The Deck - Cody Woodson (10 of Hearts, Virginia)

Episode Date: May 24, 2023

Our card this week is Cody Woodson, the 10 of Hearts from Virginia. What began as a normal April day in 2021 ended in heartache for the family of 20-year-old Cody Woodson when the college student was gunned down in the streets just outside of his apartment in an attack that police now believe was not meant for him.If you know anything about the murder of Cody Woodson in 2021, please call Crime Stoppers at 804- 780-1000.If you’d like to donate to Virginia Commonwealth University’s scholarship in Cody’s name you can find that HERE. To learn more about The Deck, visit www.thedeckpodcast.com. To apply for the Cold Case Playing Cards grant through Season of Justice, visit www.seasonofjustice.org Follow The Deck on social media and join Ashley’s community by texting [phone] to stay up to date on what's new!

Our card this week is Cody Woodson, the 10 of hearts from Virginia. What began as a normal day in April 2021 ended in heartache for the family of 20 year old Cody Woodson when the college student was gunned down in the streets near his Richmond apartment in an attack that police now believe was not meant for him. I'm Ashley Flowers and this is The Deck. It was Tuesday morning and Angie Wright was at home preparing to go help a friend with some outdoor chores when she got a text from her 20-year-old son's girlfriend, Clarisse. Clarisse sent me a message out morning instead of you heard from Cody because I can't find him. Cody's my son.

Now, Cody and Clarisse were both living and attending college enrichment at the time, about an hour and 20 minutes from Angie. And her getting this kind of message from Clarisse was strange because Cody wasn't the kind of guy to just drop off the map and not respond to people, especially not to his girlfriend of two years. But like most busy college students, it was like him to lose track of time and completely crash after a long night of homework.

So Angie told Clarice, maybe that's what happened. But Angie herself wasn't totally convinced. And the more she thought about it, the bigger the pit in her stomach grew, and she knew she needed to get to Richmond right away. A friend offered to drive her, and on the way there Angie called her son's college and the Richmond Police Department to request a welfare check on Cody. A few minutes later, she got a call back from the Richmond Police, and on the other line was Detective James Higgins. After the long drive to Richmond, Angie finally received the gut-wrenching news she already knew in her heart. Her son Cody was dead. Police told her that the previous night at around 8 o'clock, he was walking alone along

the sidewalk, returning to his apartment building when he was ambushed and shot 10 times. It didn't appear that anything had been taken from him, so it didn't seem like a robbery gone wrong. And because of how many times he was hit, the shooting didn't seem random either. It looked personal and targeted. Authorities were still very early in the investigation, but as far as they knew, no one had witnessed the shooting. Plus, the killer hadn't left anything behind aside from shell-casing, so they didn't have much to go on. The police were hopeful Cody's friends and family

would be able to shed some light on a possible motive. But as Detective Higgins interviewed Angie, Clarisse, and Cody's roommate, he didn't get any closer to answers. None of them could think of anyone who would have wanted to hurt Cody. They said he didn't use drugs, he wasn't involved in any high-risk activities that they were aware of. He was just a nice guy and a good student trying to work his way through college. Nobody had a Clarice and Angie, Detective Higgins was able to piece together a timeline of Cody's last movements. That day, Cody and Clarice had gone all the way to Buckingham, where Angie lived to pick up his cat from the vet. Then they drove back to Cody's apartment in Richmond, where they hung out for a bit until Clarice decided it was time for her to get back home.

She was leaving. He had advised her that he was going to take out the trash and he was going to get out to the store. He planned to buy his favorite kind of tea at the store, and then he was going to go back to his apartment and work on a project. According to local ABC affiliate 8 News, it was about 10 minutes after Clarice and Cody parted ways as he was walking back to his apartment from the store that he was killed. So not only did details of his personal life offer no clues about emotive or suspects,

but neither did the hours before the killing. As Cody's death hit the news, shockwaves were sent throughout the VCU campus and surrounding community. Not just because Cody was a well-known, beloved college student and teachers assistant, but also because his murder marked the second homicide in about 24 hours in that exact neighborhood in that exact same block. At the time, there wasn't much information available to the public about the other murder, just that the victim was a 17-year-old who had been fatally shot as well. But by this point, unbeknownst to the public, police already had a suspect in that shooting, and they weren't planning on charging him.

It was a robbery, gone bad. The 17-year-old, who we've been asked to call Tony, went to a man's apartment with some other people, intending to steal drugs and money. Tony entered a guy's apartment while the other stayed outside and he attempted to rob him at gunpoint. So during that whole incident is when the other fellow gets ahold of his gun and begins shooting and he ends up killing Tony. Given the circumstances, police considered the killing self-defense and therefore a justifiable

homicide. So, even though the public was panicked, police knew that there wasn't a spree killer on the loose targeting that specific neighborhood. In the initial days, following Cody's murder, Detective Higgins was busy. He sat down and combed through all the surveillance footage officers who had canvas the neighborhood could find, which actually wasn't a lot. We were able to get some surveillance footage from houses nearby. And there were some head-ringed doorbells, but it was bringing doorbells. You have to break that plane to make them,

you know, to have the motion to start the camera. Most people's plane is usually their property. But we were able to collect some footage from the area. Although none of the footage showed the actual shooting take place, it did show the suspect going to and from the scene. He appeared to be a slim-built man, but that's all police could tell because he was wearing a mask and a hoodie. And that seems like a dead end, right?

Well, not exactly. There was something about the man's behavior that Detective Higgins took note of. He walks east on Clay Street. Comes from Catherine Street, comes up onto Clay Street. He walks right by the store, and then walks up towards the Clay Street. He walks right by the store and then walks up towards Gilmer Street. You can't hear the gunfire but roughly about five, five or seven minutes later. You see him running back the same way and he flees back in the same direction that he came to the scene in. Which to me makes me feel like that individual was

not from the area, that he had to follow his same exact path back that he followed too. That's what made sense to me. If he was from the area, he would have known he couldn't ran any which way after that shooting. He could have hit an alley right up across the street from where this happened. This was a helpful observation, but virtually useless on its own. So Detective Higgins pressed on.

The police department entered the shell casings from the scene into Niban to see if they were connected to any other shootings. But there were no hits. The frustrating dead ends wouldn't last forever though. Because soon, a man brought an interesting theory to police. He told them he thought Cody's murder was a case of mistaken identity, and that those bullets remained for him. Remember that other shooting I mentioned that took place the day before Cody was murdered? Well, this guy who police were talking to was the roommate of the man who killed 17-year-old

Tony. You see, when Tony's friends and family got word that day, that he'd been killed, many of them went to the scene to see what was happening, which meant they got a good look at the man who shot Tony, and they got a good look at that guy's roommate too. And Cody, who had no connection to that shooting at all, just happened to resemble the roommate very closely. Not only that, but Cody was killed right after Tony's family was made aware that there would be no charges filed.

They wanted a little put up revenge, it was my belief. Somebody came down there and they misidentified Cody for somebody's roommate. And the amount of times that he was shot would tell you that somebody was very upset. Detective Higgins thought the roommate's theory held a lot of weight, so he began trying to track down the relevant people that he needed to interview. First, he talked with Tony's mom, but he told our reporting team that he didn't learn any new information from that interview. Next, Higgins wanted to speak with Tony's brothers to see if they knew anything or should

be on the suspect list, but they somehow kept eluding him, like over a period of months. Meanwhile, Cody's family was left to pick up the pieces knowing that his killer was still out there. Not only were they forced to come to terms with an innocent life gone too soon, they had no sense of closure to comfort them. He didn't deserve it, he had no reason, he had no enemies, he had done no wrong. In the midst of the overwhelming grief, though, his family was able to find just a nugget of good, a rainbow in the midst of the storm.

One Cody passed, we really learned about how much he affected people all over the place. We had people from France, from Russia, from Oregon, even, I mean, just Spain and the Philippines. Angie knew that Cody had connected with people all over the world from playing video games and being active on computer science forums. But she wasn't aware of how big an impact he made and just how many people loved him, whether they knew him virtually or in real life.

He touched a lot of us, and I think he realized how many he touched just by being himself. Those people whose lives Cody touched stepped up in a big way after his death. A friend started to go fund me for Angie and Cody's university even started a scholarship in Cody's name for students pursuing computer science.

VCU announced the scholarship saying quote, we will be giving each year a Cody Woodson scholarship to a student who espouses his characteristics, ECU announced the scholarship saying, quote, we will be giving each year a Cody Woodson scholarship to a student who espouses his characteristics, being honest and gentle, helping others to succeed, and doing more than is required." The community didn't even stop there.

Nine months after his death, a local nonprofit placed a billboard near the crime scene asking who murdered Cody Woodson and announcing a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. But despite all these amazing efforts from friends, family, and even strangers, nothing happened. I've never received one tip for this case, really. It's been two years since Cody was murdered, and because the right people aren't talking, all Detective Higgins has is a theory.

I have a hunch on who it is. It was an individual that was out there the day before. It's just a hunch, but he doesn't live in state. He's out of state. So, not only was this person, who we've been asked to call Matthew, close with Tony, the 17-year-old, he also wasn't from Richmond, which remember lines up with the surveillance footage that police recovered that showed the shooter following the same path to and from the crime scene. about him and just now it would be in his character to do something like this. The city knows who he is, the police department, the city I call new who he was,

said that he's involved in gang violence and he's better rested. I've looked, he just, he got arrested not too long after that. Unfortunately, because Matthew is out of state, it's been hard for Detective Higgins to track him down. Before finding Matthew, there are other things Higgins wants to check's brothers first. I'm here at 9 or 11 and stayed anymore. And they've moved out and got away. And if they would even tell me the truth, I don't know. In the meantime, Cody's loved ones are left waiting for justice, longing for just one more

minute with their ray of sunshine. Cody was just always so happy. Mrs. Small. And this just being able to joke around with him. I have my kids very young, I have my kids at like 10 and 20 so I grew up with my kids. They're my best friends. When they were young I asked them to do one thing with their life. Whether you leave behind is your name. Leave a good name for yourself. Cody couldn't have left a better name. Cody did it. Cody was just a good person.

He left a wonderful name for himself. He left a beautiful impact on everybody that he met. I mean, he was just a light everywhere. He was just a light. He took a lot of pride in himself and everything he did. He was trying to do go with his life. You know, just all around a good kid. Yeah, he definitely left his mark. He just, he was a good kid. If you know anything, just please come forward. I know you've heard that a thousand times, but, you know, our family is suffering because of what's happened,

and it's just not fair for such a beautiful life to be taken and nobody knows, and nobody come forward with anything that they know that's happened or that they suspect might have been going on or that they've heard any little tidbit of information has got to be some, could help in some way. If you know anything about the murder of Cody Woodson in 2021, please call Crime Stoppers at 804-780-1000. You will remain anonymous. If you'd like to donate to VCU Scholarship and Cody's name, we'll put a link to that Go fund me in the show notes.

The Deck is an audio chuck production with theme music by Ryan Lewis to learn more about the Deck and our advocacy work, visit thedeckpodcast.com. So, what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa