Chanel Petro-Nixon was an American teenager who was strangled to death in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 2006. In 2016, Veron Primus was charged with the murder.

Life

Chanel Petro-Nixon was born in mid-1989 and lived in the

Bedford Stuyvesant Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst t ...

section of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, with her father Anthony Garvin, her mother Lucita Nixon, and her brothers Marcus and Giovanni. She was a member of the Mt. of Olives

Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...

on Bushwick Avenue and was considered devout by her family based on her

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

and

prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified a ...

attendance. She was also an 11th grader at

Boys and Girls High School Boys and Girls High School, the oldest public high school in Brooklyn, is a comprehensive high school in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, United States. The school is located at 1700 Fulton Street. As of the 2014–15 school year, the ...

, and was known as a straight-A student who spent her after-school hours in the

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

. According to

Nancy Grace Nancy Ann Grace (born October 23, 1959) is an American legal commentator and television journalist. She hosted ''Nancy Grace'', a nightly celebrity news and current affairs show on HLN, from 2005 to 2016, and Court TV's ''Closing Arguments' ...

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

, "She wanted to become a

nurse Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health c ...

to help other people".

Death

On Sunday, June 18, 2006, Petro-Nixon left her family's home, telling them she was walking to the Applebee's restaurant near New York Avenue and Fulton Street, to meet a friend. She never returned home. Four days later, her body was discovered in a

trash bag A bin bag, rubbish bag (British English), garbage bag, bin liner, trash bag (American English) or refuse sack is a disposable bag used to contain solid waste. Such bags are useful to line the insides of waste containers to prevent the insides o ...

in front of 212 Kingston Avenue. It was determined that Petro-Nixon had been

strangled Strangling is compression of the neck that may lead to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain. Fatal strangling typically occurs in cases of violence, accidents, and is one of two main ways that hanging ...

. Petro-Nixon was buried at Rosedale and Rosehill Cemetery, located in

Linden, New Jersey Linden is a city in southeastern Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area, located about southwest of Manhattan and bordering Staten Island, a borough of New York City, across the Arthur Kill ...

Reaction

Following his daughter's murder, Anthony Garvin was quoted as saying: "I don't trust anybody ..That person shaking your hand, smiling in your face, could be the one who did this." Petro-Nixon's mother, Lucita, took a different viewpoint stating, "I won't let anger poison me". A teenage friend of Petro-Nixon's said: "She would never do anything wrong." The friend also said that two had read ''

The Da Vinci Code ''The Da Vinci Code'' is a 2003 mystery thriller novel by Dan Brown. It is Brown's second novel to include the character Robert Langdon: the first was his 2000 novel ''Angels & Demons''. ''The Da Vinci Code'' follows symbologist Robert Langdon ...

'' together and that Petro-Nixon was a good student: "She had good grades. I would call her the 'little

nerd A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly tec ...

.'" Petro-Nixon's parents made a plea to the public requesting help finding her killer. They also visited the site where she was found. On July 7, 2006, the Brooklyn Branch of the

N.A.A.C.P. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.& ...

sent a letter to Police Commissioner

Raymond W. Kelly Raymond Walter Kelly (born September 4, 1941) is the longest serving Commissioner in the history of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and the first man to hold the post for two non-consecutive tenures. According to its website, Kelly � ...

requesting a meeting. The letter mentioned "increasing rates of crime", "inadequate police response", and the murder of Petro-Nixon.

Investigation

Police quickly appealed to the public for information, offering an initial reward of $12,000 for useful information. At a later date, the reward amount was increased, ultimately reaching $38,000. The

fund Fund may refer to: * Funding is the act of providing resources, usually in form of money, or other values such as effort or time, for a project, a person, a business, or any other private or public institution ** The process of soliciting and gathe ...

represents contributions by Mayor

Michael R. Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...

, ''

The New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'', The Reverend

Al Sharpton Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, talk show host and politician. Sharpton is the founder of the National Action Network. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic ...

, and the

New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

. No one has claimed the reward. The

interviewed all of Petro-Nixon's friends and collected hundreds of tips. An article in the ''New York Daily News'' focused on Petro-Nixon's white sneakers, with the hope that someone would have recognized her shoes.

Cops hope a photo of 16-year-old Chanel Petro-Nixon's white and pink retro jordan sneakers will jog a witness' memory and help investigators track down the Brooklyn girl's killer.

David Stein, head of the detective squad working the case, was quoted as saying, "You see a case like this maybe once in a career."

Arrest

In June 2016, Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson announced that former Crown Heights resident Veron Primus had been formally charged with Petro-Nixon's murder. Primus had been a school friend of Petro-Nixon's and it was later found that he was the friend she was meeting at Applebee's on the day she disappeared. It was reported that he was considered a suspect from day one, but there had not been enough evidence to lead to an arrest. Some years after Petro-Nixon's murder, Primus had also served time in prison for violating a

restraining order A restraining order or protective order, is an order used by a court to protect a person in a situation involving alleged domestic violence, child abuse, assault, harassment, stalking, or sexual assault. Restraining and personal protection or ...

and was deported to

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines () is an island country in the Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea wh ...

, following his release. In 2016, while in St. Vincent, he became a suspect in the abduction of one woman and the murder of another. While investigating these crimes, St. Vincent authorities found new evidence linking Primus to Petro-Nixon's murder. They contacted New York investigators, who traveled to the island and were then able to issue an indictment. , Primus is being held in St. Vincent, awaiting trial for the unrelated murder of a 33-year-old estate agent named Sharleen Greaves. Thompson stated that he wished for Primus to be returned to the United States and stand trial for Petro-Nixon's murder.

Aftermath

Murder statistics compiled by the NYPD and obtained by the ''New York Daily News'' mentioned Petro-Nixon. Another murder which occurred on the same day as Petro-Nixon's was mentioned, and there was speculation that both murders may be related. ''New York Daily News'' columnist Errol Louis, who tried to keep the story 'alive' in the press, reported that there was an upward spike in murder in Crown Heights by 122%, and that community meetings were being held by Assemblyman Karim Camara. Petro-Nixon's mother was quoted in a ''New York Times'' story, related to the case: "We try our best to keep it alive." And, "We really don't want her death to be in vain". In January 2007, CNN aired a video featuring Nancy Grace discussing unsolved murders, including Petro-Nixon's. , the case had still not been solved. There were no

witnesses In law, a witness is someone who has knowledge about a matter, whether they have sensed it or are testifying on another witnesses' behalf. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, e ...

known to have seen Petro-Nixon murdered, nor had any

suspect In law enforcement jargon, a suspect is a known person accused or suspected of committing a crime. Police and reporters in the United States often use the word suspect as a jargon when referring to the perpetrator of the offense (perp in dated U ...

s been identified. The Reverend

joined with the television show, ''

America's Most Wanted ''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Alternative Entertainment division of Fox Corporation. At the time of i ...

'', in trying to solve the mystery of her murder and used strong language directed to the Black community in presenting the case of Petro-Nixon's murder. Petro-Nixon's mother, Lucita, had been scheduled to receive a "survivor's" award in January 2008. More than two years had passed and there had been no further revelations in Petro-Nixon's murder. On June 19, 2010, a rally, march, and prayer vigil were held in honor of Petro-Nixon. The blog site mentioning this rally also stated that as of that late date no further evidence of her murder had been provided. A website was created in memory of Petro-Nixon as well as to reach out to the public to obtain information or help in locating her murderer.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Petro-Nixon, Chanel 2000s missing person cases 2006 in New York City Crimes in New York City Formerly missing people June 2006 events in the United States Missing person cases in New York City Unsolved murders in the United States 2006 murders in the United States People murdered in New York City burials in New Jersey