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Family Pleads For Tips In Case Of Woman Murdered, Burned In Dumpster

DETROIT (WWJ) - Eight years later, a grieving Detroit family is reaching out for help to bring their loved one's killer to justice.

Shanita Brown
Shanita Brown (Photo: Crime Stoppers)

Shanita Brown was only 28 years old when she was murdered sometime before 5:40 a.m. on Tuesday, November 10, 2009, according to Crime Stoppers.

The woman's siblings say the fire department extinguished a dumpster fire behind a building at 6920 Mettetal near W. Warren Ave. — and Brown's burned remains were discovered inside.

An autopsy found her cause of death was blunt force trauma.

Brown's friend told police that she was out with a friend and two men they'd just met at Club Celebrity at Plymouth and Mark Twain streets the night of her death. Two other men seen with a gas can near the scene — Shane Dolittle and Brian Euashka  — were charged with and convicted of tampering with evidence, burning property and mutilation of a body. Both served time for those crimes, but neither was charged with murder.

Michigan Department of Corrections records show Euashka was released from prison in March of 2016, and Dolittle was released eight months later.

Brown graduated with honors from Henry Ford High School in Detroit, going on to earn a Bachelors degree in Marketing Communications at Wayne State University.  She lost her mother to breast cancer at the early age of 37; and, because of this tragedy; she made it her life's goal to create a secure life for her three younger siblings.

"Sadly, Shanita was unable to see the adults they would become," Crime Stoppers said, in a media release.

Crime Stoppers is offering a cash reward of up to $2,500 for information that leads to an arrest for this murder.

Anyone with information about this crime should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP. Tips may also be submitted online at this link, or by texting CSM and the tip to 274637. As always, tipsters may stay 100 percent anonymous, will not be asked their name, to speak to police or to testify in court.

Cash rewards are paid by Crime Stoppers upon an arrest in a case.

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