Photo courtesy of Cleveland.com
Prosecutors announced on June 2 that six people accused of kidnapping, torturing, and killing an East Cleveland woman had been indicted on aggravated murder and assault charges.
Cuyahoga County prosecutors said the suspects used Alishah Pointer as ransom to gain information about her boyfriend. They believed the young woman’s boyfriend was involved in killing the brother of one of the assailants.
Hakim-Ali Shomo, Portria Williams, Destiny Henderson, Nathaniel Poke, Anthony Bryant and Brittany Smith face multiple charges, including aggravated murder, murder, conspiracy, kidnapping and felonious assault in the death of the 21-year-old woman on November. 4, according to the indictment
.In November, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner said Pointer died from multiple gunshot wounds, ruling her death a homicide.
Four of the six suspects kidnapped two women and held them at gunpoint before driving to Pointer’s home in North Randall. East Cleveland police said the two women reportedly lured Pointer out, where she was later abducted, News Onyx reported.
Prosecutors said the suspects’ accused Pointer’s boyfriend of killing Shomo’s brother, Aminjas, 19, on Nov. 2. However, authorities believed Pointer had nothing to do with the killing and have yet to determine if her boyfriend did either.
Her boyfriend was not named in the indictment.
After releasing the two women, the assailants drove to Williams’ house, where they tortured Pointer for several hours. First, Smith wrapped her face with clear tape and threatened to use a syringe to get Pointer to reveal her boyfriend’s location, the indictment read. Then, Shomo stuck a pistol in the victim’s mouth and shared a photo of the torturing on social media, pushing for her boyfriend to disclose his location.
Shomo left the residence, prosecutors said.
The indictment said that Henderson, Smith, Williams, and Bryant drove more than 20 hours to an abandoned home and continued torturing Pointer.
The torturing continued for 20 hours before Williams, Bryant, and Henderson opened fire on Pointer. While Williams and Bryant shot at Pointer, Henderson’s gun did not fire a bullet, the indictment read.
Authorities located Pointer’s body days after her death on Nov. 9.
In January, all six suspected were previously indicted on aggravated murder and kidnapping charges. They were arraigned on Friday in Common Pleas Court.