It is a murder mystery that could have been a best-selling spy novel!
Seven years ago, Kanika Powell — a homeland security worker with high clearance — was stalked by mysterious men and eventually cut down in a hail of bullets by … someone.
The case remains unsolved — as her co-workers whisper the hit may have had national security implications!
Kanika, 28, worked as a security specialist at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. — ground zero for top-secret military projects.
She had served in the Army in Korea before joining the operation and was secretive about her work.
“I would ask her where she was going,” said Kanika’s mother, Judy Forrest, “and she would say, ‘Mom, you know I can’t tell you that.’”
Then, one August evening in 2008, Kanika heard a knock on her apartment door.
A man claiming to be an FBI agent “looking for Kanika Powell as part of an investigation” held up a badge to the peephole, but when she asked to see a photo ID, he disappeared.
She called the FBI, who told her the visitor didn’t work for them.
She also described the intruder to the police.
Days later, a deliveryman showed up twice claiming to have a package.
Kanika refused to open the door and no package was left.
After the second incident, she called her mother who said Kanika told her she would go out and run errands.
When she returned, an assailant was waiting for her inside the apartment building.
They drew a gun and opened fire — killing Kanika.
Her mother refuses to believe it was a random act of violence.
Investigators are baffled, having failed to identify a plausible motive or suspects — but her co-workers won’t dismiss the idea that her job may have been a factor.
