She Was Gunned Down At Her Doorstep Days After A Strange Man Knocked, Claiming To Be An FBI Agent
A 28-year-old woman named Kanika Powell was living in Prince George County, Maryland, when she passed away on August 29, 2008. She was gunned down at her doorstep in broad daylight and died from her injuries.
Kanika did a tour of service in Korea in the Army. Afterward, she took a job as a security contractor at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
Two years later, she was hired as a full-time employee. The details of the job were unclear, but the lab was responsible for more than 400 projects in homeland security.
Trouble began on August 23, 2008, when a strange man knocked on her front door. He identified himself as an FBI agent and demanded to be let in.
However, Kanika did not open the door. She asked to see his badge, but he did not produce one. The man left shortly after.
Kanika was shaken by the encounter. She immediately called the police and filed a report. The police arrived four minutes after her call, but did not find the man. She also contacted the FBI and was told that this man did not follow the proper FBI protocol.
In addition, she reported the incident to her apartment complex and sent an email about it to her friends and family.
Five days later, on August 27, 2008, Kanika received another knock at her door. This time, it was someone claiming to be a delivery man. He was a different person from the first man.
The delivery man insisted that she open the door to sign for a package. When she refused, he left and never came back. There was also no delivery truck parked nearby.
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The next morning, on August 28, 2008, she woke up to yet another knock on her door. Once again, a delivery man claimed to have a package for her.
She did not open the door, and no package was left behind. Kanika called the police again, but they couldn’t find anything wrong.
She decided to run some errands during the day. When she returned to her apartment at around 11:50 a.m., someone was waiting in the hallway for her.
They shot her several times with a handgun. Her wallet and keys were found next to her body, so robbery was ruled out as a motive.
Kanika died from her injuries on August 29. Authorities did not have a single suspect in mind for Kanika’s murder.
Years later, a podcast episode titled “Unsolved, A Killer Comes Knocking,” revealed new information. Apparently, Kanika had been hanging out with some new people in the weeks before her murder. She started dating a woman in the group and was set to take a trip with her to Atlanta for a Pride Festival.
According to Kanika’s friend, Kanika’s new partner had an ex-boyfriend who may have viewed her as a threat. He may have killed her to prevent Kanika and his ex from getting closer.
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