A Girl Named Egypt
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Start a 30-day free trial at WalmartPlus.com. Paramount Plus is central plan only. Separate registration required. See Walmart Plus terms and conditions. Tonight on Dateline. What did you think when she said, I'm going to go try out for The Voice? I thought you were going to win. Dramatic new details in the story of a young woman who auditioned for The Voice before her voice was silenced forever.

I took like a step or two in and I seen her. She was tied up, hands behind her back. Egypt was bound with Christmas lights. Who does that? There could have been women that were jealous of Egypt. Could have been somebody that was infatuated with her at the bar.

He said, "You look guilty." And I was like, "I'm not guilty." Was it tunnel vision with the police? Absolutely. That's what brought my involvement into our own investigation. That phone was actually in her house at the time that we believe that she was killed. For the first time, investigators revealed the clue that helped solve the murder. That piece of evidence really broke the case wide open. You're on the edge of your seat as to who the killer is. Yes.

To know that she knew she was going to die just makes me feel like, why? I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline. Here's Andrea Canning with A Girl Named Egypt. In life, Egypt Covington had a way of bringing people together. She had a light that shone. She would always lift people up, lift their situation up. Everybody loved Egypt.

But the mystery of what happened to her and the long investigation that followed tore those who loved her apart. Don't get me going. You're getting me like, this is not the way Egypt would want me to talk. I'm done. I'm not here to break your family apart even more. There was a lot of people who loved Egypt Cummington. There was a lot of people who wanted to get answers. This really divided people. It divided our family. It divided the entire community.

The community where Egypt Covington lived is a town called Belleville, just outside of Detroit in eastern Michigan. A friendly little place where, between her singing and her job as a popular bartender, just about everyone knew Egypt. She had this amazing, canny talent of seeing you right into your heart. When you met Egypt, you walked away better, feeling better about your day, yourself. Curtis Meadows was her boyfriend. We're going to move in together, we're going to save for a house, and

you know, share life's moments with each other, you know, for the rest of our lives together. On Friday, June 23rd, 2017, Curtis started his day, as usual, by checking in with Egypt. Every morning that she doesn't say, I always send her a good morning text, like, good morning, my love, good morning, babe. Did she respond? Usually she always responds within like

15, 20 minutes and nothing. Then I started, you know, texting her again. Is everything okay? Then I'm in my mind, you know, just I'm thinking, well, she probably went to work and forgot her phone at home. But the hours ticked by and no texts from Egypt, no calls, no social media posts. This is in the afternoon now? Correct. You're getting worried? Yes. I mean, I texted her and called her numerous times up until noon-ish. And then I just...

So after work, Curtis drove over to Egypt's house. He says as he pulled up, he got that pit-in-the-stomach feeling. Egypt lived in a duplex apartment inside a house. When Curtis got out of his truck, the front door was ajar.

Once inside, the door on the right led to her neighbors and the door on the left was Egypt's. I took like a step or two in and I yelled her name and her dog Ruby barked, let out a bark. And by then I took two more steps in and...

Ruby met me, kind of like, hey, come with me. Like, turn around, follow me. And I walked about two, three more steps into the kitchen than you can kind of see in the living room. He says what he saw unraveled him to the core. She was tied up, hands behind her back in like a fetal position on the ground, blood clearly covering the side of her head. And it's just...

So I ran out. I was in shock. My phone was in the center console of my truck, and I called 911. 911. I just showed up at my girlfriend's house, and I walked inside. She's there, tied up. She's dead. There's blood around her head. She's dead. And what's her name? Egypt Covington. Jacqueline Egypt Covington. Okay, hold on. Don't hang up. No, I'm okay. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

The Van Buren Township Police rushed to the crime scene. The officer's making their way. They'll be there in just a couple of minutes. Just hang in there. When the officers arrived, they found Egypt on the floor with a gunshot wound to her head. Right away, two things stood out. The house wasn't broken into. And this was strange. On this June night, Egypt's wrists were tightly bound with Christmas lights. As humans, we're not wired.

to like see that and deal with it. Beyond having those images in your head of someone that you love, you love deeply, then you know, then you know, you're trying to fathom your future's gone and everything you planned out in life is gone. The news raced through Egypt's large family. This is her father, Chuck. How do you find out that something has happened to her? I got a call from my daughter, Beth. Hysterical.

saying that Egypt was, I don't know if she said killed or dead, but that I should go to her house. And I got in my vehicle and was driving down the road hoping something that can't be sold.

The family patriarch then had to make a series of gut-wrenching phone calls. He dialed DeWayne, Egypt's half-brother who was out with friends. We're all sitting there taking pictures, having drinks, and then I got a phone call. I just looked at it and it was Chuck calling me. And that's not very typical. So I answered it. He was crying on the phone and said, "She's gone." Did he say Egypt or did you just know?

He said Egypt after that. He was having a hard time saying it. And just fell to the floor and my friends came and got me and took me off the back. Chuck also called his ex-wife, Tina Covington, Dwayne and Egypt's mom. He said, can you hear me? And I said, yeah. And he said, Egypt's been murdered. And I just dropped. And all I can remember is screaming and screaming.

and not my baby, and how could that happen? It was like, Mommy wasn't there for you, you know? How could I have protected you? What could I have done better? But to know that she was scared to death and she knew she was going to die just makes me feel like, why? Why? And of course, who?

The search to answer that question would put a town on edge and a police department under fire. As someone who never even knew Egypt launched her own investigation. Would a new team of detectives finally uncover the truth?

Did you have that feeling like this has been going on for years now and they don't have an answer? Absolutely. I didn't want to let down the community. News of Egypt's murder was spreading fast in this peaceful lake town. A murder mystery unfolding tonight in a quiet neighborhood in Van Buren Township. A woman found dead in her home and police not saying much about who may have done it. It was a story closely tracked and reported on local TV. Coco, are there any leads in her case?

Karen and Steve, right now, there are no leads in this investigation. Coco McAvoy, who now works for Fox LA, covered the story for NBC affiliate WDIV. So when I first heard about the story and heard about the fact that Egypt was shot and killed inside of her home, that instantly captivated me because that could be anyone shot and killed inside of their own home. Police had said there were no signs of forced entry.

So for me, I kept thinking that means that someone who knows her and possibly loves her just killed her. And as investigators would learn, the circle of people who knew and loved Egypt was enormous. She was part of a big blended family of step and half siblings. Her parents, Chuck and Tina, divorced when she was young, and she was also close with her stepmom, Chris. You were almost like a teacher to her in some ways.

like a teacher of life. That's what parents do, I think. You know, you want to teach your kids to be able to go out there and be successful and to be content. She was lucky to have three different parents and, you know, that could help her grow up and thrive. She just was bigger than life. So many people loved her. She had a ton of best friends. She had a ton of acquaintances. Leslie Dixon met Egypt at work, Egypt's very first bartending job.

It was her brother DeWayne who got Egypt into bartending. The siblings worked alongside each other.

So you two were side by side behind the bar? We were side by side. I love that. Yeah, it was pretty cool. It was fun. We'd have our little routines that we would do. We'd have some light shows. Turn down the lights, have flaming bottles of liquor. Wow. We'd just have our jokes in between each other and have a lot of fun. So we had a lot of regulars that would come in, mostly to see her because she was like a shining light. But I was somewhat funny too.

She was great behind the bar, but Egypt had bigger plans. Craft beer is a booming industry in Michigan, and Egypt landed a job with a distributor as a beer sales rep. It was all coming together. She was taking off with the distribution. This was going to be her career, alongside with trying to get into the music business. Nobody knows how, nobody knows how it unfolds.

Singing was a big deal to Egypt. It was her passion. And when she took the stage, she owned it. There was no inhibition. That was her. And she didn't care. It was like I either sound good or I sing bad, but I'm singing it.

And that's exactly what she did in 2014 at Country Idol, a popular competition in eastern Michigan. The DJ didn't have the music for the song Egypt had rehearsed, so like a true performer, she winged it. Her friend Nori Drock helped her rehearse a new song on the fly. She grabbed her sister and me and almost like, come out here in the hallway and help me practice. I have 10 minutes.

And that was just her energy. Like, nothing was going to bring her down. Just reacted and blew everyone away in the audience. The winner of W4 Country Idol 2014, EJ! Yeah!

How much fun was that? It was amazing. And I remember her yelling up there and just like, almost like she was shocked, but none of us were. We knew, like, oh yeah, you're going to do this and you're going to win. That win sparked something in Egypt. She set out to audition for The Voice on NBC and started recording with local producer Kevin Zawala. She's the...

Life of the party. She brings the energy for sure. She brings the charisma. She was a people person through and through. And that was something that, I mean, attracted everybody to her, right? What did you think the first time you heard Egypt sing? Wow. Wow. It was just like a presence that she controlled it. You know, she controlled the stage and she made you want to listen to her. Egypt's talent and her gusto for life drew a lot of people to her.

And that can sometimes make a murder investigation quite complicated. Who is it? Could have been somebody that was infatuated with her at the bar and followed her. Is it a friend? Is it a family member? Who knows? ♪

Time to start asking questions about the people close to Egypt. Sounds like a bad fight. It wasn't good. No. Police were starting with the closest. Because he was the current boyfriend at the time, police wanted to question him. They wanted to know, was he at all responsible for Egypt's murder?

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Start a 30-day free trial at WalmartPlus.com. Paramount Plus is central plan only. Separate registration required. See Walmart Plus terms and conditions. It was Egypt's boyfriend, Curtis Meadows, who had made the grim discovery. His girlfriend killed by a single bullet to the head. And no surprise, he was of instant interest to Van Buren police detectives. The police had to talk to you? Correct. Your parents?

Detectives quickly learned that Egypt and Curtis had a complicated history.

They had a series of breakups and make-ups dating back to 2008 when they first met. Egypt had just turned 20 and Curtis was 28. She worked at a local establishment in our hometown. I'd never seen her before. I just happened to stop in. I lived right on the corner. It's kind of the cliche love at first sight, but I knew that was someone I was very interested in at the beginning. And how long did you two date for?

Wow. I mean, we dated on and off a few times. The first time was almost two years, year and a half, roughly. What happened? Life got in the way of schedules. I was obviously, I had a nine-to-five job. I had a daughter, and she was a bartender. I was getting up for work when she was getting home for work. He broke her heart. Oh. He did. And I remember that, so that's why I was like, no.

We sat on the steps and she cried and we sat on the steps and it was like, and you know, you have to tell them relationships come and go. Egypt's dad said that she was pretty upset with the breakup. Yeah. Cause she was in love with you. Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was tough. It was tough. Egypt was a very passionate and she was a lover. She loved hard and it was just, it was the right thing for us both.

Egypt's friend, Brooke Brandstatter, says the relationship was at times quite a roller coaster. She remembers a big fight the two had in the middle of the night. What was the fight over?

Um, I don't remember the details on that. She came knocking at my door at like 2 in the morning. I was sleeping and I let her in and she was just so distraught and crying to where it was kind of one of those where I couldn't really understand what she was saying. And I just wanted to comfort her and just let her know that she stay here tonight. You're okay. Don't walk home. Sounds like a bad fight.

It wasn't good. No, it wasn't a good fight. A Van Buren detective was now asking people in Egypt's close circle some uncomfortable questions. He also had asked me if I had ever known of Curtis hitting her.

And I did not know. No, I never heard of an incident of them. But I do know they've had some pretty bad fights. Did you think it could be Curtis? I did. I mean, I wasn't ruling anybody out. I didn't know if maybe they got in a fight. There was a couple times where I did go back to the police station, Van Buren Police. Wanted to make sure that everybody was being looked at. I didn't want anybody to be eliminated. Egypt's dad, Chuck, was thinking along the same lines.

Were you ever concerned that it could be Curtis, given that he's the significant other right now, which is often the first person that the police look at? Yes. I thought of every person. Did you have anything to do with Egypt Covington's murder? No. No, no, no. Not whatsoever. Did you tell them that over and over again? Yes. Most definitely, yes.

Curtis also told police and us that at the time Egypt was killed, their relationship was as solid as ever. After about five years of the on-again, off-again drama, he was about to move in. They were planning their future. It was for real this time? For real. Egypt's friend Leslie says Egypt thought so too.

So why was the timing right this time? I think that everybody was just in the right space and they wanted to revisit what they had before. And this time it was better. You know, it was the right time. But police weren't quite done with Curtis. Within days, he was hooked up to a polygraph machine. The lie detector thing was...

And some close to Egypt were starting to wonder if the right person might be found right next door.

It's just the traffic going in and out constantly. It's a revolving door. This is what she said? This is what she said. Egypt Covington was a Michigan native. She'd grown up here in Belleville, a beautiful lake town. When she was finally out on her own, she found that apartment in the duplex on the outskirts of town. She really loved her duplex. She was very proud of her duplex.

Her next-door neighbors in the duplex were also Egypt's friends. But not long before she was murdered, Egypt's mom says that Egypt shared something with her. She said, "Mom, I gotta move." And I'm like, "Why?" She said, "It's really getting scary over there." She said, "There's people in and out of there I've never seen before, but not the type of people you want to see." Oh, no. She had a gut feeling.

There were some bad things happening. And did she express what those bad things were? Jerks. Egypt's neighbors had a license to grow and sell legal medical marijuana. Egypt had talked to you about her living situation. Yeah, she didn't like living at that duplex towards... After living there for a few years, she did have a roommate, and then he moved out, and she had that place to herself for a while. And she had...

Egypt's neighbors said they never sold anything illegal. Still, her family wondered if the marijuana business next door had anything to do with Egypt's murder.

Detectives questioned the neighbors and asked them where they were the night of the murder. Turns out they were at a music festival 200 miles away and nowhere near the scene of the crime.

At this point, there's no one in custody for the murder of Egypt Covington, but they're still investigating. The Van Buren police sent the Christmas lights that bound Egypt's wrists off for DNA testing, but that led nowhere. And with no one in custody, the lake town was on edge. That was something that scared a lot of people, because though police kept saying that Egypt knew her killer, they weren't releasing a lot of details. If you knew Egypt, it was just...

unfathomable. You know, how do you lose somebody like that in this way? Egypt's not the kind of girl to have enemies that would ever want to do something like that. I couldn't figure it out. I couldn't figure it out. At that point, every single person was a suspect to me. By now, detectives were learning that Egypt had no shortage of men vying for her attention. One man friends heard stories about was a former boss. Had they had a relationship?

I don't know. A physical relationship? If they did do it, any kind of relationship, it would have been, I don't think, an ongoing thing. It might have been a mistake. He's married. Yes. The man had taken an interest in her singing career. And after that big win at Country Idol, Egypt told Leslie he had offered to take her to Nashville for the next big tryout.

He was paying for stuff. Yeah, oh yeah. Her singing, for her to go to The Voice. Yeah. Was he in love with her? I think that he was obsessed with her.

Leslie thought the trip to Nashville was a bad idea, but says Egypt went anyway. And when she got there, Egypt told Leslie there was an argument. What was the fight over? Oh, no, it was probably something to do with not having a relationship. You think he might have been angry that she didn't want more? Yeah, I think so. Egypt's brother, Dwayne, knew him too and says he saw other red flags. I know how fast he could react to things, so he was very hot-headed, very hot-headed.

And you set him off, he goes off his rocker. Sounds like that would give you concern. Yeah, it gave us concerns. Investigators looked at the former boss, who told us he cooperated fully. He says he was never romantically interested in Egypt and that his wife at the time knew all about their trip to Nashville. As for the description of his temper, he says he's a firm boss but denies being hot-headed.

Still, family and friends passed anything they could think of onto police, hoping they could solve the mystery fast. Like,

And as investigators questioned Egypt's boyfriend, they also asked him if he had any theories.

I had two clear-cut answers. Two clear-cut answers? To that question. Who did it? Yes, correct. And what were the... One was Kenny, and the other was something to do with next door. Number one was definitely Kenny. Kenny was Kenny Mihalik, a guy Egypt had dated during one of her breakups with Curtis. And word was that he wasn't too happy about Curtis and Egypt's future plans. It's the only time I remember Kenny being jealous.

That Curtis was moving in. Yeah. How did he express that jealousy? Not well. Investigators were about to learn that the ex-boyfriend was still close to Egypt. Maybe too close. She didn't feel like she could go anywhere where he wasn't there. ♪

Curtis Meadows told detectives over and over again that he had nothing to do with his girlfriend Egypt's murder. Did you feel like a suspect, the fact that they're asking you to take a lie detector test? I know my heart and where it belongs. And, you know, of course you're in there and you try to think like this is their job, this is protocol. And, you know, it hurts. You know, you're trying to grieve the most unimaginable thing ever.

And you're there, you know, asked the most horrific questions. And it was horrible. It was absolutely horrible.

When the test was over, he says the detectives told him he passed, and soon after, he was cleared. But what about Curtis' suggestion to look into Egypt's ex, Kenny Mihalik? Investigators were learning that Egypt's family and friends knew him well. I knew his family for many, many years. Kenny was 10 years older than Egypt, a mechanic who was quiet, hand-to-hand.

handsome, and a bit of a player. He attracted a lot of women because he was so good-looking. Egypt's mom remembers a family gathering where Kenny caught Egypt's attention. She pointed him out and she said, I'm going to date him someday. And I say, well, you know his reputation is he's never going to get married. What'd she say to that? She said, I'll fix that. While Curtis and Egypt were in the off phase, Egypt made her move on Kenny and the two started dating.

Nori and Egypt worked together at a local pub where Kenny was a regular. Did she seem really into him? Not really. Obviously always cared for him, but there was just no, at least from what I saw, I did not really see like a spark ever. Maybe just someone like Mr. Right Now? Yeah, yeah. The perfect way to say it, yeah. A placeholder, I guess. Did she tell you anything about him? Why she liked him? What...

what his deal was. You know, she didn't care about money, intellectual conversations as much. She needed companionship at that time.

She wanted to settle down. She wanted to, you know, get married and not that she was rushing into it, but just like every other woman or young female, you want to find the one and you want to, you know, talk about the future. She wanted it, but she couldn't see the future because there was just no progress in the relationship.

After about three years, friends and family say Egypt was ready to break up with Kenny. But by then, she'd gotten close with his whole family. All right, so that ends, but they don't completely cut ties. Correct. They remain friendly. She even would go to some family outings. She did. I think that they left it so if I want to call you, I can call you. Or if I want to text you, I can text you. There was never any complete break-up.

It wasn't until Egypt and Curtis got back together again in a serious way that it became too difficult for Egypt to be friends with Kenny, especially in a small town like Belleville. She didn't feel like she could go anywhere where he wasn't there.

and that just made her uncomfortable. Was he purposely showing up then because he knew she'd be there? She made it seem that way. She and Curtis would be somewhere, and he would be there. Sounds like Kenny was maybe still in love with Egypt. Oh, for sure. I'm sure he was. It's hard to fall out of love with Egypt. So I think that he... Yeah, you get defensive, right, over your heart, and I think that's really what it was. It was just that...

Her stepmom, Chris, said Egypt wanted to tell Kenny to give her some space, but it was hard. She knew that if she still hung around with the family...

and not sever these ties that it wasn't going to be fair. And she could not fully have the relationship with Curtis that she wanted. According to Chris, Egypt was going to break the news to Kenny at the Strawberry Festival, an annual Belleville event that Kenny was guaranteed to be at with his friends. Curtis was going to be there too.

That night, Curtis got there before Egypt and immediately spotted Kenny. I kept my distance. You know, I wasn't trying to be imposing or anything. So I went to the opposite side, as far as I can get away, and sat with my friends, family. She showed up. Egypt eventually made her way to Kenny while Curtis watched from a distance.

I couldn't tell you what they were talking about, but you could tell it was some sort of intense conversation going on. I wasn't worried too much at that time. You didn't want to stop it? I mean, you know, it was a social circle of, you know, five or six people, and I was just going to, you know, let Egypt dissolve it, and she'll take care of it, and I wasn't worried at that time. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Egypt walking toward him. With Kenny in tow...

And I could see he was high on, right on her heels, following her to the table we were sitting at. Curtis says Kenny and Egypt got in each other's faces, and then Egypt stormed off. She was very upset. That's obviously not how she intended her night to go. That was a Saturday night. And five days after that very public fight, Egypt Covington was dead. Detectives were zeroing in on Kenny Mihalik. What would he have to say?

The pressure was already on Kenny and the community, but that really turned up the heat even more for people. They are the families of the missing in America, and they're desperately searching for answers. Somebody knows something. I'm Josh Bankowitz. Join me for season three of Missing in America. Listen carefully.

Because just one small detail might allow you to solve a mystery. We have seen miracles happen. Dateline. Missing in America. All episodes available now, wherever you get your podcasts.

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Egypt had been a bartender and a beer sales rep. After she was gone, her colleagues at the brewery started thinking about a cool way to remember her. They crafted a new beer called A Girl Named Egypt. Rick Lack, a friend and mentor to Egypt, helped develop it.

We have her photo. Yeah, the likeness. Her tattoo. Her tattoo, the microphone. Her Instagram. Yes. The bill is the name. And then there's a song bar, notes in there someplace, I believe. Yeah, that was her tattoo. Yeah. And we wanted to make it big and bold. Is this a strong beer? It's a relatively strong beer by craft beer standards. 9% alcohol by volume, so you're certainly going to not operate heavy machinery after consuming a couple. Strong like Egypt. Strong like Egypt, exactly. And that was the intent. ♪

Meanwhile, investigators and reporters were trying to figure out who would want to hurt such a force of life. When I first started reporting on the story, I instantly heard about Kenny. That was the name that everyone would bring up. Family members brought up Kenny. Police officers brought up Kenny. So of course, Coco had questions. We tried to contact Kenny multiple times, but he was just not willing to do an interview.

Coco never got the chance to interview Kenny, and some friends hadn't talked to him either. You would have liked a phone call from Kenny? Yeah, I mean, we lost our friend together, you know? She's gone. It was shocking. The person that you guys are both close to doesn't ever reach out. Yeah, it feels weird, right? And I think a lot of people felt that way.

But detectives did talk to Kenny early on. They picked him up at a local bar in the hours after Egypt's body was found, drove him to the station and grilled him. They wanted to know where he was the night of the murder. Kenny said he'd gone bar hopping, and later, during the critical window when they thought Egypt was killed, he was home, alone.

Detectives hooked him up to a polygraph machine. And when the police told him he failed, word quickly spread around town. And so when that happened as well, the pressure was already on Kenny and the community. But that really turned up the heat even more for people. Right after that polygraph test, Kenny lawyered up and stopped talking to the police. I've tried to...

process every scenario and look at every different thing. And him doing it is the only thing that makes sense to me. It wasn't just the heated arguments, like the one at the Strawberry Festival, that bothered Curtis. He says it was Kenny's behavior leading up to Egypt's murder. One time, while Egypt was asleep in his bed, Curtis, as he looked out the window and saw Kenny casing Egypt's car. She was waking up and I told her about the incident and

You know, I was like, hey, Kenny was just outside looking and you're appearing in your vehicle. And the look she gave me wasn't,

like of a surprise or no way. It's almost like, you know, this has happened before or something. It was very strange. Kenny says he was working in the area and just happened to notice Egypt's car. But according to her friend Nori, weird things with Kenny had happened before. What kind of things did she say that raised red flags for you? His anger, and I would see it. And also, I don't know, I don't know how I want to say something because...

It wasn't even just things she would tell me. I would see it. You would see yourself. Yeah. Like, what did you see? Really just his controlling, manipulative personality to her. When she wasn't home on time, he would message me. He had to know where she was at all times? Yes.

Nori says Egypt told her about one argument that she and Kenny had at a hotel. They were shouting at each other so loudly that hotel staff called the police. Nori says things with Kenny could escalate quickly. He would just, shall we say, have like an explosion sometimes. So whether that was verbally, whether that was like a time I was at the house, I was there when he punched a hole in the wall.

Nori shared the information with detectives.

She also gave them text messages from Egypt, and even some from Kenny, that she believed showed his controlling nature. People said that Kenny was a possessive person. They would always describe him in interviews as someone who was not happy about the breakup. So he was almost portrayed as the jealous ex. Kenny says he was never manipulative or controlling with Egypt. Still, the stories made their way to the police and to Egypt's dad.

I never would have thought of anyone having the reason to murder my daughter. But then when you breathe and you start to sort, certain things lead in certain directions. Pretty soon, Chuck's mind was made up. He became convinced that Kenny was responsible for Egypt's murder. The community, the people around Egypt, the people that know Egypt, know Kenny. The people in the community knew that he was already the primary suspect.

Knew that he is the only one that was pouting and moaning and having arguments with her. But not everyone saw it that way. And pretty soon there was a new person getting close to the family, asking uncomfortable questions. You actually considered that your own boyfriend might be the killer? I considered everything.

With investigators struggling to solve Egypt's murder, this woman was about to turn up the heat on the police themselves. Why are the state police not fully involved? Because this is our case. Let the state in! Let the state in!

Days turned into weeks, and here in this tight-knit community in eastern Michigan, Egypt Covington's killer was still out there. And while her family and friends waited for updates from police, they gathered to celebrate her life. Thanks again for coming out to an evening with Egypt. On the mic was Kevin, the music producer, who recorded about a dozen tracks with Egypt, including this remix of Fort Minor's Where'd You Go. Where'd you go?

Wow. Yeah. That's really powerful. Thank you. It's hard, though, when you see her. Yeah. Yeah. And you hear the lyrics because it's like she's singing about herself almost or you're singing about her. At her memorial concert, Kevin performed the song in her honor. That same evening, Egypt's dad addressed the crowd. This isn't TV. This is freedom. They are still walking around.

By now, it was no secret that he believed Egypt's ex-boyfriend, Kenny, was responsible for the murder. Please speak out. I don't mean to be negative, but she deserves justice. Yes, she does. Almost everyone there seemed to stand behind Egypt's dad. But there was one person in attendance who did not. Egypt's mom, Tina.

I saw Kenny with his nephews in the parking lot and his mom was sitting next to me and she said he's afraid to come in here. So I was like, get your butt over here and sit down.

Coco McAvoy was there covering the memorial. And he sat next to Tina, and it was almost like the room got silent. She was the person who kept saying Van Buren police needs to look at other suspects, and she just did not believe it was Kenny, and she had various reasons for that. Who did you think did it?

I didn't know. But I knew Kenny didn't do it. Did you ask him? Yes. Did you do this? Flat out. I just looked at him. I said, did you murder Egypt? And he cried like a baby. He said, absolutely not. I loved your daughter. Did you believe him? Yes.

Tina trusted her gut. Call it mother's intuition. And even though she knew Egypt and Kenny fought, she never believed Kenny was a violent guy. He's a big guy, but he's a gentle giant. If anything ever fueled any argument, it had to do with liquor.

Remember that fight at the hotel when the police got involved? Their report said both Kenny and Egypt were intoxicated and uncooperative. And some of Egypt's close friends say Egypt could give as good as she could get, especially when it came to Kenny. I mean, it takes a lot to punch a hole in a wall. Yeah, but also I think Egypt...

would say things that would push his buttons. She knew what buttons to press. - If you were around her, you understood that there is no little with her. There's no little energy. She was big energy person. So with her and Kenny, you know, there were times they fought hard. Of course it was a lot of nonsense sometimes, but it was because it was about passion. - Kenny's not a confrontational person. He does not raise his voice. He doesn't raise his voice often at all.

He's a nice guy. Tina's very public support for Kenny caused a rift in the family. You were either on Chuck's side or you were on my side. And your side was that you believed Kenny? Yes. And Chuck's side was that Kenny murdered Egypt? This really divided people. Divided the entire, it divided our family, it divided the entire community.

Some friends, like Leslie and Brooke, found themselves thinking more and more like Tina, while Egypt's brother was torn and could see the divide between Egypt's mom and dad getting worse.

They weren't really in good terms throughout the years anyway, but we always had somebody that was a buffer, and Egypt was one of those as well, that kept, you know, somewhat peace between the family. As for whose side he was on? For a long time, DeWayne didn't know what to think. I wouldn't express that Kenny did it because I didn't know any better. I didn't know. I just wanted the police to figure it out. Then, in the middle of all the tension and family drama, DeWayne met someone.

a woman named Lindsay Brink. And you chose not to tell her about Egypt. That's right. I didn't want to, and I don't want to take this the wrong way, I didn't want to bring on baggage at the moment. But just a few weeks into dating, Lindsay found out anyway. Hard not to, really. I said, who is this beautiful person on your phone? Because it was his screensaver. And he said, that's my sister. And I thought...

well, that's kind of odd that you have your sister as your screensaver. So you wanted to know why. Yeah, why is she on your screensaver? And he said, well, she was murdered and it's unsolved. Lindsay, who lived about 30 miles away from Belleville, remembered hearing about Egypt's murder, but didn't know anything beyond the headlines. DeWayne filled her in. He told her all about the family divide and that just about everyone, except for his mom, suspected Egypt's ex-boyfriend. And it made me nervous because...

I was starting to fall in love with this man, with Dwayne. And I thought, who knows? If he killed your sister, how could he not kill you or possibly come after my children or me? Then another thought crossed her mind. You actually considered that your own boyfriend...

Might be the killer. I considered everything. I considered everything. I didn't know him very long. I didn't know. And so then I drilled him. I said, where were you that night? Do you have proof of where you were that night? What happened? DeWayne's story was airtight. But what about everybody else's? Lindsay, who was a kindergarten teacher by day, thought maybe they could help the police solve the mystery. So your new lady went from girlfriend to detective in like...

- No time flat. - Yes. She quickly took this and it drove her to start looking into some things. Let's get interviews. Let's go talk with so-and-so. And she was making phone calls and she was all over the place at 100 miles per hour. She's going into it like an investigator.

She was just getting started when all of a sudden in March 2018, nine months after Egypt's murder, the Van Buren Township Police had an announcement. They had a person of interest. The moment that news came out, I called the lieutenant and I asked him, what's changed? ♪♪

Nine months after Egypt Covington was murdered, the Van Buren police made a public announcement. They released a name, a person of interest, Kenny Mihalik.

Reporter Coco McAvoy worked her sources, wanting to know why the police were only now naming Kenny. I remember the moment that news came out, I called the lieutenant and I asked him, "What's changed?" And he said, "Coco, you know, we know that Kenny did it. We really want him to come in and talk to us." And he said, "Be honest with us about what happened to Egypt."

Egypt's mom was still standing by Kenny. She hired her own private detective to investigate the case. Lindsay and D. Wayne wanted answers from Kenny himself. They picked up the phone and called him. We just said, Kenny, did you do it? Did you kill her? And... What did he say? He said, no, no, I did not kill your sister. Now, most killers...

If we're being real or probably going to say, no, I didn't. Yeah, that definitely was part of it. What I did then was say, do you have proof of that? Do you have proof that you did not kill her? Kenny told them he did, and he agreed to sit down and tell his side of the story. Today's June 14th, 2018. This is an interview with Kenny Mahalik.

The investigator wanted to know about Kenny's relationship with Egypt. It was complicated. From the time we broke up, I think we were sleeping together on and off for at least that next eight months. Kenny told the PI they were definitely off by the time he heard Egypt and Curtis were moving in together. The PI wanted to know more about that public fight at the Strawberry Festival. Tell me about the Strawberry Festival. What was that about? Um...

One of the people he knew there was Curtis. Okay.

And she didn't want to talk. She walked away, walked over to where Curtis was at. I walked over there, and I was like, what the f***? Like, are we going to talk about this? And then she left. Okay. Were you upset that he was moving in? Not upset. I was just surprised she didn't tell me, kind of thing. Did you guys maintain a fairly good relationship after you broke up? Yeah. Okay, so it was cordial. Yeah, she's like family. I mean...

My sisters go to the movies with her. Like, she was part of my family, you know? Kenny says they just exchanged some hot words, and it was hardly a fight that led to murder. It was just, why didn't you tell me, like, what the f***?

And what about the story that he punched a wall during a fight with Egypt? Kenny didn't deny that he and Egypt had some pretty bad fights. I had punched two holes in a wall and repaired them.

The P.I. also wanted to know where Kenny was the night Egypt was killed. And so Kenny offered up his timeline. That Thursday, he says he and his buddy spent the afternoon on the lake, and after that they went bar hopping. I went to Bayou, Egan's, and Lake View all in right after another. About what time and how late did you stay? I'd say I got there at 9 o'clock and stayed till 10. And then from there? Home. All right, I got home.

Kenny said he told the very same story to police, even urged them to verify it. There's a way they can...

Yeah, didn't you tell him that? Didn't you tell him to check it? I told him to. Yeah, they said, hey, we're going to take your phone. What's your password? So I showed him my password and gave him my phone. Kenny said he looked for other ways to help detectives verify his alibi. I have Vonstar in my truck, and I told him, check that. Kenny believed the police made their minds up about him from the get-go. And that's the first night? Yeah, he said, you look guilty, is what he told me.

He said they stepped up the pressure right after he failed the polygraph. Yeah, I asked for an attorney.

After the interview was over, the private investigator shared it with Lindsay and DeWayne. They started to believe that Kenny did have a good alibi, and maybe the police hadn't done enough to check it out. They decided to go to Chris and Chuck's to share what they were thinking. Lindsay and I wanted to bring to the table, literally, the dinner table, and have a meeting with the family and a couple of her close friends and say, hey, you know, what if this isn't Kenny? How did that go over? It didn't go well.

Didn't go well at all. And I ended up storming out of the house. And it was not a proud moment, but it was necessary because it turned into me needing to mind my own business and stay out of it. The family was telling you that? Mm-hmm. She never even knew Egypt, never met Egypt. Anything like that was very rude in our home, disrespectful. To come into my house to talk about things...

To get up and leave while we're just kind of talking, I have no need to interface with that particular person anymore. I mean this in the nicest way, but you could almost see someone saying, hey, new girl, you know, you just started dating Dwayne, and who are you to say that we've got the wrong guy? I can see where they're coming from. I can, 100%. And that night, I said that exact same thing to Dwayne. I said, I'm done.

I'm done. I'm done looking into this. The police can do their job. Who am I? What did he say? He said, Lindsay, please don't. Please don't stop.

Please don't allow this to stop our fight for my sister. And I still said, I'm done. I'm not here to break your family apart even more. After some long talks, DeWayne managed to convince her to stay the course. And their next move was to get a meeting with the detectives. Let's just say that didn't go so well either. I'll tell you what, bring me something I can use instead of telling me I'm not doing my job properly and I'll be a much better person with it. Oh my God, this is getting offensive.

DeWayne and his girlfriend Lindsay refused to be mere spectators as the police investigated the murder of DeWayne's sister. Their drive more than compensated for their lack of experience. We had a war room in our library where we actually took the wall and we started placing pins and writing names and web diagrams.

Even though Egypt's ex, Kenny, had been named a person of interest in her murder, they weren't convinced. Did you get into that mindset where everyone kind of became a suspect in your mind? Immediately. Could it be him, him, her? We came with the impression that we wanted to be open-minded and say, who is it? Start listening to tips, looking into things. Who could it be? And so it was anybody. Anybody was on the radar until you were crossed off.

Even though the police had already crossed off Curtis, Lindsay wasn't so sure and asked for a meeting with him. Did you think it could be Curtis who killed Egypt? They also heard all those disputed stories about that married man Egypt used to work for, the guy who friends thought liked Egypt a little too much.

He just came across as somebody who would possibly be somebody who could kill Egypt. And that was enough for me and for DeWayne to say, "Look into this." The Van Buren police had been saying they had their person of interest, Kenny, but hadn't arrested him. DeWayne and Lindsay wanted to know why, and asked if the detectives would meet with them to discuss Egypt's case. To their surprise, the police agreed.

When she and DeWayne got to the station for the meeting, Lindsay pressed record on her cell phone and put it on the table. What questions do you have? So you're recording this meeting? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. They didn't know. Was there anything new happening? It's been a long time. Okay. Where we stand right now is we followed up every lead that we physically have. Lindsay and DeWayne quickly heard what they already knew.

Our person of interest after the initial investigation turned out to be Mr. O'Hallock, Kenny. Lindsey says they seem to place a lot of faith in that polygraph Kenny took, even though it wouldn't be admissible in court. Kenny was very upfront with people in the community talking about how he failed his polygraph, miserably. I sat in on it. I was there. I watched the interview. I interviewed him here. I know when someone's lying to me. I know when someone did something. He failed.

Get his name right. Well, he did get his name right in the date. Besides that, he failed at, you know, it's like he said, he failed everything. Lindsey and D. Wayne wanted to know if the police had found anything useful on Egypt's cell phone or iPad that would implicate Kenny or anyone else. They kept telling us,

We aren't talking about that. We aren't talking about that. We just were curious if it was able to get into it. A lot of times detectives do keep things very close to the best. Yeah. They don't provide people with information about cases, even family members. Yes. We understood that. We understand that that's how an investigation works.

However, we wanted them to get more resources involved. The conversation got more and more contentious on both sides, especially when Lindsay and DeWayne asked police if they'd fully investigated Egypt's neighbors in the duplex. We tried and they wouldn't talk to us. I mean, they were at that electric festival a couple hundred miles away. We can pretty much prove they were there. Wait, what do you mean pretty much?

Okay, listen. I'm not going to get into that. No, no, no. What do you mean pretty much through? We want to know that you can through. You had their phones. They weren't home. They weren't home. I didn't go through their phones. They were interviewed. We talked to neighbors. That's all I wanted to get at. You didn't go through their phones. So you haven't fully...

I know, I'm tough. I'll tell you what, bring me something I can use instead of telling me I'm not doing my job properly and I'll be a much better person with it. Some of the things you do have the right to know and we're telling you what you need to know and things you just don't need to know because it compromises our case. That's the bottom line.

The police did say they'd fully investigated that man Egypt worked for. He passed his polygraph test and had an airtight alibi. His whereabouts and some information was established where we don't believe he had any involvement in it. He was innocent. As they talked about the case, the conversation kept circling back to Kenny. We keep going in a certain direction towards a certain person. Everything points to this certain person, everything that we have.

"Anytime we deviate, the path pulls us back. Every time we deviate in this direction, it pulls us back here. Everything is pulling us in one direction. All of our investigation, all of our findings, eight FBI profilers from around the nation have looked at our case. Eight." They kept telling us, "We need one more piece of evidence. One more piece of evidence and then we'll put him away." "All we need is one more little thing."

But Lindsey and D. Wayne weren't confident the police were going to find that piece of evidence. They had a suggestion. How about getting the Michigan State Police involved? The local detectives didn't like that idea. This is what we do. This is important to us, just like it's important to your family, okay? We don't take this lightly. If I could hand this over right now to somebody and say, okay, hey, great, here you go. If you can put this guy in prison, do it.

Then do that. Can you do that? Can you give it over to the state? If you just said we could. The state police doesn't have any more expertise on interviewing than our guys do. How did you feel when you left? Enraged.

I was mad. After that meeting, Lindsay and DeWayne made it their mission to get the case out of Van Buren and into the hands of the state police. The couple was more united than ever in their fight for answers. So united, they also decided to take their relationship to the next level. In the midst of all of this, you had a bright spot. You proposed to Lindsay. I did. I mean, how could I not?

The ring that he proposed, what it gave me, was to be Egypt's. It's a family ring that Egypt said she wanted when she got engaged. And his mom, without me knowing, said, "You need to give this to Lindsay."

Yeah, so it's a really special ring that now I have with me all the time that was supposed to be for Egypt. It's a little piece of her that you take with you. Such an honor. Egypt's family would not let her be forgotten. The investigation seemed stalled, but something was about to reignite the case. So that was a good moment in all the heartache and pain. Yeah.

There was still no arrest for Egypt Covington's murder, and Lindsay and DeWayne were convinced the local police were focused on the wrong guy. And so you and Lindsay started getting louder and louder. That's right. How would you describe Lindsay? She's a warrior. She doesn't take no for an answer.

She just took off and Dwayne was doing whatever he needed to do to help her do it. Were you grateful? Absolutely. You know, she had such courage. She wasn't afraid to ask the hard questions. Questions like why not get the Michigan State Police involved? Why did you feel like the Michigan State Police would be a better fit for this case? Well, we felt for sure Michigan State needed to be involved because

of the resources that they have available. We knew that they had so many more detectives. So Lindsay started copying the state police on emails they were sending to local officials trying to draw attention to the investigation. I sent it to the head lieutenant

of Michigan State Police. I just started putting him on our emails. - Then, Burin Police must have been like, just get out of our business, lady. - Oh yeah, that's what I wanted them. I wanted to be the most annoying fly in their face that they just wanted to shoo away and say, holy cow, get this girl out of our jurisdiction, Michigan State Police, she's all yours. That became a goal.

Lindsay and Dwayne created an online petition calling for the state police to take over the case. More than 14,000 people signed it. That didn't sit well with Egypt's dad and stepmom, though, who thought the local police were on the right track with Kenny.

You could even see on that Facebook page the other members of Egypt's family, they would comment on the posts for the petition and they would say, "Do not sign this petition no matter what. This is all a sham and such." And you just saw in real time a battle between two sides of people who loved Egypt.

Did it ever get where you're like, oh, this is too much? Like we're pushing too many buttons, we're angering too many people? Yeah, you know, I'm not one to mess around with the law. You know, I felt weird about it, and I know that she did as well, but it needed to be done. You're gutsy.

I am. Has anyone also called you nosy? Uh, yeah. You've probably been called everything at this point. Yes, I've been called a lot of names. Yes. Some saw Lindsay as a troublemaker who just wanted attention for herself. She says her motivation was simple. You never met Egypt. Why did you become so passionate about finding her killer? Because of the man that I love so dearly, Dwayne.

And that's why I wanted him and his family to find justice. I'm going to allow Lindsay to talk. Her hand is still raised. DeWayne and Lindsay also started popping up at town council meetings held over Zoom. I would raise my hand, like you raise it in virtually. Yep. Yep. And I would have a comment. And I said, so can you tell me what you guys are doing for Egypt's case? They kept at it. Months went by. Then another year.

Every chance they got, the couple pestered local officials, writing emails that criticized the local police and asking for help getting the investigation moved.

But one day, they did get a response. Lindsay and DeWayne think the township clerk had meant to remove family members from the email chain before hitting "send" on this reply.

Is there any way these emails to everyone can be blocked? I'm personally not interested in the stupidness. We're talking about a woman in your town who has been murdered. Yes, yes. And so then, of course, I blasted that all over. I put it all over our page. I put it on the township pages. I gave it to the state police. I put it everywhere. This is what your county clerk thinks of murder.

An unsolved murder calling us this stupidness because we're trying to get her case in the right hands. The stupidness comment created an uproar. The clerk later apologized, saying he meant no disrespect to Egypt or her family. He was just trying to get off the email chain. But the controversy helped fuel a public protest. Egypt! Let the state in!

Lindsay and DeWayne held a march. And just one day later... In July of 2020, my supervisor reached out to me and asked me to review the case. It worked. Detectives James Plummer and Sean Street of the Michigan State Police were taking over the investigation. How'd you find out? Well, the head detective on the case said, we'd like to meet with you and DeWayne. And I said...

uh, does this mean that you guys, he's like, yes, we have Egypt's case fully. And we both just started bawling on the phone with him. And it was like, it was so, um, it was so powerful. So that was a good moment in all the heartache and the pain. Yeah. It was, it was very, um, bittersweet. And I say that because at the same time it was, it was bringing on a lot of, uh,

emotions about this could have happened a lot sooner. The new investigators got to work, and right there in the file, a bit of evidence that had been there all along jumped out. Van Buren Police Department did preserve a video from a gas station around the corner from Egypt Covington's house. Could this truck be the key to unlocking the mystery?

By November 2020, more than three years had passed since Egypt's murder, and new detectives from the Michigan State Police were sifting through the evidence. What were your first impressions of the case? I believe it was a complex case. This sort of crime never, doesn't really happen in Van Buren Township. The local law enforcement wasn't readily equipped to investigate such an in-depth case that required a lot of expertise with electronics and other forms of evidence.

Detective Plummer started at the beginning with suspect number one, Kenny Mahalik. It was briefed to us that they believed Kenny did it. He was actually named publicly as a person of interest. And when there is a homicide or a violent crime, you do have to look at the people that were emotionally close to that individual, friends and family. From that perspective, it absolutely made sense to look at Kenny. It's just, do you stay with Kenny or do you...

start to move on. Yeah, it would be negligent to stay on to one person and not explore other options, not to put all of your eggs, investigative eggs, in one basket. Do you think that's what they did? They put all their eggs in the Kenny basket? I believe so. Yes, they did. Very quickly, the state investigators came to the same conclusion that amateur sleuths Lindsay and D. Wayne had.

But the file was full of other interesting evidence, cell phone data and security video. They had it and they just never looked into it because they were so focused on Kenny.

The state police dug in and right away found a report that led them in a whole new direction. So they did a geofence on her house, and it basically identifies phones in that area. And it hit on a phone... That were in the area at the time of the murder? Correct. And there was one phone that it hit on, and it came back to a guy from Toledo, Ohio. And they didn't look further into it. But whenever I began to plot the device, I found that that phone...

That phone was actually in her house at the time that we believe that she was killed. The investigation moved at lightning speed after that. The owner of that cell phone was named Shandon Groom. He lived in Ohio and had no apparent connection to Egypt. But also in the file was this video, taken from a gas station near Egypt's duplex.

And we noticed that there was a blue truck that had an Ohio license plate. And Ohio license plates are easily identifiable. When they ran the plates on that blue truck, it linked them back to Shandon Groom. It was all very suspicious, but not proof of murder. For that, the Michigan State Police focused on the Christmas lights that tied Egypt's wrists. Back in 2017, that DNA testing yielded three profiles.

One was Egypt's and two were unknown. The amount of data was not enough to automatically run through the national data bank CODIS. In 2017 DNA analysis wasn't as

is what it is today. So in 2020, advancements have come a long way. So those were reanalyzed and a profile was able to be obtained from there. And you get a hit on the DNA. Yeah. It was a man named Tim Moore, also from Ohio. Detective Plummer had access to Tim's phone records from previous arrests.

Did he know Shandon Groom? Well, turns out Tim had Shandon's number saved in his contact list. Police still didn't know what connected these two men to Egypt, but they felt they had enough.

We actually arrested Shannon Groom and Tim Moore in Ohio and believed that maybe during, after we arrested them, that they would give us an interview and we'd be able to get some more insight. Detective Plummer called Egypt's mother right away. The state detective guy, I was the very first call that he made. He said, "I know you've been waiting for this for a long time." And he said, "We made an arrest."

But that was all the detectives shared. They were not releasing the names of the men in custody until they could be extradited to Michigan. What kind of emotions were you having? I couldn't get so excited until it was done because I had already been to that height and then down and that height and then down. And there were so many different stories out there that, you know, sounded really real. Egypt's dad and his wife were also in the dark.

I remember going online, trying to look for people that had been arrested in that time frame to see if we could find a connection, to see if it was anybody I knew. So I do remember that. Did you think it could be Kenny? Honestly, when they said there was arrest made, yeah. I mean, it didn't pass that it wouldn't be. The not knowing was torture for DeWayne and Lindsay. You have like this big question mark left after all this time. Right.

And one of them was, could it be Kenny? Who knows? All this information that said Kenny was somewhere else. Could it still be? So Lindsay picked up her phone and dialed Kenny's number. He answered. That's when she knew for sure it was not him. What was Kenny's reaction when you told him? Kenny's a pretty somber person. He said...

"Wow, that's great." You know, he's pretty somber and just kind of quiet. He's real calm, cool, calm, collected guy, which I think was used against him in the early stages of the investigation. - Like he wasn't upset enough or... - Yep. And he said too, "But it's not over yet, Lindsay."

Not over at all, because investigators weren't done making arrests. There was a gut punch coming. It wasn't just who, but rather why. My daughter's life was reduced to an oops. There's always more to the story. To go behind the scenes of tonight's episode, listen to our Talking Dateline series with Andrea and Keith, available Wednesday.

Two men were under arrest for Egypt Covington's murder, but they had no obvious connection to the victim or even Michigan. And they weren't saying much. Unfortunately, after we arrested them, they didn't want to talk. So we were able to have them charged, extradited back to Michigan, but we still didn't have a reasoning as to what happened. But they did know this from the cell phone data. On the night of the murder, they'd made a stop at a house just down the road from Egypt's duplex.

The guy who lived there was named Shane Evans. He had a close connection to one of the Ohio men in custody. After looking into Timothy Moore, we realized that Shane Evans and Tim Moore are half-brothers. And the half-brother, Shane Evans, was the connection to Egypt. They'd gone to the same high school years earlier.

The detectives woke Shane Evans up with a search warrant at 5 a.m. and took him back to the station to answer some questions. We learned that Shane Evans was, he actually worked for a company that cut the grass for the duplex and that during the day prior to Egypt's murder, he had actually been there cutting her grass. Shane denied any involvement in the murder. Then the detectives did something investigators often do, exaggerate the evidence.

They told Shane they saw him on video driving near Egypt's house and that his half-brother was cooperating with the police. The gamble paid off. And at that moment, he broke. And he was the first suspect to spill exactly what happened.

And it was a stunning story. Remember Egypt's neighbors grew medical marijuana? Shane Evans told investigators he knew all about that. He also knew they were leaving town for the music festival. He said that he knew that nobody was going to be home at this location. Shane said the plan was to break into their house, expecting to find lots of drugs they could sell for cash. Shane Evans' job was to take them to the location, drive past it and point it out.

He told him, "Hey, go in the door and go to the right and break into that house."

They parked in this driveway right here. When they walked into the residence, there's two doors. They were supposed to go into the right, and they actually go into the left. And when they go into the left, that's Egypt's residence, and they're confronted by her in the kitchen. The burglars were in the wrong apartment. Oh, no. So he was supposed to go in the right door, but he went in the left door. Correct. They just went into the wrong door. And there's Egypt, just enjoying her evening alone. Yeah.

They searched for marijuana but didn't find any.

At some point, Egypt starts messing around on her phone, so they order her onto the ground and they tie her up with Christmas lights. And before leaving, Tim takes her phone and he puts a pillow over the back of her head and shoots her. Later that night, the shooter sent his half-brother Shane a text. Wrong door. I want to say I texted back to the right door. He just said, oops. Oops.

The fact that it boils down to the wrong door, it's chilling. You know, that this woman probably could have been spared her life if these guys, these, you know, awful guys could have followed directions. Right. And even though they went into the wrong door, they didn't have to brutally murder Egypt. You know, they could have very well just left and went on about their day, and we probably wouldn't be talking about this.

Shane Evans was arrested right after his confession, and Egypt's family learned the horrible truth. They could have easily gone to the right door, took the stuff out of there, and nobody would have been harmed. It didn't have to happen.

But why did Timothy Moore decide to kill Egypt at all? Why not just leave? The investigators believe they know why. At the time of this crime, he was actually on parole. And it was a female witness who had identified him and sent him to prison. So he knew that if he was ever going to commit another crime, make sure there's no witnesses.

The arrests happened three months after the state detectives took over for the local police. The Van Buren police told Dateline that they worked this difficult case very hard. They disputed the criticism that their department lacked expertise in electronic evidence and said their detectives looked at subjects other than just Kenny Mihalik over the course of the investigation.

Prosecutors were convinced they had enough evidence to convict all three men. But not one of them stood trial. In April 2023, Shane agreed to testify against Tim and Shandon. And I think at that point, they realized that they had no hope. The three men made deals with the prosecutor, pleading guilty to second-degree murder.

Egypt's brother D. Wayne spoke at the sentencing. I just wanted to make the courthouse aware of what we're missing. Egypt, our Jacqueline Elizabeth Egypt Covington. We're going to miss her so much. She touched so many people. She's a beautiful person. We'll always remember her. Her dad also addressed the court. My daughter's life was reduced to an ooze. They hog-tied. Hog-tied.

But this was not a death penalty case. Shane Evans was sentenced to 15 to 25 years in prison.

Shandon Groom received 17 to 26 years, and Timothy Moore, the shooter, was sentenced to 20 to 55 years. The case is now finally closed. Even still, the divide within Egypt's family has not healed. Do you think Egypt would want the family to mend the problems? Of course she would. Of course she would, yeah. I don't know if that can happen, but she would have wanted that.

We'll see. We'll see what time, what can happen. There's hope. There's hope. But everyone in the family wants to keep Egypt's memory alive. Chuck has set up a fund in Egypt's name to help kids learn to play musical instruments. And he's proud of this monument the town of Belleville created for her. The inscription comes from Egypt's journal. A memorial in a playground because Egypt very much liked kids. She would have been a great mom. She would have been a great mom.

What did the world lose when it lost Egypt? It lost the brightest light and ability to grow that it ever could have had because she would have been one of those people that would have made a difference no matter what. Nobody knows how life goes.

So many of Egypt's family and friends say they'll remember her for all the love she put out in the world. She was great at receiving love, and she was great at giving love. Much of it through that soaring voice. When she was singing to them, it gave you a sense of joy. She had that ability. Silence too soon, but never forgotten. That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt. Thanks for joining us.