Mandell Ledet Duplessis, also reported as Mandela Duplessis, was a 24-year-old Black man who died in New Orleans on August 4, 2006. According to reports, he walked into a friend’s trailer and stepped into a robbery that turned violent; gunfire erupted and he was struck multiple times, dying of five gunshot wounds. Family remembered him as a small-time dealer with a bigger dream of making music and a demo CD he hoped might be his way out.

Police arrested four men in connection with the shooting, including Garelle Smith, but prosecutors did not bring a murder charge. Surviving victims of the trailer shooting did not testify before a grand jury, witnesses were later deemed not credible or would not cooperate, and the arrests unraveled. Duplessis’ mother described the investigation as a mess and remained without the answers a trial might have provided.

Did anyone who knew Mandela or was in that neighborhood in August 2006 see or hear anything that could help explain what happened?