Crime

'Selfless' Woman, 24, Was Mysteriously Killed in 2021 While Saying Bye to Friend — and 2 Men Were Just Charged

Miya Brophy-Baerman had just started a job as a speech pathologist shortly after earning a graduate degree at Northeastern University when she was killed

By KC Baker

Published on August 29, 2022 01:32 PM

Two Rhode Island men have been charged with murder more than a year after the death of a 24-year-old woman who was shot while saying goodbye to a friend after a night out.

On Friday, Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced the indictments of Shawn Mann, 31, and Isaiah Pinkerton, 25, of Providence, in connection with the drive-by shooting death of Miya Brophy-Baerman, of Warwick, on Aug. 1, 2021.

The promising young University of Rhode Island graduate had just started a job as a speech pathologist shortly after earning a Master's Degree in Speech-Language Pathology at Northeastern University in May 2021 when she was fatally shot.

On the night she was killed, Brophy-Baerman had gone out with friends and was saying goodbye to one of them on Olney Street in Providence at 3:30 a.m. when she was struck by shots fired from a car that raced by, police said at the time, The Providence Journal reports.

The two men allegedly shot at two people during a drive-by shooting on Olney Street, the Attorney General said in a news release. Police don't believe Brophy-Baerman was a target, The Providence Journal reports.

"For over a year, this Office and the Providence Police Department have sought justice for Miya and her family, and with today's indictment, we are one step closer towards achieving that goal," Attorney General Neronha said in the statement.

On August 24, 2022, the Statewide Grand Jury returned a secret indictment charging Mann with a slew of charges including one count of murder; one count of discharge of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence, resulting in death; one count of committing a drive-by shooting and one count of possession of a ghost gun, the release says.

Isaiah Pinkerton; Shawn Mann. Providence Police Department (2)

The indictment charges Pinkerton with a host of crimes including one count of murder; one count of conspiracy to commit murder; one count of discharge of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence, resulting in death; one count of committing a drive-by shooting; one count of conspiracy to commit a drive-by shooting; and two counts of possession of a ghost gun.

The indictment also charges the defendants with multiple charges related to the alleged possession of a Polymner80 ghost gun — a gun without a serial number that is difficult to trace, which can be assembled by the user — on December 12, 2021.

At a hearing on August 26, 2022, the secret indictment was unsealed and the suspects were arraigned in Providence County Superior Court.

Both men pleaded not guilty and are being held without bail.

It is unclear whether they have retained attorneys who can speak on their behalf.

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Brophy-Baermann's family and friends are still mourning the loss of the woman who "accomplished so much and impacted so many in her short yet passionate life," according to her obituary.

After graduating from high school in 2015, Miya attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., for a year "before making the difficult, financially responsible decision to transfer back to her home state's public university, University of Rhode Island," the obituary reads.

"Maintaining multiple jobs while attending URI, she graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders in 2019," it says.

After earning her Master's Degree in speech language pathology, she started her first job as a clinician a few weeks before she was killed.

"Miya was a selfless person who will be remembered for her infectious and optimistic personality," the obituary says. "She made complete strangers feel welcomed and treated everyone equally and as a friend."

Her family set up a GoFundMe to establish a memorial scholarship in Brophy-Baermann's honor called Miya's Voice.