In the early morning hours of April 5, 2020, 25-year-old JaRiel Sam was found dead in a vacant lot in LaPlace, Louisiana, with a fatal gunshot wound to the head. Deputies first responded about 3:30 a.m. to a single-car crash on Belle Terre Boulevard; the vehicle had struck a guardrail and the driver was not at the scene. A search of the area uncovered Sam’s body, and investigators later shifted the case from a hit-and-run to a homicide.

Surveillance footage reconstructed what happened earlier that morning: 37-year-old Corrie Wallace was seen forcing Sam into the trunk of her own car at her apartment complex while Sam’s 4-year-old son remained alone and unharmed inside the apartment. As Wallace drove away, a second vehicle driven by 36-year-old Kevin Hollinger followed behind. Investigators believe Sam escaped from the trunk, ran into the vacant lot, and was pursued and shot by Wallace, who then fled on foot.

Both men were arrested. Wallace was charged with first-degree murder and held without bond; Hollinger was charged as principal to first-degree murder and had bond initially set at $100,000. If anyone has information about JaRiel Sam, her movements that night, or the people involved, please come forward.