Phillip Knott was a 20-year-old Black man from Detroit who was killed on August 19, 2012.

Knott had been connected to an earlier homicide investigation in 2011 involving a Wayne State University football player named Smith. He was reportedly reluctant to get involved as a witness and told police he had not seen anything. An investigator sought his detention and a judge ordered him held in the Wayne County Jail until he would testify. Later allegations, drawn from police files, say investigators may have threatened or coerced him to obtain testimony favorable to the prosecution.

Very little is known about why Knott was killed or who was responsible. If anyone in Detroit knew Phillip Knott, his movements, or has information about his death, please come forward to help solve this case.