DETROIT — In a city that routinely sees more than 400 homicides a year, the 2003 slaying of Tamara "Strawberry" Greene was an easily overlooked crime.
Few people initially took notice when the 27-year-old stripper was found slumped over the steering wheel of her green Buick Skylark. But soon the city was buzzing with rumors that she had danced at a party at the mayor's mansion -- a story that has never been proven.
The investigation into the rumored party and her slaying helped launch Democratic Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick's avalanche of current woes, but nearly five years later, Greene's death has been overshadowed by recent revelations of an affair between the mayor and his then-chief of staff, Christine Beatty.
The scandal, complete with text-messaged endearments, has been fueled by reports that Kilpatrick and Beatty lied about the affair while testifying last year.
Now Greene's shooting death in April 2003 is emerging as a key story line in the city's civic soap opera.
Lawyers for Greene's 14-year-old son are pushing forward with a $150-million federal civil lawsuit against the mayor and the city, charging that they quashed the investigation of her slaying.
They recently filed a statement from a former Detroit police officer alleging that his homicide unit was pressured to drop the case, even though it appeared to him that Greene's slaying was a hit -- one possibly carried out by another police officer. They've also subpoenaed a slew of text messages between city employees, including those sent between 1:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. on the day Greene was killed.
The city is petitioning for the case to be dismissed. A federal judge ordered SkyTel and the city to save certain messages from 42 city pagers, including Kilpatrick's, as well as all messages sent on the day Greene died.
The tale of Greene's slaying revolves around the rumored party at Manoogian Mansion, the official residence of the mayor. Court documents lay out the following sequence of events:
An officer with the mayor's Executive Protection Unit reported that a party for the mayor and his friends had taken place and " . . . the party featured nude female dancers," according to a 2003 internal affairs memo commissioned by then-Police Deputy Chief Gary Brown.
When the mayor's wife, Carlita Kilpatrick, unexpectedly arrived at the mansion, she saw her husband and the strippers, according to Harold Nelthrope, the officer who reported about the party.
