Doniesha Duck Smallwood was 18 when she was killed on the night of August 5, 2007, in Columbia, South Carolina. A recent Ridgeview High School graduate headed to Midlands Technical College to study nursing, she was driving with friends on Crane Church Road after leaving a party when their vehicle was struck by gunfire. Passengers ducked down; when the shooting stopped they discovered Doniesha had been hit in the head and the car had veered off the road. She died of a fatal gunshot wound.

Police arrested a 13-year-old boy from Columbia and charged him with her murder. Authorities said the killing was linked to gang-related violence and reported that Doniesha had been a cooperating witness in the earlier fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy. The sheriff’s office described her as affiliated with a gang; her family remembered her as a good student, a band member, and a part-time worker with a promising future.

Does anyone remember Doniesha, her plans, or the events on Crane Church Road that night?