Three Billboards Around Baltimore, Maryland
“I just feel like there’s somebody out there that knows something, and we just haven’t gotten to that person yet.” Jenny Carrieri — Jody’s twin sister.
It has been 24 years since Jody LeCornu was murdered in her car in a Baltimore parking lot at 3 in the morning.
The day was March 2nd 1996. Jody was 23 years old when she was unexpectedly shot in the back. The killer has not been found and the hunt for justice continues to this day. This unfortunately is a tale of police incompetence and the desperate sadness of a grieving twin.
Three new billboards are now offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and they are going up across Baltimore to try to lead to more information before the case goes any colder. Jenny can claim inspiration for setting up the billboards from the Oscar winning film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri which itself was inspired by true events.
Jenny has tragically suffered with insurmountable grief since the death of her sister but in the wake of the tragedy that has struck her, she has never ever lost hope.
The case has caused a lot of anger from the living relatives of Jody as there has been a denial from Baltimore Police to various articles and records (despite Freedom of Information requests) and Jenny Carrieri herself feels that the police have tried to cut her out of the investigation at every turn. But let’s look at the facts of the case.
Jody LeCornu started in Baltimore as a teenager runaway with a history of family addictions. Jody has had to deal with including the alcoholism of her own father. Jody’s high school years involved some drinking and drugs before entering into a treatment program in Virginia with her twin to deal with these addictions. Jody’s demons were not debilitating to her life as she’d managed to hold down a job at the Eastern Savings Bank and was studying Geriatric. She was also involved with a long term boyfriend called Steve. It seems that Jody had a lot to look forward to and a lot to be grateful for and that has tragically been taken away from her.
So what happened?
On the 29th February 1996 Jody had a fight with her boyfriend Steve and the next night she didn’t come home. She was known to frequent the Mount Washing Tavern much to the ire of Steve. However it was usually uncharacteristic of Jody to stay out late and alone; as her apartment was located just 2 minutes away from the bar.
On the night in question; after a night of (possible) heavy drinking at the Maryland bar, Jody dropped an employee from the bar home, after they closed at 2am. Jody, totally out of character (she was known to be an extremely anxious person), drove to an ATM to withdraw some money and then bought a six-pack of beer. Sitting in her Honda Civic that night to make phone calls until around 3.40am.
With her car York Road Plaza — a man in a white BMW drove up to Jody. He was a stocky (200 lb estimated) African American male that was about 5'10. Jody rolled down her window which indicated she did in fact know the assailant. For some reason during the exchange the unknown assailant pulled out a gun and fired at Jody from behind. The shot ripped through the left rear passenger window and sliced through the driver’s seat. The shot hit Jody in the spinal and severed her spinal cord. In what can only be described as a miracle or an act of extraordinary adrenaline, Jody started the car and drove off. She drove to the next parking lot before coming to a stop. There were witnesses at the time and one witness from the Giant grocery store found Jody’s dead body thereafter.
The assailant followed the Honda in their own BMW and when the Honda came to a stop — he went into the car and was seen grabbing something unknown and to this day unidentified. Despite a number of witnesses being able to describe the man — Baltimore police have never made a composite sketch of the suspect and with so much time now passed how fresh are the memories?
There were two sets of fingerprints in the car but thus far have identified zero matches. The CCTV footage from the night has never been released to the public and the detective on the case remains unhelpful despite the pleadings of a torn twin sister, who has repeatedly asked for a new detective on the case.
Ultimately there is very little to go on and very little to work with but there is some hope. Whoever shot into Jody’s car would now be in their 50s now. The police have footage of the incident, they have fingerprints. There are up to six witnesses who saw the altercation. Police know that the shooter was wearing a camouflage jacket and drove a white BMW. There is a certain amount of evidence which could have lead to an arrest had this information been acted upon when still fresh…
Losing a family member can be like losing a part of yourself. For Jenny Carrieri to lose a twin, she must now be operating at fifty percent, with half of her cruelly taken from this world. Despite this Jenny runs at 100% enthusiasm and has never given up the hope of finding her sister’s killer — even if the Baltimore Police have clearly written this one off.
To this day Jenny believes the case can be solved.
Follow her on Twitter @carrieri_jenny Anonymous tips can be sent to Metro Crime Stoppers by phone, online or via mobile app. Call 1–866–7LOCKUP.
Originally published at https://www.mysteryconfidential.com on June 14, 2020.
