On the morning of June 18, 2022, Samantha Catalina Lawson, 29, and 28-year-old Jamie Binns were found unresponsive in a vehicle in the Laurel Woods Apartments parking lot in South Bend, Indiana, after officers responded to a welfare check around 2:00 a.m. Both women were later confirmed to have died from gunshot wounds to the back of the head; the St. Joseph County Metro Homicide Unit treated the case as a double homicide.

Investigators determined the victims, residents of Niles, Michigan, had driven to South Bend after being asked for a ride. Court records identify a 17-year-old suspect, Rease Pence, who with a friend had obtained a ride from the women to the apartment complex where the shootings occurred. Samantha Lawson was a mother of five whose obituary remembered her for drawing, photography and fashion design and for being deeply committed to family and friends.

Does anyone have information about Samantha’s activities or movements in Niles or South Bend before June 18, 2022?