On April 30th, 2003, twenty-seven-year-old Tamara C. Greene, also known by her stage name “Strawberry,” was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting on Detroit’s west side, in a crime that has remained unsolved for more than two decades.
Tamara was sitting in a car with her then-boyfriend, Eric “Big E” Mitchell, outside her Detroit neighborhood around three forty a.m. when an unknown gunman opened fire from a vehicle that pulled up nearby. Tamara was hit multiple times and died at the scene, while her boyfriend was also wounded but survived.
Tamara Greene was a Detroit native and a mother of three children. She had worked as an exotic dancer, a role that later became central to rumors and speculation surrounding her death.
The shooting took place as Tamara’s car was pulling up at a curb at Roselawn Street and West Outer Drive, where she was dropping off her boyfriend. An unidentified male in a white-colored SUV (often cited as a Chevrolet Blazer) drove up and unleashed gunfire into the passenger compartment. Tamara was killed instantly.
The case was investigated by the Detroit Police Department, but no suspects were ever publicly identified or arrested. The gun used was reported to be a .40-caliber pistol—a common caliber at the time, including with law enforcement—prompting early speculation but no definitive forensic link to any particular individual or group.
Almost from the moment of her death, rumors swirled around Tamara Greene’s personal life and the circumstances preceding her murder. Unverified reports suggested that Tamara had performed at a party at the Manoogian Mansion, the official residence of Detroit’s mayor, in late 2002.
At the time, Kwame Kilpatrick had recently been elected mayor of Detroit. Some theories suggested that Tamara was killed to keep certain details about that event, or other sensitive information, from being revealed. These theories deeply intertwined her murder with Detroit political scandal, although no official evidence has ever supported these allegations.
Law enforcement officials, including former Detroit police leadership, have disputed politically based conspiracy theories. They have emphasized that Tamara was with a boyfriend known in local circles to have been involved in criminal activity, and that she may have been an innocent bystander or secondary target in a shooting directed at him.
Tamara Greene’s family, determined to seek answers, filed a civil lawsuit against the City of Detroit and former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, alleging that officials obstructed and sabotaged the murder investigation, including claims that key evidence was destroyed.
In 2011, a federal judge granted summary judgment in favor of the city, finding that the family had not shown that officials interfered with the investigation. That decision was later upheld on appeal.
More than twenty years after her death, Tamara Greene’s murder remains unsolved. Detroit police have stated that their homicide unit continues to accept tips and investigate credible leads, but no one has been charged in connection with the case.
Crime Immemorial 