Suspects in woman’s slaying appear in court

State police have charged three with murder and conspiracy in the killing of Stacie Ann Brissett on July 26th

By Katie Mulvaney Journal Staff Writer

SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- Two of the three suspects accused of killing a 19-year-old woman on Narragansett Indian lands and then dumping the body in a Connecticut river appeared yesterday in District Court.

Tawanna N. Sampson, of 89 Broad St., third floor, Cumberland, appeared briefly before Judge William C. Clifton, accompanied by lawyer Joseph DeCaporale. Wearing blue jeans and a yellow T-shirt, her hair in short corn rows, the 29-year-old thanked the judge after he set her bail hearing for Sept. 28.

Shonda M. Northup, 24, of 67 Coachman Pike, Ledyard, Conn., stood quietly as Clifton granted her lawyers' request to subpoena medical records. C. Leonard O'Brien, who joined Lise J. Gescheidt, would not comment on whose records they sought, citing privacy.

One of the dozen supporters shouted "Love you, Shonda" as Northup left the courtroom in handcuffs. "I love you, too," she yelled back. She will return to court for a status conference Oct. 12.

The third suspect, Shea Cook, 21, of 364 Curtis Corner Rd., waived his appearance to avoid being photographed. A status conference is scheduled for Sept. 28. He is represented by Kathleen M. Hagerty.

The state police have charged the three with murder and conspiracy in the killing of Stacie Ann Brissett on July 26.

The state police say the three plotted to kill Brissett to avenge the murder of her live-in boyfriend, Dwayne Sampson, who was killed with a high-powered rifle outside their home in the North End of Providence on June 19. That case remains unsolved, but the state police allege that Sampson's three relatives believed Brissett helped arrange her boyfriend's murder.

Tawanna N. Sampson, a Narragansett Indian, is Sampson's sister, as is Northup, who belongs to the Mashantucket Pequot tribe. Cook is a cousin, according to the police.

According to a police affidavit, Brissett joined the three suspects and two other women who have not been charged for what she thought was a shoplifting spree on July 26.

Instead, the group drove in Tawanna's blue Plymouth Voyager to a beach on School House Pond Road in Charlestown, on Narragansett tribal lands, the police said.

Northup then shot Brissett in the torso, shoulder and arm with three shots from a .25-caliber semiautomatic handgun, a witness told the police. Maj. Steven G. O'Donnell said yesterday that the police have not found the gun.

Still moaning, Brissett was placed in the back of the van where Northup and Shea strangled her with a rope, according to the police. The group then drove to Yantic Falls along the Yantic River in Norwich, Conn. The three suspects returned empty-handed after they carried Brissett's body into the woods, a witness told the police.

A sightseer spotted Brissett's partially submerged body the next day near a footbridge at Yantic Falls. Two days later Tawanna's van was found torched at Prescott Street and River Avenue, in Providence, the police said.

O'Donnell said yesterday that a grand jury would review the case and that the three will likely face further charges for disposing the body in Connecticut.

Northup, Sampson and Cook continue to be held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institutions.

The case is being prosecuted by Craig Montecalvo.