and a purse full of toiletries, but nothing really out of the ordinary. There was no blood or fingerprints legible enough to put into aphis. The only thing that stood out to detectives was a Styrofoam container of raw chicken breast from a local liquor store that had gone rancid. And actually, it ended up being more helpful than you might think because it had an expiration date on it. December 5th. Here's our reporter Madison and Detective Lopez again. Does that change your opinion about the timeline?
- [17:29]
Detective Lacey Lopez
Just my experience with liquor stores, they only have meats like that for a couple days prior to the expiration date. They don't keep meat long at these party stores.
- [17:38]
Ashley Flowers
The next morning, detectives went to the liquor store where the chicken had been bought to see if they could find any video of Siobhan or anyone else making the purchase. When they got there, they were surprised to see a missing person poster for Siobhan posted at the counter. As it turns out, the owner knew her because she was a regular customer, and he'd been concerned because he hadn't seen her around recently. When asked about the chicken, the owner said that he didn't remember Siobhan buying it specifically. She was in and out of the store a lot, and he didn't always make note of her, but he said he last remembered seeing her maybe the end of November or beginning of December.
- [18:16]
Detective Lacey Lopez
Basically says, like, the latest we would put that out for sale is December 1st. So they figured sometime between the 1st and the 5th was when she was in the store. He allowed him to look at the video. However, the video only saved for nine days, so they missed it by four days.
- [18:33]
Ashley Flowers
That told detectives that Siobhan was still alive and in the area in early December. Also, the fact that the chicken was still in the car Made it seem like Siobhan's drive home from the liquor store might have been interrupted before she got a chance to take the chicken inside. But without video evidence of Siobhan making the purchase, the chicken didn't provide any hard point on the timeline.
- [18:57]
Detective Lacey Lopez
So it's not a great timeline. I mean, we're used to working with like a day or two in good situations. But to have it be this wide was a downfall from the beginning.
- [19:07]
Ashley Flowers
Detectives did look into Siobhan's phone records, but it wasn't as simple as they might have thought. Siobhan was known to have multiple phones at the same time, and they ended up getting search warrants for two of the numbers. One search came back with no records, meaning that Siobhan either wasn't using that phone at all or it had been disconnected. And then the second search came back with normal activity. But detectives didn't want to release any information about what that normal activity might have showed at this time. With no one new coming forward and all evidence based leads exhausted, Siobhan's case went quiet for about a month. And then in January, detectives connected with Siobhan's credit union to search her bank accounts. They found that she had automatic deposits of $733 on the first of every month.
- [19:56]
Detective Lacey Lopez
So we figured that on December 1st, she would have gotten paid that $733, and her normal actions would be to remove that money immediately that same day. But she did not.
- [20:07]
Ashley Flowers
That told detectives that by December 1, something must have already happened to Siobhan that made her unable to withdraw her money as she usually did. Now, I should note that around this time, several other women went missing in downtown Flint, many along Fenton Road, which is about a 10 minute drive from where Siobhan's car was found abandoned. Many of these women were suspected sex workers, and unfortunately, most of them have never been found, nor has anyone ever claimed responsibility for their disappearances. So it was certainly possible that the unknown individual or individuals responsible for the other women's disappearances could have been responsible for Siobhan's as well. But police have no reason to suspect that Siobhan was a sex worker. Plus, they had more viable leads to run down first, like exploring connections that she had in the drug world and finding that boyfriend that she was having trouble with. And as it turns out, he wasn't the only man in her life that they had to be concerned about.
- [21:17]
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- [22:16]
Detective Lacey Lopez
Has a couple different male friends that are very sketchy and in contact with her at the time she went missing.
- [22:23]
Ashley Flowers
It turns out Siobhan had actually taken out restraining orders against two of these men. One of the restraining orders was against a man who we'll call John, and it was granted In August of 2016, just a few months before Siobhan vanished. That's when she came into the police department to report a threat to her life. Detective Lopez was actually the one to take down that report.
- [22:45]
Detective Lacey Lopez
She said she was in fear of her life because she had gotten voicemails from the ex boyfriend, John, and she played the voicemails for me and I listened to them. One was quote, unquote, bitch, I will kill you and I will slash those tires and I will go in your crib. Laquandre told me that John was about 19 years old, but she had been dating him.
- [23:04]
Ashley Flowers
A direct threat on her life just four months before Siobhan went missing was obviously suspicious to detectives, but when they looked into it, they found out that John was in Ohio when Siobhan went missing. Plus he submitted to and passed a polygraph test. Detectives told us they still haven't officially cleared John, but it's safe to say that they were more concerned with running down other leads. And another one of these men, who we'll call Adam, stood out for his violent criminal history, including murder, stalking, and felony firearm charges. Apparently, Adam and Siobhan had been together kind of on and off since at least least 2012, and their relationship was rocky from the start. Adam had been released from prison about 10 months prior to Siobhan's disappearance. And putting the pieces together, Adam was actually the boyfriend that Martin brought up in the first days of the investigation, the one who'd hit Siobhan with her Own car. This crash happened on October 14, 2012. That day, Siobhan and Adam were hanging out at her apartment when she mentioned that she wanted to go check in on her mother, who she typically took care of. According to Siobhan, this made Adam upset, and when she left the apartment in her car, he decided to leave, too, following her in his Dodge Ram truck.
- [24:26]
Detective Lacey Lopez
Upon reaching the area of 13th and Saginaw Street, Adam rammed the back of Laquandre's vehicle as she was pulling into a parking lot, and then she got out of the vehicle and ran. As she was getting out of the vehicle and trying to run away, he struck the vehicle again. So they end up charging him with assault with intent to do great bodily harm. So with that charge, you don't necessarily need a conviction to go back to prison in Michigan. If you violate parole, they'll send you back.
- [24:53]
Ashley Flowers
So Adam was sent to prison. During that time, Siobhan allegedly told her cousin Shimonia that she was thinking of getting back together with Adam when he was released. Unfortunately, we weren't able to confirm the pair's relationship status at the time of Siobhan's disappearance. A number of people in Siobhan's circle remember hearing or seeing her with a man around that time, but for one reason or another, nobody could remember his name. Martin said that he'd often hear Siobhan and a boyfriend arguing in the background of their phone calls. And latoya said that she knew Siobhan was having a situation with some guy, but she never learned that guy's name.
- [25:32]
Detective Lacey Lopez
Another friend of hers that we have since made contact with, she said the same thing. She said that she was having issues with this guy and that he wouldn't leave her alone. And it's not a bad so. But she didn't know who. Never. She never said his name.
- [25:45]
Ashley Flowers
And that's about when detectives hit a dead end. With no one else willing to speak and barely more than a rancid container of chicken as evidence, it actually took three years until there was another break in the case, and it came across their desks in the form of a domestic assault report. In May 2020, an incident with an eerily familiar scenario. We were able to get our hands on a copy of the incident report through a FOIA request. And the complainant, whose name we are going to withhold, told detectives that she and her boyfriend were hanging out when she told him that she was going to head home. Shortly thereafter, he started verbally assaulting her and threatening her life. After some back and Forth, the complainant was able to drive away, but her boyfriend followed her in a truck. And after catching up with her, he began repeatedly hitting her car until it crashed into a residence. Now, this entire altercation sounded a lot like the crash that sent Siobhan's ex boyfriend to prison in 2012. And when police asked the complainant about the credibility of the threats that her boyfriend made, she said she believed them, quote, due to him killing her friend Shay V. Now, Chevy was another of Siobhan's nicknames. So detectives were putting the pieces together in no time. And sure enough, when they dug deeper, they confirmed that, in fact, the complainant's boyfriend was Siobhan's ex boyfriend, Adam. So it seemed at this point that all fingers were pointing toward Adam. But because detectives are still actively investigating Siobhan's case, that is all they would tell us for now. At the time of this recording, Siobhan still has not been found. Detective Lopez seems to think that there are people out there who might have answers, but they might be reluctant to talk because they're maybe wrapped up in the drug world. This might be a good time to remind people that through Crime Stoppers, you can submit tips completely anonymously. I used to do a lot of volunteering for my local branch, and when a tip comes in, they actually remove any and all identifying information from the tip before passing it on to police. But with that in mind, remember to be as detailed as possible if you use the service. The hope is that in due time, detectives can bring justice for Siobhan and all those who continue to think about her. Like her cousin Latoya, who still shares her pictures on Facebook and hashtags her name every year. She just wants to make sure that Siobhan is not forgotten.
- [28:26]
Latoya Brown
No one deserves this and her family don't deserve this. Like we being punished as well because.
- [28:30]
Ashley Flowers
We'Re having to go through life and.
- [28:32]
Latoya Brown
Not know whatever happened to her. Just still wonder every day what happened. Is she alive? If she's not, just the not knowing is the worst part. I just want her to know that she love and that she missed and they would see nothing. Maybe after all these years, he's still not forgotten.
- [28:53]
Ashley Flowers
If you know anything about the disappearance of Laquandra Siobhan Slater in Flint, Michigan in December of 2016, we urge you to call Flint Township Police Detective Lacey Lopez directly at 810-600-3266. Or again, you can leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers of Flint and Genesee county by calling 1 of 1 800-422-5245 the deck is an audio Chuck production with theme music by Ryan Lewis. To learn more about the Deck and our advocacy work, visit thedeckpodcast.com so what do you think Chuck? Do you Approve?
- [29:46]
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- [30:16]
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- [30:18]
Ashley Flowers
Easy.
- [30:19]
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