Trayona McDowell was 18 when she was shot and killed inside her home on Egypt Lane in the Okolona neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky, on November 9, 2016. A Ballard High School student and member of Friendship Baptist Church, she was the mother of a 10-month-old child at the time.

Police identified two 16-year-old suspects known to McDowell: Jacquan Hardin and Troy Hurt Jr. Authorities said Hurt was McDowell’s boyfriend and believed she was pregnant; he reportedly had wanted her to have an abortion. The coroner’s autopsy found McDowell was not pregnant. Investigators say Hardin and Hurt fled in a car after the shooting, were stopped later that day, and a gun was found in the vehicle. Hardin said he was outside when he heard gunshots.

Hardin’s case was later moved to juvenile court. In July 2019 Troy Hurt Jr., then 18, was sentenced to the maximum of 25 years for McDowell’s murder; he was required to serve 20 years before parole eligibility. Did anyone who knew Trayona or her family notice signs of trouble in the weeks before November 9, 2016?