Stephanie Powell Anderson Murder – Investigation Discovery’s true crime series “See No Evil” Season 8, Episode 28 titled, “Comply or Die,” takes the audience behind the scenes of a series of armed robberies that occurred in Raleigh between January 2008 and October 2008. The accused robber also planned and executed the April 2008 murder of Stephanie Powell Anderson, a retail worker and mother of three children from Raleigh, North Carolina. Here is everything we currently know about the killer’s identity and whereabouts.
See No Evil Season 8 Episode 28
Episode: Comply or Die
Synopsis:
“In North Carolina, Stephanie Powell-Anderson’s convenience store shift ends in bloodshed, as part of a larger pattern of violence plaguing the area; with the assailant growing bolder by the day, the heat is on to make an arrest before he kills again.”
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Who was Stephanie Powell Anderson and How Did She Die?
Drucilla R. Powell gave birth to Stephanie Powell Anderson on January 6th, 1969, in Raleigh, North Carolina. She had three children—two sons, Jared Leon Anderson and Jerrel Lamar Powell, and one daughter, Chenise Anderson—with her husband, Leondre Anderson of Oxford. She separated from her spouse in April 2008 and moved to Raleigh, where she was afterward engaged to Fred Russell Hewitt and where the couple’s three children were subsequently raised. Her daughter Chenise said that her mother was highly dedicated to her faith, had a lovely singing voice, and attended church often.
Her kids told her that she and Fred were engaged and that everything was going swimmingly in the family. According to Jerrel, her son, the family had recently gotten a new car and house, and all was swimmingly. Stephanie was responsible for opening the Trawick Road Trade Wilco at 4:30 every morning. Opening the store was “something her mother adored,” Chenise recalled, adding that it appeared “extremely essential” to her mother.
The kids remembered how Fred would sneak inside the shop every day to pretend to purchase a newspaper. After heading off to work, he hung out with her new girlfriend for a while. The early morning of April 10, 2008, he went to the store, but he was unprepared for the surprise that awaited him there. Fred called 911 from the Wilco convenience store on Trawick Road at around 5:15 a.m., pleading for an ambulance.
After seeing his girlfriend motionless behind the counter, he called the emergency services. When first responders arrived, they found Fred sitting by Stephanie, confused about what had happened. He initially suspected a heart attack due to the lack of blood at the site. After being taken to the hospital, Stephanie tragically passed away from her wounds. Her death was ruled a homicide after the doctor determined she had been shot.
Who Killed Stephanie Powell Anderson and Why?
Since Fred was the first to find the body, Raleigh police officers interviewed him as part of an ongoing homicide investigation. He assured the police that everything was well at home and that he was unaware of anyone who had a grudge against Stephanie. The show implied that she was well-liked by everyone, including the shop’s customers. According to their research, the store has surveillance cameras installed both in front of and behind the counter.
Officers reviewed surveillance footage and identified the suspect as an African American male, 6 feet tall, wearing a black hoodie and a blue bandana concealing their face. At gunpoint, the suspect demanded that she open the shop for him. After being requested over and over to open the safe, Stephanie finally screamed, setting off the store alarm. The police believed this was not the bandits’ first heist because of their cool demeanor and meticulous instructions.
After Stephanie was unsuccessful in unlocking the safe, the masked assailant opened fire. After failing to steal anything, the suspect left the business just as Fred drove up. Because Fred was wearing a new outfit and arriving within a few minutes of the shooting, police eliminated him as a suspect. The police sought to investigate other robbery cases with a similar modus operandi to Stephanie’s because they believed the murder was connected to a failed robbery attempt.
The show claims that the Raleigh Police Department’s robbery squad provided identical cases from a WilcoHess gas station on Louisburg Road in the wee hours of February 2008. Mr. Pavel, the station manager, was robbed twice on opening day (February 1) and again on opening day (February 13), in an eerily similar fashion. Both times, he gave the police an accurate description of the criminal.
In the early morning hours of May 7, 2008, a 911 call was made from the Subway location at 5410 Six Forks Road in Raleigh, North Carolina. This was about 27 days after Stephanie’s murder. There had been a similar robbery, and although there was no security film, the investigators recovered a shoe mark from the site. On September 10, 2008, however, authorities made a breakthrough when the same claimed suspect robbed the Mexico Lindo check-cashing facility on Wake Forest road.
Even though the criminal was wearing camouflage, the store’s surveillance cameras captured a clear image of their exposed face, including their eyes. The perpetrator opened fire on one worker, identified as Modesta Fernandez-Lucas, firing multiple shots before making off with about $7,000 in cash. But the worker made it, and the investigators found another uncontaminated print on the register. Stephanie’s employers have offered $25,000 in exchange for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect, and the police have released a photograph of the suspect to the public.
Where is Killer Armond Devega Today?
One woman came forward to the police with information that her ex-boyfriend, Armond Devega, was the person who allegedly committed the robbery. She said the killer had eyes like Armond’s and that she recognized some of his clothes. Officers checked his identity through their system and discovered he had a history of armed robbery. On October 24, 2008, Armond was taken into custody after a search warrant was served at his parents’ house.
After Armond’s denials, investigators scrambled to locate material evidence linking him to the alleged offenses. They looked through his belongings and found shoes that matched the footprints they had taken from both crime scenes. They also learned that he had previously checked out the establishments he had robbed. First-degree murder for killing Stephanie, attempted first-degree murder for shooting Modesta, and six out of eight counts of robbery with a handgun stemming from a crime spree from January 2008 until his capture in October 2008.
On the murder conviction, Armond received a life sentence without the possibility of release, while the other crimes resulted in incarceration ranging from 57 to 72 years. Armond, 41, is currently incarcerated in the Richmond Correctional Institution in Hoffman, North Carolina, as evidenced by court documents.
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