MURDERED: Phylicia Simone Barnes Part 2

And I'm Britt.

And this is part two of the story of Felicia Barnes. If you haven't listened to part one, first of all, you're probably surprised to hear Britt, hello. But go back and listen to part one, because otherwise you're going to be truly lost.

Honestly, I might still be lost having been in part one.

Yeah, you might need a refresher. So for those of you who have already listened and just need that quick recap, 16 year old Felicia went missing in December of 2010, only to be found deceased and floating in the river a few months later in April. And this is all going down in Baltimore now. At the time, all eyes are on her half sister's exboyfriend, this guy named Michael Johnson. But despite some sketchy coincidences, some weird behavior, they can't pin anything on him. But in June of 2011, the public learned that the FBI had been investigating child sexual abuse material and sexual exploitation of a minor, which they say was in connection to Felicia's death. And although this completely comes out of the blue, it seems to get the ball rolling towards finally bringing Felicia's alleged killer to trial. So when the news of the investigation into the abuse and the exploitation hits the public, a lot of people have a lot of questions. Understandably so. Like, who do they think was abusing her? And how did they find the abuse?

Did anyone know about it? I have all the same questions right now.

They don't come right out and say much of anything at first. But what people do know is that the feds want access to Facebook and email accounts belonging to Felicia and a handful of other people, including her sister, Dina, including Michael, who, again, is Dina's ex, two of Michael's brothers, and one of Michael's cousins. And according to Fox 45 News, that's because a cell phone video exists which shows Felicia, quote, with other relatives in Baltimore, partially clothed and appearing intoxicated, end quote.

Relatives whose relatives, though, like Michael's, Dina's, they don't say.

And the affidavits that explain all of this are sealed. But whatever it is, it's still not enough for an arrest.

How is it not enough for an arrest? I mean, she's 16. Even if the age of consent is 16, she is still a minor.

No, you're right. So the age of consent is actually 16 in Maryland. But as long as she's a minor, any explicit photos or videos taken of her are still considered child sexual abuse material. Even if she gave consent for those to be taken. So you're right, this seems like grounds for an arrest, not necessarily for her murder, her kidnapping, whatever, just for these materials, right? Apparently not. And so that fall, investigators try a new tactic. The Hartford county state's attorney brings the case to a grand jury, and one by one, they call in Michael's relatives to testify, while at the same time, police get a wiretap on Michael's phone. Basically, the hope is, by doing this grand jury, they're hoping they're going to scare him and scare him into talking while they're recording him. And it actually works to some extent. It gets him talking. And as detectives listen in, Michael raises questions about the strength of the case to one of his brothers. And even though he sounds almost philosophical at times, he is worried when investigators come to his house to get a DNA sample. And actually, here is a clip from one of the actual wiretaps.

My thing is, what are they testing against if they take them out? DNA. What are you testing against? DNA is found going out where? And the fucking part about it is, I can't sit there and tell you that it wouldn't be there. Be where? Underneath the fingernails and all that shit. Because of the situation that was going on. Because me, her and Dina was play fighting, and I don't know who it was, but somebody scratched the fuck out of me, and we was all sitting there playing. They pretty much whipped my ass, but it wasn't on the real shit, nothing like that. But somebody scratched. You know how you play fighting shit like that? When was it? It was not too long before all that shit happened. Everybody was like, well, wouldn't that be washed away? Seeing as though she probably took a shower. I'm like, well, if that's the case, wouldn't it be washed away if you set in the water? So evidently they must got a dna sample off of her. Even that's a scared tactic like that. A fucking tool. I still don't know what they're trying for. It is what it is. It is what it is. However you look at, it's a long time. Yeah, I ain't complaining. It's life. Some niggas get dealt to my fucking speed, some niggas get out the club. I can't say I had a fucked up one. I had a pretty good one so far. I did a lot of shit that I wanted to do. There's only one more thing that I want to do. What? Brazil. But the one thing I would tell you to do, take the fruits. It ain't over yet. Not yet, so it still wouldn't be over. It's going to be my fight. I ain't going out without fighting. That's right, you shouldn't.

We got that recording from John Butler, who used to be with the Baltimore State's attorney's office. First he was a law clerk, then a prosecutor. And John is actually going to be dropping a deep dive podcast on this case called a confidence in the round. We actually have a link to John's website, so you can stay up to date on anything pertaining to the release of that series right in the show notes. Now, other parts of that call are hard to understand because at times Michael and his brother jump into topics that they've obviously discussed before and they talk in shorthand. That sounds like, honestly code. Like at one point they discuss a storage bin, which they call a tote, because I think at some point the state had one in the grand jury room.

But let me ask you something about that. The way he was carrying it, you can always tell if something is in there, if it's heavy. One hand. One hand is dragging that bitch along. No, not dragging one hand. Lift, holding it, basically. So it was sitting in a vertical position. Like it wasn't really nothing in it, actually, it was on, I'll say, a 90 degree angle facing down. Like it wasn't nothing in it. But I mean, if anything was in a tote that matter. So it seemed like some bullshit, probably.

So what does that mean in relation to Felicia?

I don't know what it means. But that bin is definitely on his mind, right? Like he's talking about it for some reason. And in another call, Michael tells his current girlfriend at the time that he's considering fleeing the country, maybe to Brazil, because the US won't be able to extradite him. Although I don't think he's actually right about that because the US and Brazil do have an extradition treaty.

Okay.

And he goes on, he's like, I don't want to leave because at that point, he had that newborn baby with this girl, but he's like saying he doesn't have any options left.

Okay, hear me out. It's great that we're getting all this information or interactions from him, but I feel like it's not clearing anything up for me. What does all of that even mean? Why does he need to flee? I have so many questions and I.

Don'T have any answers to your point. It sounds damning, but as damning as it sounds, that's all it is. He doesn't admit to anything. And because of that, I mean, it's as flimsy to the grand jury as it is to us. And they decide not to indict, which could just be because they don't think Felicia was killed in Harford county. So it could be a technicality. It could be because they don't think there's enough evidence against Michael.

It could be a myriad of things.

We don't know. Those things don't get released. But after this, police get a strange new lead to investigate. Thanks to some commentary on the people's champion blog, it turns out that back in January of 2011, a young woman who is friends with one of Michael's brothers tweeted, quote, it's trapped at the dam. Don't pull the lever. End quote.

Excuse me. What's trapped at the dam?

Yeah, that's what they want to find out. When police confront the woman, she tells them that she's not sure what the tweet means, she doesn't remember. But she's adamant that it's not about Felicia, who, I'll remind everyone from episode one, was found in a dam. And she even says she's willing to testify, if need be, that she doesn't remember, doesn't know what it's about. Whatever. Now, after this, things go kind of silent until the one year anniversary of Felicia's disappearance. That's when Michael's lawyer sheds some light on the child's sexual abuse material. Warrants? Well, sort of. The lawyer says there are photos of Michael and Felicia streaking with other people, running around naked inside and outside of Dina's apartment. But the photos weren't taken during Felicia's winter 2010 trip. It was taken when she had visited a few months before that. And it's still not clear how they relate to the murder investigation at all. But the lawyer also tells reporter Justin Fenton