Brandi Mells, 22, was found dead in her Lansingburgh basement apartment in Troy, New York, along with her partner, Shanta Myers, and Myers’ two children, Jeremiah and Shanise. The property manager discovered the four bodies on December 26, 2017, and investigators placed the killings on or about December 21, 2017. Authorities said the victims appeared to have been targeted rather than the victims of a random intrusion; later reporting described the victims as bound and the scene as extremely brutal.

Investigators moved quickly to identify suspects and by the end of 2017 had arrested two men from Schenectady, James W. White and Justin C. Mann, who were charged in connection with the deaths. Early court filings laid out accusations but offered little public explanation of motive. Mann later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received 25 years to life; White was convicted at trial on multiple counts, including first-degree murder, and was sentenced to life without parole in January 2022. The killings left a household and a neighborhood devastated.

Did anyone in the Lansingburgh area know the victims or have information about who might have had access to that apartment around December 21, 2017?