Killing of Phylicia Barnes

Phylicia Simone Barnes, born January 12, 1994, was a 16-year-old honor student from Monroe, North Carolina, who was on track to graduate early and had plans to attend Towson University. She was visiting relatives in Baltimore, Maryland, when she disappeared on December 28, 2010, last believed to have been walking to the Reisterstown Road Plaza from a nearby apartment complex. She never again used her cell phone, credit cards, or social media accounts. Police described themselves as "enormously concerned," and the case drew national media attention, including coverage on The Today Show and a feature on America's Most Wanted.

An extensive search effort followed, including a $36,000 reward, highway billboards, and a 100-person search of Patapsco Valley State Park on April 9, 2011, which did not locate Barnes but did find an unrelated body. On April 20, 2011, workers spotted a body floating in the Susquehanna River near the Conowingo Dam, roughly 45 miles from where Barnes had disappeared. Police confirmed the next day, through a tattoo and dental records, that the body was Barnes's. On May 4, 2011, following an autopsy, her death was officially ruled a homicide; the specific cause of death was withheld at the time for investigative reasons.

In September 2011, court documents revealed that Barnes's sister had sought a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend, Michael Johnson, just two months after Barnes disappeared. Johnson had reportedly been the last person to see Barnes alive and had been questioned by police eight times. On April 25, 2012, Johnson was arrested after fleeing from police and charged in connection with Barnes's disappearance and murder. At a hearing on April 27, 2012, a prosecutor stated that Johnson had asphyxiated Barnes at her sister's apartment and carried her body out in a 35-gallon plastic tub, which was never recovered. No motive was presented.

On February 6, 2013, Johnson was acquitted of first-degree murder but convicted of second-degree murder. Trial testimony included accounts from Barnes's sister and Johnson's former girlfriend that Johnson had allowed Barnes to consume alcohol and made sexual advances toward her, a neighbor's account of seeing Johnson carrying a container from the apartment, and testimony from another individual who said he helped Johnson dispose of the body. The defense argued the case was entirely circumstantial with no physical evidence and no established motive. At sentencing on March 20, 2013, the judge threw out the conviction and ordered a new trial. That second trial was repeatedly postponed, and on January 20, 2015, Judge John Addison Howard dropped all charges, citing insufficient evidence. A third trial concluded on March 30, 2018, with Johnson acquitted of all charges.

In the case's aftermath, Maryland passed "Phylicia's Law" in 2012, requiring publication of missing-children statistics and volunteer lists, signed by Governor Martin O'Malley on May 1, 2012. A foundation was also established in Barnes's memory.