Black Girl Gone: A True Crime Podcast

On September 4, 1998, eight-year-old Shy’Kemmia Pate disappeared from her neighborhood in Unadilla, Georgia. She was last seen on a quiet Friday night, just steps from her home, as summer came to an end. By the time an official search began, the most critical hours were already gone.

What followed was an investigation shaped by delays, limited timelines, and years of unanswered questions. Despite extensive searches, multiple persons of interest, and renewed attention decades later, Shy’Kemmia was never found.

Her disappearance remains one of Unadilla’s most troubling unsolved cases a story defined not by what is known, but by what has never been explained.

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In January of 2022, 17-year-old Zion Foster left her home in Eastpointe, Michigan, and never returned.

What began as a desperate search for a missing teenager slowly became something else entirely. As police worked to retrace Zion’s final movements, her family pushed for answers, and a troubling timeline began to take shape — one built on phone data, surveillance footage, and statements that didn’t add up.

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Between the fall of 2012 and the summer of 2013, three women disappeared from Cleveland under very different circumstances. Shetisha Sheeley, Angela Deskins, and Shirellda Terry were not reported missing in the same way, and their cases were never linked while they were still alive. It wasn’t until July of 2013 — when three bodies were discovered within blocks of each other in East Cleveland — that investigators realized these were not isolated cases, but part of the same story.

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In this Afterthoughts episode, we unpack the case of Samira Watkins and talk through what stayed with us after telling her story. From the dangers of trusting the “safe” option, to the weight of circumstantial evidence, to the devastating impact Samira’s loss had on her family — especially her young son — we share our honest reactions, lingering questions, and the parts of this case that were hardest to shake.

This conversation goes beyond the timeline to reflect on deception, double lives, and what justice really looks like when a case is built piece by piece.
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In 2009, 25-year-old Samira Watkins disappeared in Pensacola, Florida, after leaving home to meet someone she trusted. As investigators worked to retrace her final movements, the case evolved from a missing person report into a murder investigation built largely on circumstantial evidence and digital records.
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