On the night of April 9, 2019, 19-year-old Samantha Coyner of Somerville, Alabama, was critically wounded by gunfire at the intersection of Hillwood Drive and Chicamauga Trail in Huntsville. Police found her lying in the road after receiving calls about an active shooting; she was taken to Huntsville Hospital and died on April 10, 2019.

Investigators determined Coyner and others with her had been involved in an attempted drug transaction that failed. The parties in a maroon Chevy Malibu pursued Coyner’s vehicle; when some people from Coyner’s vehicle exited to confront the pursuers, someone inside the Malibu opened fire. Coyner was struck while still inside her car. Officers shortly located suspects at an address on Bob Wallace Avenue and charged two people with capital murder: Joseph Earls, then 18, and Jaylon McKinnley Draper.

Authorities said the confrontation began over an attempt to use counterfeit money to buy drugs. In March 2023 Draper, then 23, pleaded guilty to murder and received a 25-year sentence; Earls applied for youthful offender status in his case. Did anyone who knew Samantha or witnessed that night see details that could help explain what happened?