Black True Crime Podcast · iHeartPodcasts

The Murders of Nia Haqq & Michael Muchioki (Episode 219)

·47 min·3 clips

Michael died from a near-contact gunshot wound to the back of his head, and Nia was shot in the back of hers.

1. Black True Crime Podcast Episode 219 focuses on the murders of Nia Hike and Michael Muchioki, a New Jersey couple killed after their engagement party. 2. Kayla and Nikita host the episode, and they frame the case as a listener-requested story from Robin M. 3. The episode asks how a couple described as ambitious and loving were shot outside their home on Easter Sunday, April 4, 2010. 4. Nia Aiyana Layla Hike, also called Nini and Superfly Snooker, was born on May 6, 1984, in Newark and raised in Hamilton. 5. Nia's mother, Majida Hike, worked multiple jobs and told her daughter, even when you're tired, you still got to make moves. 6. Nia graduated from the College of New Jersey in 2007 with a degree in interactive media and was pursuing an MBA at Kaplan University. 7. Nia worked as an associate producer at Viacom in New York and, according to Majida, wanted to be "Hype Williams in stilettos." 8. Michael Muchioki, age 27, was born on May 5, 1982, to Sandra and Erastus and had three sisters named Amanda, Patricia, and Latoya. 9. Michael attended Marist High School, played football, studied at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and left school for a software job. 10. Kayla and Nikita say Michael and Nia met through NJIT Greek life, with Michael in Alpha Phi Alpha and Nia in Alpha Kappa Alpha. 11. The couple dated for six years before Michael proposed in December 2009, and they planned to marry on April 2, 2011. 12. On the night of the killings, about 15 family members and friends ate catfish and stuffed pork loin at Delta's, then went dancing at Paris until about 2 a.m. 13. Michael and Nia went home instead of joining friends at a diner, and Michael's sister Amanda heard a car pull up around 2:30 a.m. 14. Amanda heard a male voice say, "get out of the car," then heard one bang and three more shots after she moved to another room for her phone. 15. Police arrived about five minutes later and found Michael and Nia beside Nia's black SUV, with Michael shot in the back of the head and Nia shot in the head and thigh. 16. Investigators recovered a silver .40-caliber handgun at the scene and later tied fingerprints in the car to 19-year-old Darmelia Lawrence. 17. Darmelia was already known to police because she had given false statements about her 21-year-old brother Ronald Lawrence, also called Diddy. 18. Latonya Bellamy later admitted on video that she, Darmelia, and their 19-year-old cousin Shaquan Bellamy were involved in the robbery and shooting. 19. The hosts keep the tone conversational and skeptical, with family reactions, courtroom details, and repeated pauses to react to the violence. 20. Listeners who follow true-crime cases about witness statements, family testimony, and robbery-murder investigations will get the most from this episode.

As heard by us

A car fingerprint turns a swift robbery into a wider trail of violence and family ties.

The episode frames the murders of Mike and Nia as a case that begins speaking through the car itself. Investigators move from a report that the killers were seen getting into Nia's car to foreign fingerprints recovered inside it, a lead that points to 19-year-old Darmelia…

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You follow a rapid robbery-murder investigation where foreign fingerprints in Nia's car point police toward 19-year-old Darmelia Lawrence.

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