Solved case · 2020
Also known as Nina Pop's death · Nina Pop death
The short answer
Nina Pop, a 28-year-old Black transgender woman, was stabbed to death in her Sikeston, Missouri apartment in May 2020, prompting a hate-crime investigation and later a voluntary manslaughter conviction.
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Suggest coverage for Killing of Nina PopNina Pop was a Black transgender woman who lived in Sikeston, Missouri, a town of about 16,000 people located roughly 145 miles south of St. Louis. On May 3, 2020, she was found dead inside her own apartment on South New Madrid Street after being stabbed multiple times with a knife. She was 28 years old at the time of her death.
The Human Rights Campaign stated that Pop's death was at least the 10th violent death of an American transgender or gender non-conforming person recorded in 2020, a statistic that drew national attention to violence against transgender people, particularly Black transgender women.
On May 15, 2020, in Dexter, Missouri, Joseph B. Cannon of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, was arrested and accused of Pop's killing. He was charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action, pleaded not guilty, and requested a public defender. The investigation into Pop's death involved eleven crime labs, anti-violence organizations, and police departments, and authorities examined the case as a potential hate crime.
During the course of the investigation and reporting, the Sikeston Department of Public Safety and a local television network were noted to have initially misgendered Pop.
In October 2025, Cannon was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in connection with Pop's death and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Pop's death spurred community responses centered on the safety and wellbeing of Black transgender people. The Okra Project, a grassroots organization that had initially focused on addressing food insecurity within the Black transgender community, committed $15,000 to establish the Nina Pop Mental Health Recovery Fund alongside the Tony McDade Mental Health Recovery Fund, aiming to provide free one-time mental health therapy sessions for Black transgender individuals.
On June 2, 2020, thousands of people gathered for a vigil and protest at the Stonewall Inn in New York City to honor the lives of Nina Pop and Tony McDade, another Black transgender person killed in 2020, and to protest police violence and transphobic violence against the Black transgender community.
Nina Pop is found dead with multiple stab wounds inside her apartment on South New Madrid Street in Sikeston, Missouri.
Joseph B. Cannon is arrested in Dexter, Missouri, and accused of Pop's killing; charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action.
Thousands gather for a vigil and protest at the Stonewall Inn in New York City honoring Nina Pop and Tony McDade.
Joseph B. Cannon is convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
28-year-old Black transgender woman found stabbed to death in her Sikeston, Missouri apartment on May 3, 2020.[3]
Arrested May 15, 2020 and charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection with Pop's death; convicted of voluntary manslaughter in October 2025 and sentenced to 14 years in prison.[3]
From the record
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
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Credit: Missouri Department of CorrectionsCC0SourceUNSOLVEDListenSikeston, Missouri, United States · 1940s
Cleo Wright, a 26-year-old Black cotton mill worker, was shot by police, denied adequate medical care, and then dragged from a Sikeston, Missouri jail cell by a white mob and burned alive on January 25, 1942, sparking the first federal civil rights investigation into a lynching.
UNSOLVEDListenNear Hickman, Fulton County, Kentucky · 1900s
On October 3, 1908, about fifty masked Night Riders attacked the home of David Walker, an African American landowner near Hickman, Fulton County, Kentucky, setting fire to his cabin and shooting members of his family as they emerged. All seven members of the family, including an infant, were killed. Kentucky's governor condemned the killings and offered a reward, but no one was ever prosecuted.
SOLVEDListenHeath High School, West Paducah, Kentucky · 1990s
On December 1, 1997, 14-year-old Michael Carneal opened fire on a student prayer group at Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky, killing three students and wounding six others before surrendering to the school principal.
Credit: Family of Celeste Rivas HernandezEditorial useSourceONGOINGListenHollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California · 2025
On September 8, 2025, the decomposed remains of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez were discovered in the front trunk of an impounded Tesla registered to musician David Burke, known professionally as D4vd; prosecutors allege the two had a sexual relationship beginning when Rivas was 13. Burke was arrested in April 2026 and charged with first-degree murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, and unlawful mutilation of human remains.
Credit: Family/Instagram photograph, widely distributed in press coverageEditorial useSourceSOLVEDListenMoscow, Idaho · 2022
Four University of Idaho students—Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle—were fatally stabbed inside an off-campus house in Moscow, Idaho, in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022. Bryan Kohberger, a criminology PhD student at nearby Washington State University, was arrested that December and pleaded guilty in 2025, receiving four consecutive life sentences.
Image recordEditorial useSourceSOLVEDListenAustin, Texas · 2022
Moriah Wilson, a 25-year-old professional cyclist, was shot and killed at a friend's residence in Austin, Texas, on May 11, 2022, and Kaitlin Armstrong was later convicted and sentenced to 90 years in prison for the killing.
