Rachel Marie Curl was 20 when she was shot and killed on the night of October 17, 2020, at the Hidden Hills Apartments near the Western Michigan University campus in Kalamazoo. She was found with a gunshot wound by Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety officers, taken to Bronson Methodist Hospital, and pronounced dead. Another person was also shot that night.

Authorities later charged Ja’Shaun Markee Jones of Battle Creek with open murder and felony firearms in December 2020, and a judge bound the case over for trial in January 2021. On June 13, 2023, a jury acquitted Jones of the open murder and felony firearms charges but was deadlocked on six other counts. Rachel’s family and community continue to grieve her loss; she is remembered for her kindness, love of sunsets and the beach, and her dog Max.