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Kidnapping Plot Foiled, Woman Found Guilty
Raleigh, NC – A Wake County jury found Shamieka Goodall, 30, also known as Donna Diva, guilty of Conspiracy to Commit Kidnapping and Kidnapping on January 23, 2017.
The crime was a complex plot orchestrated by Kelvin Melton, a high-ranking member of the United Blood Nation, who was serving a life sentence at Polk Correctional Institution in Butner, North Carolina. Melton’s plan was to kidnap a person related to a North Carolina state prosecutor and use the hostage to extort the dismissal of his life imprisonment sentence.
Melton held a conference call with gang members from Goodall’s home in Covington, Georgia, where they discussed the mission and Goodall provided funds for the kidnapping team. The team used the ruse of delivering lost mail to gain access to the home of Frank Janssen, the state prosecutor’s father, in Wake Forest, North Carolina, on April 5, 2014. Janssen was pistol whipped, tazed, and taken from his home against his will.
During the trip back to Georgia, Goodall and others were involved in determining the location where Janssen would be held. The kidnapping team was instructed to bring Janssen to an apartment in Southeast Atlanta, where he was bound to a chair and held in a small closet from April 5 to April 9, 2014. Just hours before Janssen was rescued, Melton called the kidnapping team and instructed them to find a location to bury Janssen and then return to the apartment and kill him.
Thanks to a coordinated effort involving federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team rescued Janssen at 11:55 pm on April 9, 2014. United States Attorney John Stuart Bruce stated, ‘As I stated when Kelvin Melton was convicted, this crime was monstrously cruel to the victim and his family, including a dedicated public servant who was being targeted for her public service.’
At sentencing, Goodall faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. The case was investigated by the FBI Charlotte, FBI Atlanta, the Wake Forest Police Department, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, and other local law enforcement agencies.
Key Facts
- State: North Carolina
- Category: Violent Crime|Organized Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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