Kriti Mehrotra
Merely two days before spring break in 2011, Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) junior Clantina “Tina” Stewart was found barely breathing inside her off-campus apartment. Her beloved boyfriend was the one to discover her, leading to the unraveling of a crime no one saw coming. Thankfully, with the help of recovered physical evidence, reliable witness statements, as well as a rough confession of sorts, local officials were able to bring the case to a close not long after.
Tina Stewart Was Fatally Stabbed Inside Her Apartment Bedroom
Born on October 17, 1989, in Memphis, Tennessee, into an incredibly affectionate, caring, hardworking, and supportive household, Clantina “Tina” Marie Lapae Stewart never felt out of place. That’s because the family shared a tight-knit bond, with Ida Stewart and Adrian Jackson also doing their best to provide all 4 of their young ones with the best possible opportunities. According to records, the siblings – she, her sister Monika Stewart, her sister Miesha Stewart, and her brother Adrian Stewart – ensured to make the best of it at every possible turn to thrive. Tina was an exceptional basketball athlete, too, which helped her land a scholarship at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) upon graduating from Central High School. Therefore, by early 2011, she was a popular junior guard for the Blue Raiders.
Tina was deeply in love with fellow basketball star KC Anuna and was living in an off-campus apartment with a roommate. Everything seemed to be going great for her, so it was a shock when she was found fighting for her life in her bedroom on the evening of March 2, 2011, two days prior to spring break. Sometime near 7 pm, KC visited Tina after his practice session as planned. Within moments, he had to dial 911 as he found her lying on her floor with blood spatter all around. He was staggered but managed to convey to the dispatcher that immediate help was needed because his girlfriend was bleeding, barely breathing, and had trouble remaining conscious. She was rushed to the Middle Tennessee Medical Center in Murfreesboro. Tina suffered multiple stab wounds, and sadly, the one to her chest proved fatal.
Tina Stewart’s Assailant Fled Her Apartment Just as Her Boyfriend Came In
Owing to the harrowing circumstances surrounding Tina’s discovery, officials almost immediately asked her boyfriend to step out of her apartment before guiding him into a police vehicle. He was then requested to write down his statement without a formal line of questioning first, as per the show, since his distraught behavior indicated he was not involved in the matter. That’s when he revealed he had texted his girlfriend at 6:29 pm asking what she was doing, to which she had quickly replied, “I about to get in the shower,” and he responded he was on his way.
The exchange was “strange” for KC because he knew Tina’s routine after having been with her since their first year of college in 2008, and it was not like her to shower in the evening. Nevertheless, he claimed he let it go to simply make his way to her apartment, where he found her roommate, Shanterrica Madden, acting a bit off before suddenly leaving without turning back. According to his statements, the two girls hadn’t gotten along from the moment they were paired in August 2010, despite them both hailing from Memphis and being graduates of the same high school.
KC also claimed he felt relief when he observed a handcuffed Shanterrica sitting on a bench while he was being directed to the police vehicle because he believed something had gone awry. It turned out she was behaving so suspiciously that even passersby noticed, especially after she tried to hide under a car as police deputies first arrived at the scene, leading to her arrest. Subsequent inquiries as well as investigations later confirmed she was indeed responsible for her roommate’s homicide and was trying to hide evidence before fleeing the scene when apprehended for good.
Shanterrica Madden’s Friends Also Implicated Her in Tina Stewart’s Murder
When formally interrogated, Shanterrica initially claimed she had no idea what transpired since she had left the shared apartment at roughly 6:30 pm with a friend she only knew as NaeNae. She then tried to allege her 21-year-old roommate may have been harmed by a “black man” in “dreads” as she had not only heard him ask for Tina before but had also seen him near their place while leaving. However, per the detectives, her timeline didn’t make sense, prompting them to search for NaeNae for more answers, who actually turned out to be her best friend, Renee Reece Miller.
That’s when it came to light that Tina and Shanterrica had never gotten along, as they came from two entirely different worlds: while the former was a star athlete, the latter was an academic. Although they hailed from the same high school in the same city, they were two years apart, had varied interests, and were polar opposites in terms of their personalities, too, according to friends. While the basketball player was popular, had a boyfriend who often hung around, and was always clean, the self-proclaimed nerd had few friends, had never experienced dating, and was very messy, per the show. These differences caused a lot of contention between the two, including Tina getting new appliances entirely for herself, Shanterrica reporting her for having KC over too much, and more.
The last straw came on March 2, 2011, when Tina not only alerted campus police about Shanterrica allegedly smoking weed inside the apartment but also live-tweeted their entire search. Renee was with her friend at the time and has since claimed that after the officials made them throw away all their alleged stash and left, Shanterrica suddenly, furiously confronted Tina. She claims what followed was an intense verbal fight between the two young women, so she locked herself in her friend’s room until she heard a few thuds before things quieted down enough for her to feel safe. As per her accounts, when she opened the door, Shanterrica said Tina had left, but she was still going in and out of her roommate’s room before eventually coming out with a Tinkerbell blanket from which a knife fell.
Shanterrica Madden is Currently Serving Time in Prison
Renee’s statement proved crucial to Tina’s case since investigators had already recovered a plastic bag wrapped around a Tinkerbell blanket with a broken and bloody knife inside from a nearby dumpster. Her credibility was further increased as her claim of having made an anonymous 911 call minutes later was confirmed, with her asking for a check after reporting a fight in Tina and Shanterrica’s apartment. She had managed to leave the place quickly upon seeing the knife by asking some friends nearby to give her a ride, shortly following which she made the call in worry of what had truly transpired behind closed doors. When investigators approached Shanterrica with these details, police records report she confessed to having hurt Tina, but claimed it was self-defense as the latter had allegedly gotten physical first.
Shanterrica maintained this defense during her trial, but prosecutors presented evidence through expert testimonies indicating she had managed to overpower Tina. According to official reports, she had stepped out of the athlete’s room after shoving her to the floor, grabbed the kitchen knife, stabbed her, and then left her to die. Prosecutors even claimed that the evidence showed her having taken her roommate’s phone and impersonating her for almost 45 minutes, including with her boyfriend, to ensure she could not call for help.
However, the most damning evidence against Shanterrica came from her and Tina’s friends’ testimonies about their rivalry of sorts, as well as the Tinkerbell blanket and knife. Forensic testing also confirmed that the blood on the latter, on Shanterrica at the time of her arrest, and underneath her nails belonged to Tina, driving a jury to find her guilty of murder. On July 17, 2012, she was sentenced to 25 years for second-degree murder and 4 years for tampering with evidence. So, today, at age 33, she remains incarcerated at the mixed-security West Tennessee State Penitentiary in unincorporated Lauderdale County, Tennessee. She is expected to remain there until at least she becomes eligible for parole on October 15, 2034; if she is denied, she will be released when her sentence concludes on August 3, 2037.
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