The effects of personal debt problems often go beyond just financial. What we don't want to face can cause us to unravel. Stress eats at you. Relationships unwind. It can feel like life's falling apart. But support is available. Get back on track with the Insolvency Service of Ireland, an independent organization that helps untangle personal debt problems. See backontrack. Ie, supported by the Government of Ireland. Nobody knows how I... Nobody knows how it unfolds. What did you think when she said, I'm going to go try out for the voice? I thought you're going to win. D dramatic new details in the story of a young woman who auditioned for the voice before her voice was silenced forever. I took 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 reveal the a 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 was. Yes. To know that she knew she was going to die, it just makes me feel like, why? I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateland. 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, Covington. 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 to 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 our house and share life's moments with each other 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 she doesn't say. I always send her a good morning text, Good morning, my love. Good morning, babe. Did she respond? Usually, she always responds within 15, 20 minutes and nothing. Then I started texting her again. Is everything okay? Then in my mind, 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 was ridden with worry.

So after work, Curtis drove over to Egypt's house. He says as he pulled up, he got that pit in the stomach feeling. I was in a car there, and it just hit me. Now, all your worry just hits full-fledged 100 %, and you just know something ain't right. 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 neighbor's, and the door on the left was Egypt's. I took a step or two in, and I yelled her name, and her My dog, Ruby, barked, let out a bark. And by then, I took two more steps in, and Ruby met me, Hey, come with me. Turn around, follow me. And I walked about two, three more steps into the kitchen. Then you can see in the living room. He says what he saw unraveled him to the core. She was tied up, hands behind her back in a fetal position on the ground, blood clearly covering the side of her head. I ran out. I was in shock. My phone was in the center 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. Jacquelyn Egypt Covington. Okay, hold on. Don't hang up. No, okay. Oh, my God. The Van Buren Township police rush 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 see that and deal with it. Beyond having those images in your head of someone that you love, you love deeply, then you're trying to fathom your future's gone and everything you planned 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 It can't be sold. The family patriarch then had to make a series of gut-wrenching phone calls. He dialed DeWane, 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, 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 it 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, D. Wayne 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 stopped. And all I can remember is screaming and crying and not my baby. And how could that happen? It was like mommy wasn't there for you. 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. It 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. Let the state in. Let the state in. As someone who never even knew Egypt launched her own investigation. It was on. I'll tell you what, okay, 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, it's getting offensive. 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 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 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. I remember teaching her to pour her first beer and her opening it just a little bit and just like, Why is it foam? And I'm like, No, girl, pull it down. Oh, yeah, this is like the ground floor of pouring a beer. This is it. We were off and running after that. It was her brother D. Wayne 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. It was pretty cool. It was fun. We'd have our little routines that we would do. We'd have some light shows.Oh, like what? Turn down the lights, have flaming bottles of liquor. Wow. We'd just have our jokes 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 life goes. Nobody knows how it unfolds. Singing was a big deal to Egypt. It was her passion. You're out of your seats, you all. 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. It's Eja.

It was Eja. Just reacted and blew everyone away in the audience. It's the winner of W4 Country Out on 2014, Eja. How much fun was that? It was amazing. When she went. I remember her yelling up there and just 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 wind 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 attracted everybody to her, right? What did you think the first time you heard Egypt sing? Wow. It was just like a presence that she controlled it. 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 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? The effects of personal debt problems often go beyond just financial. What we don't want to face can cause us to unravel. Stress eats at you. Relationships unwind. It can feel like life's falling apart, but support is available. Get back on track with the Insolvency Service of Ireland, an independent organization that helps untangle personal debt problems. See backontrack. Ie, supported by the government of Ireland. He would lie his way into their dreams. He was looking for James Bond girls. How fun would that be to be a Bond girl? Then twist them into a nightmare. This guy has done this before. He'll do it again. Until a group of women band it together to put him behind bars and keep him there. You have to participate fiercely, fiercely in what happens next. I'm Keith Morison, and this is murder in the Hollywood Hills, an all-new podcast from Dateland.

Listen to murder in the Hollywood Hills for free each week, or subscribe to Dateland Premium on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or datelandpremium. Com to unlock new episodes one week early. 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. You're the boyfriend? You're going to be moving in, and they always look at the significant other. The closest, too. I was questioned there on site. I was there for a few hours, wrote down my statement, and then my I phoned from there on out with questions. Detectives quickly learned that Egypt and Curtis had a complicated history. They had a series of breakups and makeups 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 never seen her before. I just happened to stop in. I lived right in the corner. It's the cliché love at first sight, but I knew that was someone I was very interested in at the beginning.

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, a year and a half, roughly, and What happened? What way? Life got in the way of schedules. Obviously, I had a 9:00 to 5:00 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, what was it? We sat on the steps, and she cried, and we sat on the steps, and it was like, you have to tell them. Relationships come and go. Egypt's dad said that she was pretty upset with the breakup. Yeah. Because she was in love with you. Yeah. It was tough. It was tough. Egypt was a very passionate, and she was a lover. She loved hard. And it was the right thing for us both. Egypt's friend, Brooke Brandstadter, 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?

I don't remember the details on that. She came knocking at my door at 2:00 in the morning. I was sleeping, and I let her in, and she was just so distraught and crying to where it was 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'd 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 wasn't ruling anybody out. I didn't know if maybe they got in a fight. There was a couple of 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 stress 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. 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, All right, here's my chance. Let me go prove Let's get their attention off me so they can worry about finding the right person.

Let me do what I got to do the quickest, Hey, you're focusing your attention in the wrong area. Okay, let's get this out of the way. Now go find who did this, please. 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 friends. But not long before she was murdered, Egypt's mom says that Egypt shared something with her. She said, Mom, I got to 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? Durex. 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 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 said to me about moving in with me. A lot of the times, she would come over to my place. Very rarely would meet at her house. And if we did, we weren't there for very long. Did you tell her you should get out? I told her to come and stay with me, and she was like, Oh, no. Egypt's neighbor said they never sold anything illegal. Still, her family wondered if the marijuana business next door had anything to do with Egypt's murder. Egypt was concerned about her safety because they did have the marijuana plants and people were coming and going. Yeah, it was just the traffic going in and out constantly. Detectives question the neighbors and ask 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 As 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. How do you lose somebody like that in this way? Egypt's not the 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 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 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 IDLE, Egypt told Leslie he had offered to take her to Nashville for the next big tryout. He was paying for stuff. Her singing, for her to go to the voice. 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, D-Wane, knew him, too, and says he saw the 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 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. You don't have a murderer behind bars, and this has happened to somebody who's so beautiful and loved by everybody. It puts life in perspective. You realize this can happen, and it's scary. And how do you protect yourself against something like this when there's no protection? 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 Mahalik, 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 of course, you're in there and you try to think of like, this is their job, this is protocol. And it hurts. You're trying to grieve the most unimaginable thing. And you're They're 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's suggestion to look into Egypt's ex, Kenny Mahalik? 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, 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 said, 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 know, at least from what I saw, I did not really see a spark ever. Maybe just someone like Mr. Right Now? Yeah. The perfect way to say it. Yeah. A placeholder, I guess. Did she tell you anything about him? Why she liked him? What his deal was. She didn't care about money, intellectual conversations as much. She needed companionship at that time. She wanted to settle down. She wanted to 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 talk about the future. She wanted it, but she couldn't see the future. 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.Friends. Mm-hmm. 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 text you. I can text you. There was never any complete break-off. 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 the end for real, and he probably didn't take it that well.

Her stepmom, Chris, said Egypt wanted to tell Kenny to give her some space, but it was hard. When she said, Mom, he's like a lost puppy. And I said, You can't save every lost puppy. Be. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do and move on. 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 I kept my distance. 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 friend's 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 intense conversation going on.

I wasn't worried too much at that time. You didn't want to stop it? I mean, it was a social circle of five or six people, and I was just going to 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 Michalik. What would he have to say? The pressure was already on Kenny in the community, but that really turned up the heat even more for people. The effects of personal debt problems often go beyond just financial. What we don't want to face can cause us to unravel. Stress eats at you. Relationships unwind. It can feel like life's falling apart, but support is available.

Get back on track with the Insolvency Service of Ireland, an independent organization that helps untangle personal debt problems. See, backintrack. Ie, supported by the government of Ireland. For true crime fans, nothing is more chilling than watching Dateline. Have you ever seen such a thing before? For a podcast fans, nothing is more chilling than listening. What goes through your mind when you make a discovery like that? And when you subscribe to Dateline Premium, it gets even better. Excuse me, I sound a little skeptical. Every episode is ad-free. Oh, wow. So this could be your ace in the hole. And not just ad-free, you also get early access to new intriguing mysteries and exclusive bonus content. So what were you afraid of? Dateline Premium. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or datelinepremium. Com. You ready for what's coming? 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, Bill is the name.

And then there's a strong bar, notes in there someplace, I believe. 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... 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 to 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, we lost our friend together. 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 hole? Right after that polygraph test, Kenny loyered 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 cacing in Egypt's car.

She was waking up, and I told her about the incident. I was like, Hey, Kenny was just outside, peering in your vehicle. And the look she gave me wasn't of a surprise or no way. It's almost like 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 things did 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. 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. Nouri 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. Nouri says things with Kenny could escalate quickly. He would just, shall we say, have an explosion sometimes.

So whether that was verbally, whether that was a time I was at the house, I was there when he punched a hole in the wall type of thing, just very short, fused temper. Were you concerned that he might do more? Yeah. And also in my head, the protective part of me of like, Okay, what happens when I'm not here or someone's not here, and it's just them. 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 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. Dace 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 Minors, Where'd You Go? Where'd You Go? I miss you so. Seems like it's been ♪ For ever since you've been gone. 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 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 real. 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 Mcaboy 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 a big energy person. So with her and Kenny, 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 Brook, 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 somewhat peace between the family. As for whose side he was on, for a long time, Dwyane 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, Dwyane 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 like, baggage at the moment. But just a few weeks into dating, Lindsay found out anyway. Hard not to, really. I said, who is this person on your phone? Because it was his screensaver. And he said, that's my sister. And I thought, Well, that's odd that you have your sister as your screensaver. I said, Well, why is she-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. Dewane 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 DeWane. 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 air tight. 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 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 gone 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? He would lie his way into their dreams.

He was looking for James Bond girls. How fun would that be to be a Bond girl? Then twist them into a nightmare. This guy has done this before. He'll do it again. Until a group of women band it together to put him behind bars and keep him there. You have to participate fiercely, fiercely in what happens next. I'm Keith Morison, and this is murder in the Hollywood Hills, an all-new podcast from Dateland. Listen to murder in the Hollywood Hills for free each week, or subscribe to Dateland Premium on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or datelandpremium. Com to unlock new episodes one week early. Hey, guys. Willy Geist here, reminding you to check out the Sunday Sit Down podcast. On this week's episode, I get together with country music superstar, Kenny Ches Cresny, to talk about the release of his latest album and gearing up for another big stadium tour this summer. You can get our conversation now for free wherever you download your podcasts. Nine months after Egypt Covington was murdered, the Van Buren police made a public announcement. They released a name, a person of interest. Kenny Michalik. Reporter Coco McAboy 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, 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 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 killer.What did he say?He said, No, no. I did not kill your sister. Now, most killers, if we're being real, are 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 is June 14th, 2018. This is an interview with Kenny Michalik. 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 Strawberry Festival. What was that about? I was there- Who did you go there with? Just by myself. I figured I'd know people there. One of the people he knew there was Curtis. I overheard Curtis talking about Egypt moving in with him. Who was he talking to? I don't remember. I just overheard it in peripheral. And then, I think maybe half hour, 20 minutes later, Egypt came up, and I was like, Hey, what's this I'm hearing about you and Curtis? 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 fuck? We're 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. Did you guys maintain a fairly good relationship? After you broke up? Yeah. Okay. So it was crucial? Yeah, she's like family. I mean, my sisters go to the movies with her.

She was part of my family. 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? What the fuck? She didn't want to hear about it. She was like, You, and she was gone. I think she left the strawberry fest. 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 PI 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 Lakeview all in right after another. About what time? And how late did you stay? I'd say I got there at nine o'clock and stayed till 10:00. And then from there? Home. Home? All right. I got home. I had some leftover burritos, watched Netflix or Hulu, my phone. Kenny said he told the very same story to police, even urge them to verify it.

So I did everything off my phone, Internet, TV, the whole deal. There's a way they can check that. Yeah, didn't you tell them that? Didn't you tell them to check it? I told them to. Did they take your phone? 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 a Vonstar in my truck, and I told them, Check that. Kenny believed the police made their minds up about him from the get-go. That's the first night. Yeah, he said, You look guilty. That's what he told me. And I was like, Whatever you need, let me know. I'm not guilty. He said they stepped up the pressure right after he failed the polygraph. Along the lines of, You did this. Just berating me, basically, at that point. Then once they started saying, We're going to put you away for life, that's when... You're going to askI asked for an attorney? Yeah, I asked for an attorney. After the interview was over, the private investigator shared it with Lindsay and D.

Wayne. 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, what if this isn't Kenny? How did that go over? It didn't go well. It didn't go well at all. 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 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 just started dating Duane, 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 Duane. 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, Dwyane 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, okay, 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 you. Oh my God, it's getting offensive. D. Wayne and his girlfriend Lindsay refused to be mere spectators as the police investigated the murder of D. Wayne'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 became a suspect in your mind? Immediately. Him, her. We came with the impression that we wanted to be open-minded and say, who is it? Start listening to tips, look 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? Yeah. I absolutely thought that there was a possibility that Curtis killed Egypt, so we questioned him big time on it. 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 Dwyane to say, Look into this. The Van Buren police had been saying they had their person of interest, Kenny, but hadn't arrested him.

Dwyane 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 Dwyane 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. Is 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 D-Wane quickly heard what they already knew. Our person of interest after the initial investigation turned out to be Mr. Hawke, Kenny. Lindsay 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. People in the community talk 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. He did get his name right. He did get his name right in the date.

Besides that, he failed. It's like he said, he failed everything. Lindsay 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. With the phones. Did you ever ever ever get into the phone? The pad. That's the first time ever. We can't talk about the phones. If you're able to get into it. We're not going to talk about it. Okay. 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. We have phones, but we're not going to talk about any detail. A lot of times, detectives do keep things very close to the best. Yeah. They don't provide people with information about cases as 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 D. Wayne asked police if they'd fully investigated Egypt's neighbors in the duplex. We tried, and they wouldn't talk to us. They were at that electric festival a couple of hundred miles away.

We can pretty much prove they were there. Wait, what do you mean, pretty much? Okay, let's I'm not going to get-No, no, no. What do you mean pretty much prove? We want to know that you can prove you had their phones. They weren't home. They weren't home. I didn't go through their phones. They were interviewed. You talked to neighbors, you see them go. That's all I wanted to get at. You didn't go through their phone. So you haven't fully I know. I'm tough. I'll tell you what, okay. 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 you. Oh my gosh. You're getting offensive. Well, you know what? 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 air tight 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 Every time 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 them away. All we need is one more little phone. But Lindsay 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 could put this guy in prison, do it.

Then do that. Can you do that? Can you give it over to the state? No. If you just said we could. We can't. The state police doesn't have any more-What can they not do? Expertise on interviewing than our guys do. How did you feel when you left? Enraged. I was mad. After that meeting, Lindsay and D. Wayne made it their mission to get the case out of Van Buren and into the hands of the state police. Do you notice anything on here? 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. How could I not? The ring that he proposed, what 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. And 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. Justice for Egypt. So that was a good moment in all the heartache and the pain. Yeah. There was still no arrest for Egypt Covington's murder, and Lindsay and D. Wayne 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 Duane was doing whatever he needed to do to help her do it. Were you grateful? Absolutely. She had such courage. She wasn't afraid to ask the hard questions. Questions? 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. 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 Buren police must have been like, just get out of our business. Oh, yeah. That's what I wanted them. I wanted to be the most annoying fly in their face, that they just wanted to shoe away and say, Holy de Cal, get this girl out of our jurisdiction, Michigan State Police, she's all yours. That became a goal. Lindsay and D. Wayne 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 post for the petition, and they would say, Do not sign this petition no matter what. This is all a shame 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. We're pushing too many buttons.

We're angering too many people. Yeah. I'm not one to mess around with the law. 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? Yeah. You've probably been called everything at this point. Yes, I've been called a lot of names. 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, DeWane. 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. Dewane and Lindsay also started popping up at town council meetings held over Zoom. I would raise my hand. You raise it in-Virtually? Yeah, 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.

We never got responses. But one day, they did get a response. Dwyane calls me on his way to work and says, Lindsay, did you see the response from the Township clerk? She forwarded it to me, and I said, Babe, you were accidentally left on this. Lindsay and Dwyane think the Township clerk had meant to remove family 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. 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 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.

Justice for Egypt. Let the State in. Let the State in. Lindsay and D. Wayne 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 Plumber and Sean Street of the Michigan State Police were taking over the investigation. How did you find out? Well, the head detective on the case said, We'd like to meet with you and Duane. And I said, 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 so powerful. So that was a good moment in all the heartache and pain. Yeah, it was very bitter sweet. And I say that because at the same time, it was bringing on a lot of emotions about this could have happened a lot sooner. The new investigators got to work, and right there in the 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 Cummington'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 crime 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 Plumber started at the beginning with suspect number 1, Kenny Michalik. It was brief to us that they believe Kenny did it. He was actually named publicly as a person of interest. 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 onto 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 slews Lindsay and D. Wayne had. Reading the reports, even to this day, there was no evidence of his involvement. There was actually evidence that he was not involved. It was very interesting that they had named him publicly, but yet they had nothing to name him publicly as a person of interest. 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 geo fence 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 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 Shanden 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 complex. And we noticed that there was a blue truck that had a Ohio license plate. Ohio license plates are easily identifiable. When they ran the plates on that blue truck, it linked them back to Shanden 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 what it is today. So in 2020, advancements have come a long way. 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 Plumber 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 Shandon Groom and Tim Moore in Ohio and believe that maybe after we arrested them, that they would give us an interview and we'd be able to get some more insight. Detective Plumber 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 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 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 Dwyane and Lindsay. You have 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. He's pretty somber and just quiet. He's real calm, cool, calm, collective guy, which I think was used against him in the early stages of the investigation.He wasn't upset enough.Yup. 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 Dateland 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 05:00 AM 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. I rolled past it. He was following behind me in the truck. He rolled like this. This is me in front. Point my hands to the window. I pointed at the right house. The right house. And I kept going from there. 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, and 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, much like any of us, Egypt was sitting there at the end of a long day watching TV, preparing for the next day. And lo and behold, these guys come into her house. As they're walking into the house, Tim has a gun out. And when they enter, Egypt is in the kitchen and confronts them. They tell Egypt to sit down as they look through the house. 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 take the bag He brought to the right door. It just said, Who's? 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 awful guys, could have followed directions. Right. And even though they went into the wrong door, they didn't have to brutally murder Egypt. 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 there was 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 arrest happened three months after the state detectives took over for the local police. The Van Buren police told Dateland 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 Michalik 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 Shanden, and I think at that point, they realized that they had no hope. The three men made deals with a prosecutor, pleading guilty to second-degree murder. Egypt's brother, D-Wane, spoke at the sentencing. I just wanted to make the courthouse is aware of what we're missing. Egypt, our Jacquelyn 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 dad also addressed the court. My daughter's life was reduced to an oos. They hog-tied, hog-tied my daughter with Christmas. Business lights. They shot my daughter in the back of the head. There's no way anyone in their right mind would ever want these people out on the streets in society again.

They're corrupt. They are murderers. They deserve the death penalty. 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 with 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 like 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. Nobody knows how it unfolds. So as you wait for tomorrow... When she was singing to them, it gave you a sense of joy. She had that ability. Silenced too soon, but never forgotten. That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt. Thanks for joining us. It's 50% off all pizzas at Domino's. Wait, so pepperoni passions are 50% off? Yep. And 50% off Mighty Meats and Veg Supreens? . Well, what about the new pizzas? Is it 50% off the ultimate carbonara and lasagna? Yep. When we say 50% off all pizzas, we really mean all pizzas. But quick, they're only 50% off until April seventh. Offer ends April seventh. A minimum spend of €35 on pizza applies. Minimum delivery spend, charges, and restrictions may apply. Full tease and see, see dominoes. Ie. Domino.