Kriti Mehrotra
East 93rd Street in Cleveland, Ohio, is a 2-mile corridor that connects the junction to local areas such as the Fairfax neighborhood, Slavic Village, and project phases near Quincy Avenue. The entire space is considered rather prominent, but it became infamous in the early 2010s after four women were found murdered there within a 5-month period from December 2012 to May 2013. Among them was Christine Johnson-Malone, as explored in A&E’s ‘The First 48: Red Brick,’ a family woman whose remains were discovered 11 days after she was first reported missing.
Christine Johnson-Malone Was Beaten and Strangled to Death
Although the details of Christine Johnson-Malone’s background and early years are murky, we do know she was not only a proud local of Cleveland, Ohio, but also a dedicated matriarch. She was reportedly happily married to a man named Merlin Malone Sr. and loved her role as a homemaker, wife, and mother of eight by the time she was in her 40s in the early 2010s. In fact, her daughters, Angelique Malone and Shana Johnson, still remember her as their best friend as well as a woman whose gentle soul, kind-heartedness, and sweet personality were unwavering.
According to Christine’s children, she was just a “real happy” individual whose favorite thing in the world was spending quality time with her family, especially her kids and grandkids. If she wasn’t doing that or giving back to her community, though, she could be found dancing with her hair down, enjoying Charlie Wilson’s music, or just indulging in a good chocolate cake. Therefore, it was a complete shock to all her loved ones when she suddenly disappeared without a trace left behind on March 28, 2013. The 45-year-old was not at home, not running errands, and not engaging in her downtime activities; she was simply nowhere to be found.
Christine’s family has long maintained that they immediately knew something was terribly wrong because it was extremely uncharacteristic of her to just vanish without prior information. They thus filed an official missing person’s report and volunteered in the ensuing extensive search for her, but it was sadly only her remains that were found dumped in an open field 11 days later. A young little girl passing by was the one to locate her remains in the field behind a gas station at East 93rd Street and Bessemer Avenue. As per records, she was laid out next to a tree after being beaten and strangled, plus there were signs of blunt force trauma to her head.
Christine Johnson-Malone’s Homicide Remains Unsolved to This Day
From the moment Christine’s remains were recovered, it was evident that her death was not an accident or a suicide, but a brutal homicide owing to the bruises and injuries she sustained. Unfortunately, though, since she had no known enemies and little evidence was left behind on her or at the scene, it was hard for authorities to even identify a person of interest. Her loved ones and investigators hoped that an eyewitness or someone who knew something through first/second-hand accounts might come forward to help them attain justice, but to no avail. So, even though more than 13 years have passed, her case remains cold as well as unsolved to this day.
However, Christine’s family has not stopped fighting for her – they continue to give interviews and draw attention to the matter in hopes of one day seeing justice served. “My heart got ripped out of my chest because my mother, who I grew up with, was gone,” her daughter Shana Johnson once told Cleveland News 19. “I couldn’t call her no more, and to look at her in that casket, knowing that she wasn’t gonna wake back up – that was the worst day of my life.” In another exclusive with the same television news station, she added, “We don’t know what happened. Why it happened? Why have to be her? She didn’t bother nobody. So, just to pick her that particular day, it still don’t sit right with me.”
Angelique Malone also stated that the family will never forget the loss of Christine’s life or the grief, pain, and trauma to follow, so they will do everything in their power to keep her case alive. “I’m not going to sit right till they find out who killed my mother,” she said. “And it probably still won’t feel right then, but at least I know justice was served.” One of the aspects that hurt her the most is knowing how much her mother loved her family, but never got to meet 12 of her now-19 grandkids or her great-grandkids. Shana also pleaded with the public to come forward with information if they knew anything, stating, “Please, if you know anything, I’m so sick of this no-snitch rule because if it was your family, you would wanna know. So please, if you know anything, please call the police.”
Christine Johnson-Malone’s Murder Could Be Connected to Some Other Cases
While there have never been any hot leads/suspects in Christine’s case, it’s undeniable that her homicide is not the only unsolved murder on East 93rd Street from that time. According to records, at least 3 other women were killed in the area between December 2012 and May 2013, with all their cases also being cold and unresolved to this day. The first victim was 37-year-old Jamella Hasan, who was stabbed to death in the corridor in December 2012. Then there was 20-year-old Jazmine Trotte, who was found beaten as well as strangled to death on the porch of an abandoned home, 4 days before Christine’s remains were located. Last but not least, 21-year-old Ashley Lesyzeski was discovered dead from blunt force injuries to her head and neck in a vacant East 93rd Street lot in May 2013.
Although the authorities have not explicitly confirmed or denied whether these 4 cases are connected in any capacity, they did indicate to Cleveland 19 News that they have looked into the possibility. After all, a representative told reporters in 2017 that they haven’t ruled out the possibility of the assailant being a serial killer, yet they also haven’t found any concrete evidence to support the theory either. We should mention that the loved ones of all 4 victims believe the murders are connected, with Shana even asserting it can not be a “coincidence that all four of these women were all killed on 93rd and nobody saying nothing, and they were all loved.” But alas, despite the Cleveland Police Department maintaining that it is “committed to resolving” these old, cold cases, there haven’t been any updates in any of them for a long while.
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