MINI TRUE CRIME ROUNDUP: A home that has become the center of a massive death investigation, Tupac's murder trial, latest on Luigi and more

**Lauren Barry** (0:02)
This is a True Crime Roundup from The On Deadline Podcast. We explore crime stories reported on by Audacy's radio newsrooms across the country. I'm your host, Lauren Barry. We have updates on the now decades-old Tupac Shakur murder case and Luigi Mangione's surprise move to plead guilty this week, shaking up his long-awaited trials. We'll also cover other developing cases from around the nation. We'll start with the Tupac Shakur case.
Shakur was a beloved and now legendary rapper. He was shot dead in Las Vegas on September 13th, 1996 Now, a murder trial is finally underway, with Dwayne Davis accused of killing Shakur.
Mike Simpson and Margaret Carrero of Odyssey Station, KNX News in Los Angeles, discussed the trial with an expert on the case this week.

**Mike Simpson** (1:09)
We've been talking about this morning, the trial for the murder of Tupac Shakur. Finally, 30 years later, this is for Dwayne Davis, Keefe D. Maybe you remember the arrest video, the body cam. He said September 96, the drive-by near the strip. Now, prosecutors don't say Davis fired the shots, but basically that he set it up. That he was the shot caller. On the line with us now, journalist and creator and host of the podcast, Tupac's Murder Was His Case, Lena Nozizwe.

**Margaret Carrero** (1:34)
Lena, thank you so much for being with us this morning.

**Lena Nozizwe** (1:36)
I'm delighted to be with you, Margaret and Mike.

**Margaret Carrero** (1:39)
Did you think you would ever see the day when someone was tried for Tupac's murder?

**Lena Nozizwe** (1:45)
Well, yes and no, in that when I first covered the story almost 30 years ago, my very first story had Orlando Anderson's name in it. Orlando Anderson is of course, Keefe D's nephew.
But year after year nothing happened when I started my podcast five years ago and picked up things, found out that Keefe had written a confessional book, which now he says he didn't write. I was really wondering why wasn't he arrested? There was this confession that was not a confession according to Keefe now, made to an LAPD detective. So I wondered why wasn't he arrested? Why didn't anything happen? And now here's the day. So yes, the characters are all familiar. But getting here has been a long and winding road.

**Mike Simpson** (2:41)
Let me pick up on what you were just saying about that memoir, right? What's the defense here? He's said to have boasted for years about this. And then the book came out where he said, I was in the car. Now he's saying he didn't write the book and he wasn't in Vegas at all. How do they get anybody to believe that?

**Lena Nozizwe** (2:56)
Well, they're sure trying what he has saying now, what he said before in the book was that not only did he get the gun and that he did he paid him or is going to pay him a million dollars to make the hit, that he handed it to the shooter. Now he's saying, I made it all up because I wanted money. He saw that the Los Angeles detective who had surreptitiously taken that confession, recorded it. He saw him making money off a documentary, off a book, off a TV series.
What I understand is he wanted to make it too. His defense says, that's all it was about, just making money.

**Margaret Carrero** (3:41)
Given that you've been covering this case pretty much from the beginning, are you planning on being in Vegas for any part of the trial?

**Lena Nozizwe** (3:47)
I may go for some parts. Of course, in the beginning, it's just going to be about jury selections. Some very important decisions may be made, including regarding a potential witness.
The person I've been focused on for my podcast is Brent Becker, one of the original homicide detectives, and who knows if he might be testifying. There are certain witnesses I would very much like to see, although apparently, according to what he's saying today, Suge Knight, who is in the car with Tupac, who I've also interviewed, he's saying, ain't my job, I'm not gonna be there, even though he is on the very voluminous witness list.

**Mike Simpson** (4:27)
How do you pick a jury for this? I guess, yeah, it's been 30 years, but to your point earlier, books, podcasts, documentaries, a lot of people know this case.

**Lena Nozizwe** (4:36)
Very good question, and it's one that I asked the defense attorney, the current defense attorney, Michael Sampt, and he believes that it's possible. He believes there's a very diverse population in Las Vegas, because I was really curious about the Clark County juror pool, because if you look at OJ. Simpson, and I covered part of the civil trial of that, the outcome might have been different had it been tried in Santa Monica, say, versus Los Angeles, downtown Los Angeles.