The Real Murders of Atlanta is examining the brutal murder of Mamadou Barry, who was killed during a home invasion by gang member Daquan Stevens at his apartment in Atlanta, Georgia.
In November 2005, just before Thanksgiving, the remains of Mamadou Barry were found in the bathtub of his ransacked apartment. The successful and much-loved businessman had been hogtied, handcuffed, duct-taped, and suffocated with a plastic bag.
Mamadou had become the victim of the International Robbing Crew (IRC), an Atlanta-based street crime that was established mainly by evacuees from New Orleans escaping Hurricane Katrina.
The perpetrators had entered the apartment by smashing the glass sliding door in the kitchen. They tied up Mamadou and dragged him to the bathtub before systematically searching and wrecking the apartment.
The cops learned that Mamadou owned a warehouse that contained hundreds of pocket bikes (small motorcycles), which he sold at his store. When the detectives arrived at the premises, they found the bikes missing and the storehouse wrecked.
Unfortunately, the police didn’t find much in the way of forensic evidence at either the warehouse or the apartment, and the case soon began to grow cold.
Atlanta cops used informant to charge Daquan Stevens with Mamadou Barry murder
However, by 2010, the police had concluded that Stevens and the IRC were responsible for a number of robberies, kidnappings, and murders, including that of Mamadou, since their arrival in Atlanta in 2005. The city had seen a major spike in violent crime thanks to this gang.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelAn Atlanta detective spent years developing an inside source that gradually fed the police information about Stevens, eventually leading to an arrest.
Stevens, whose father had business dealings with Mamadou, admitted that he had killed the businessman. Mamadou had reportedly interrupted the gang when they broke into his home.
The killer also admitted to murdering Ryan Harmon, a US Army veteran who had just returned from Iraq, when Stevens gunned him down with an AK-47 at an Atlanta intersection in April 2006. Harmon had allegedly gotten into an argument with IRC gang members outside a nightclub a few days earlier.
Stevens and another gang member were also charged with kidnapping and robbing Gary Lester in August 2006. They took Gary to his home, where they forced his girlfriend to strip while they stole items from the house.
He was also charged in a fourth case involving the robbery and murder of Randy Griffin.
Daquan Stevens is serving multiple life sentences for killing Mamadou Barry and others
In September 2010, the killer pleaded guilty to the murder of Mamadou and Ryan Harmon and received three life sentences. He was already serving a life sentence for his other crimes.
He is currently incarcerated at the Macon State Prison in Oglethorpe, Georgia.
The Real Murders of Atlanta airs Saturdays at 9/8c on Oxygen.