A Kent County jury convicted 21-year-old Casey Harmon Jr. on Friday of two counts of first-degree murder in the 2023 shooting deaths of Anayia Rodriguez, 20, and Malik Eubanks, 19, a young Grand Rapids couple whose bodies were found dumped on two separate streets in the city's Burton Heights neighborhood. Jurors also found Harmon guilty of two weapons charges. He faces life in prison when he is sentenced later this fall.
Prosecutors said Harmon shot Rodriguez, who was Eubanks' girlfriend, and Eubanks in the back of the head while the couple sat inside a Jeep, according to mlive.com. Kent County Assistant Prosecutor Blair Lachman described the killings to jurors as a planned execution, and the bodies were pushed out of the vehicle before being discovered. Grand Rapids police located Rodriguez on Melville Street SE near Francis Avenue SE, while Eubanks was found on Horton Avenue SE near Melville Street SE, per the same account.
A Toddler Found Wandering Blocks Away
One of the case's most disturbing details involved the couple's 2-year-old son. The same Jeep seen in neighborhood surveillance footage was later spotted dropping the boy off near North Ottillia Street SE and Blaine Avenue after the killings, and the child was found wandering several blocks from the scene, bloodied but unharmed. A bloodied NBA jacket containing Harmon's DNA was recovered with the toddler, mlive.com reported, a detail prosecutors pointed to as key evidence tying Harmon to the crime.
Investigators also recovered the murder weapon after a passerby found a gun near the scene. Ballistics testing confirmed it was the firearm used in the killings, according to WOODTV.com. Court documents also stated that Harmon had made admissions to associates that he committed the homicides.
Jailhouse Testimony and Cellphone Data
During the trial, a jailhouse witness testified that Harmon referred to Eubanks as an “opp” and said he “had to die” and was “put to sleep,” according to a report from yahoo.com. Harmon's defense pushed back on that testimony, questioning the witness, identified as Pratt-Harris, about a prior conviction involving lying to police as well as any agreement he may have had with the state. Defense attorney Andrew Rodenhouse contended that Grand Rapids police had arrested the wrong person.
Prosecutors countered with cellphone-location data pulled from Rodriguez's iPhone, which they said supported their timeline of the couple's final movements on the night of Nov. 6, 2023, the same outlet reported. Jury selection in the case began Monday, with witnesses giving testimony starting Tuesday and closing statements delivered Thursday by both the prosecution and defense. Jurors began deliberating Friday morning and reached their decision shortly after noon.
One of Three Shootings in a Single Day
The double murder was one of three deadly shootings recorded in the same Grand Rapids neighborhood on Nov. 6, 2023. A third victim, 32-year-old Darryl Yarber, was fatally shot in Burton Heights a few hours after Rodriguez and Eubanks, according to WOODTV.com. Police determined Yarber's killing was not connected to the deaths of the young couple, a conclusion previously reported by yahoo.com.
That unrelated case has already reached its own resolution. Dominike Sterling was convicted and sentenced to life in prison on Feb. 26, 2026, for first-degree murder in Yarber's death, yahoo.com reported. Rodriguez and Eubanks, meanwhile, were found shot to death on two separate streets on Grand Rapids' southeast side, according to a report from woodradio.iheart.com detailing how detectives pieced together the investigation.
Prosecutor Praises Investigators
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker commended Lachman and Grand Rapids police for their work building the case, saying they did an outstanding job putting the evidence together. Becker said the jury examined the facts and reached a conclusion, according to mlive.com's reporting on the verdict.
