When you think of foster children, a few things come to mind. Strength, resilience, having to grow up far too fast.
Those attributes certainly ring true in Karen and Tippany Wills.
To Tippany, Karen was more than just her big sister. The two grew up together in Maryland foster care and had an unbreakable bond, despite the challenges of being in the foster care system.
“She was like the mama bear,” Tippany told Dateline. “I looked at her like more of like a motherly figure.”
The Wills sisters were attached at the hip through their childhood until Karen aged out of the system at age 18. Tippany was only 15 at the time. The sisters remained in contact after Karen left foster care. “She always came to visit me,” Tippany said. “She would bring me shoes and clothes.”
But it was another visit that turned Tippany’s life upside down. In early September, 2001, Tippany was living at a facility in Annapolis, when her biological mother, her aunt, and her grandmother, paid her a visit to break devastating news.
On September 4, 2001, her sister, Karen, had been killed. She was 20 years old.
Dateline spoke with Detective Christopher Shankster of the Charles County Sheriff’s Office. “On September 4, 2001, at approximately [1:34 a.m.], the Charles County Sheriff’s Office received a call from 9 Kings Wharf Place [in Waldorf, Maryland] for a person that had been shot,” he said. Officers responded to the scene where they discovered the “victim laying on the kitchen floor suffering from a gunshot wound to the back of her neck.”
Karen’s boyfriend lived at the residence where she was shot. According to Detective Shankster, four other people, including Karen’s boyfriend, were in the home at the time. Karen had been staying with a friend directly across the street from him.
“Someone fired multiple gunshots into the residence from outside of the residence, from the front of the residence, from the sidewalk area in front of the residence, into the front of it. The kitchen of the residence is located on the ground level, and there’s a window right there at ground level,” the detective told Dateline. “She was shot. One of the rounds, at least, went through the window and struck her in the back of the neck.” No one else in the home was injured.
According to Det. Shankster, multiple calls came in to 911 from surrounding neighbors who reported hearing gunshots. The owner of the residence also called 911. The 911 operator gave instructions for the people in the home to perform CPR on Karen until authorities arrived. By the time EMS arrived it was too late. Karen was pronounced dead at the scene.
“She was then sent to the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore, Maryland, where an autopsy was conducted and the evidence was recovered from her body, projectile,” Det. Shankster said. “The cause of death was single gunshot wound to the back of the neck. And the manner of death was listed as homicide.”
Detective Shankster says in addition to interviewing neighbors and witnesses, investigators also canvassed the neighborhood and collected several pieces of evidence including cartridge casings in the front of the residence. Other items from the area were collected to see if they could have been left behind by the shooter. “We collected them just because they’re there. That would be things like cigarette butts and beer bottles and anything like that that we find, we’re going to collect because we don’t know if our suspect waited outside and kind of had a drink, had a smoke. I mean, that’s not uncommon,” he said. “So we’ll take items like that from the area and process them for DNA.”
Tippany still remembers the moment she learned what happened to Karen. “Devastated is an understatement. Like, I remember I was standing up when they first told me I tried to run out the room,” she said. “I tried to run out the room and my legs gave up. And I just hit the floor and cried and my Aunt Linda was there at the time and she came. And then I had a lot of emotions. I was angry. I was mad. I was hurt. I felt like, ‘Oh, my God. Like, what’s going to happen now?’”
Tippany says many people have come forward to her over the years with theories about who might have killed her sister. “I’ve had people write me and tell me tips,” she said. “I don’t really know what’s true or what’s not.” One theory is it could have been an ex-boyfriend.
Detective Shankster confirmed to Dateline that the Charles County Sheriff’s Office has looked into an ex-boyfriend of Karen's. “The initial investigation right off the bat, an ex-boyfriend was developed as the primary suspect. It doesn’t mean he is the one who committed his crime, but he is a person that had made threats to harm her in the past and in the recent past prior to her death,” he said. “He was contacted by law enforcement right away. The vehicle he was operating was examined forensically and, effectively, he was contacted twice, interviewed twice. And at some point he invoked his right to not continue answering questions at that time.” Shankster says the ex-boyfriend is still considered a suspect. “But there may be other parties involved with her death,” he explained. “And he may not have actually been a shooter, but he could have been with people that were.”
The Charles County Sheriff’s Office is also looking into the theory that Karen may not have been the target of the shooter, since there were multiple people in the residence at the time. “There’s also an unrelated potential suspect, unrelated to being an ex-boyfriend or associate of Karen, but maybe a person of interest related to someone else in that house that we’re also looking into,” Det. Shankster said. “We’re not just focusing on the obvious, most likely suspect in this incident, but a potentially completely unrelated person who could have just as easily done this for similar reasons, but not targeting Karen.”
Detective Shankster told Dateline the Charles County Sheriff’s Office is not giving up on solving Karen’s case. “This investigation isn’t complete and there’s still more persons of interest to contact or re-contact and to obtain DNA to be compared, collected and prepared,” he said. “There are still forensic testing examinations being done and future plans for traditional testing. And interviews are going to continue to be had,” he said. “We’ve done some work already with DNA-related work this year. So we’re going to continue along that path.”
Over the many years awaiting answers, Tippany has found comfort in social media — often sharing photos and information about Karen’s case. “She had a really, really sweet heart. Like, genuinely, she was a good person,” Tippany said. “It was, like, a shock that that happened to her. like, she didn’t deserve it.”
Eleven months before Karen was killed, she gave birth to a son who was stillborn. “So when Karen died, Karen was buried with her baby,” Tippany said.
Tippany is married now and has four children of her own. “Karen is well known in my house,” she told Dateline. The family celebrates Karen’s birthday and remembers her on the anniversary of her death.
They would also like to get justice, something Tippany has vowed to pursue for her sister. “I feel like I owe Karen that,” she said. “If the tables were turned and it was me, I feel like she would have done the same.”
Charles County Crime Solvers and The Charles County Sheriff’s Office are offering a combined reward of $10,000 for information leading to an arrest.
If you have any information, please contact Charles County Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-8477. The case number is 01-08829. You can also reach Det. Christopher Shankster at 301-932-3037. Tips can also be submitted anonymously online. Charles County Crime Solvers has a page on their website dedicated to Karen’s case, as well.
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