Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Mom Drove Around with Son's Body After Strangling Him: Cops

Episode Date: March 15, 2025

Shaneka McKinzie is charged with murdering her 8-year-old son in Miami-Dade County, Florida in November 2023. The boy was strangled and police said she drove around with his body for hours. McKinzie talked to detectives twice about the crime and police said she eventually confessed. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through the interrogation in this epsiode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Check Out Megyn Kelly’s Investigation On The Disappearance of Baby Lisa Now at https://youtube.com/@MegynKellyHost:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. You drove around with your kid for more than five hours while he was dead in your f***ing car. Because when they took him out of your f***ing car, he was stiff as a f***ing board. Detectives turn up the heat on a mother getting her to confess to strangling her young son. Did you do anything else to him? I have the video of cops grilling Shanika McKenzie and the sad story of the murder of little Jason Burgos. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Jason Burgos was an eight-year-old little boy who was

with his mother when he died. His mother, Shanika McKenzie, is charged with murdering him, but her case is on hold right now, and I'll tell you why later. Jason's death is absolutely horrific. It's tragic. The investigation started on November 14,, 2023 in Hialeah, Florida, outside of Miami. Police said Shanika McKenzie showed up at Hialeah Hospital with her son, Jason, and he was unconscious. But there was nothing doctors could do to save him. Jason was already dead. Detectives talked to Shanika McKenzie to get her statement twice. Here she is in the interrogation room waiting for detectives to meet with her the day after Jason died. In her first police interview, McKenzie described her son wrapping a seatbelt around his neck, and you'll hear exactly what

she told detectives here in a bit. But eventually, in a videotaped statement with detectives, Miami police say McKenzie confessed to murdering her son. A press release stated, the mother confessed to investigators that for the past two days she plotted to kill her child. She further described that while the child was asleep in the rear passenger seat of her vehicle, she used a tablecloth to suffocate and strangle him until he became unresponsive. She then proceeded to drive around various parts of the county conducting errands with her unconscious child's body in the vehicle. Now, this is so incredibly disturbing and unbelievable. The fact that police claim McKenzie strangled her son with a tablecloth as he slept

and then drove around with his body while she ran errands, I can't even imagine. But back to the detective's interview of Shanika McKenzie. They brought her in after the autopsy had been performed on little Jason. At one point, you can actually see her look up at the camera. She knows she's being recorded. Detectives start by asking her about the day Jason died and a bruise on his ribs. Do you know how he ended up getting that little bruise on his ribs? He wasn't at a playground or anything earlier? Not that day. Can you do it, can you take me back to the day that he died? From the morning until you got to the hospital? Just kind of a whole story. I know, like I told you yesterday, I know it's hard, the questions, but we just got

to clarify everything that happened. So, I'm just going to ask you, what was the first thing that you did? What was the first thing that you did? What was the first thing that you did? What was the first thing that you did? What was the first thing that you did? What was the first thing that you did? What was the first thing that you did?

What was the first thing that you did? What was the first thing that you did? What was the first thing that you did? What was the first thing that you did? What was the first thing that you did? What was the first thing that you did? What was the first thing that you did? What was the first thing that you did?

What was the first thing that you did? What was the first thing that you did? What was the first thing that you did? What was the first thing that you did? What was the first thing that you did? hospital just a little so I know like I told you yesterday I know it's hard the questions but we just got to clarify everything that happened okay that's all it is so in the morning I will tend to you wake up that day you don't know the time you woke up? When he woke up before I did, I woke up the right way. Okay. Did you guys go eat breakfast or anything? Nothing whatsoever? You just went straight into work I believe? I left and went around and went into work.

When you say you left and drove around, where did you end up going? Just driving, going into the area and driving away. And you went with it? Mmhmm. Okay. Do you ever roll a gas station or something? I want to tell you about something that Megyn Kelly has out right now. It's a truly gripping and incredible investigative documentary on her YouTube channel. The disappearance of baby Lisa Irwin has been a mystery for more than a decade. Who took her from her crib in the middle of the night?

And could she possibly, possibly still be alive? Megyn Kelly is taking you back inside the case in a special new five-part series, Megyn Kelly Investigates. She interviews Baby Lisa's parents, other key players in the case, and through hidden cameras, brings the first ever comments from one of the men at the center of the story.

Deep reporting, expert analysis, Megyn Kelly Investigates on the disappearance of Baby Lisa. All five episodes are available right now on the Megyn Kelly investigates on the disappearance of baby Lisa. All five episodes are available right now on the Megyn Kelly Show's YouTube channel and podcast feed. You can also find out more at megynkelly.com. Now, you heard Mackenzie tell police she didn't know how Jason got the bruise, and the detectives tell her that it did not come from chest compressions being performed at the hospital. I mentioned earlier that McKenzie told police about an incident at a Wawa where she claimed Jason wrapped a seatbelt around his neck. This was an audio interview.

Listen to what she described. You told officers on the scene earlier that your son had an incident at a gas station with a seatbelt. He, um... Do you remember what day that was? Exactly, I know it was a couple days ago. So it was during November of this month? I was actually working and I pulled over to get some gas and I ran in to get the gas. And um, usually he'll jump out the car behind me. I had a child locks on, he'll just jump out the front seat door. And um, but

sometimes I tell him to stay in the car, sometimes he would, most times he wouldn't. But this particular time he actually stayed in the car when I told him. But I think he threw a fit. Like that. Yeah. Like that. Because when I got back to the car. This was, you said, a couple days ago?

Mm-hmm. Literally two days ago? I don't know exactly what day, but I know it was. I don't have my phone, so I can't try to verify nothing, but I know it was within the last couple days. I'd say maybe three or four days ago, no more than that for sure. Do you remember which gas station? Wawa's on Okeechobee. Wawa on Okeechobee?

Mm-hmm. If they have me on camera, you'll see, like, I'm like... Yeah, no, that's fine. And I kept, because I was shocked. I was in shock at how he was wrapped in there. He was like, okay, this is the seat, the back seat. And he's like this on the seat. And it's wrapped around his neck like that, across his back and across his front. And that's why I said he must like.

So during that interview, Shanika McKenzie is making choking sounds. It almost sounds as if she's suggesting her son may have strangled himself. She even told detectives she had to cut the seatbelt off to get it off of Jason's neck. Because the older he got with things, when stuff would happen, he wouldn't tell me, or I guess he wouldn't know how to tell me, or whatever, because I kept asking him, like, how did you end up like that? And he was like, I don't know, it just got around me. So, it would be hard to really get things out of him. Now back to the video, and the detectives ask McKenzie to describe the seatbelt incident again. So it was like basically the seatbelt, it goes around like this.

I want to say it might have been wrapped all the way around or like that, and it went behind his back, it was from that point it wasn't both so it's just wrapped around all over did you notice that he could breathe those same they just over here those are scared that it was right. But he was still breathing because it was in one of the ponds. How long was it that he was wrapped? I don't know. It happened when I was in the store, but when I came out, I said it sounded like he was in there.

McKenzie goes on to tell the detectives she was shocked. And then you said you grabbed the knife from the driver's side and you cut it. Okay. So if we, when we review the video at Wawa's, what are we going to see are we going to see you cutting it with the knife right there the door was open you say you got gas right so when he was wrapped it happened when I was in the store yeah no I have when you were in the store but you ended up getting gas and Mackenzie worked as a DoorDash driver, and you heard she told detectives that she gets gas every day. And what the detectives are doing is pretty common. They are getting McKenzie to restate her story, and they're also seeing how she reacts to information.

She goes on to tell the detectives she got up that day, and her son said he wasn't feeling well and wanted to go to the doctor. Then she checked on him, and he felt weird. The detectives then empathized with McKenzie to try to get her to open up. You've had a lot of things from what you told me yesterday, and you told us a lot about your life. You've had a lot of things swept away from underneath you, and that you've lost, that you've worked hard for, and that you've lost. You know, you got removed from the military, you said.

You lost your beautiful house that you had. You were telling us about that beautiful house and your landlord just one day or the next said, hey, you know, you're out of here. I want my son to move in. You haven't had it easy. And I'm sure that, you know know even you trying to sell your bracelets in front of Starbucks with your son you know then they issue you a trespass warning like you're just trying to make it as a single mom your father's son passed away from a tragic car accident

um and you know I'm sure it's a lot to take your son to work with you every day in the car because man I did road trips with my family I could barely do a four-hour trip to Disney with my brothers like friggin punching each other and and screaming and it's it's a lot. And you, who have to be on your phone, you probably want to play with your phone all the time, watch videos, I can imagine. He's at that age. So it's a lot, and it's probably very overwhelming for you.

You're not very close with your parents. You're not dating anybody, correct? So, you know, don't feel bad about feeling that way. You're very justified in feeling that way. Okay. Shanika McKenzie and Jason were living at different hotels in Florida after they moved there from Missouri earlier in 2023. The little boy was not enrolled in school, so she took him along on DoorDash deliveries with her. The detectives then confront McKenzie with the autopsy results. Watch her face carefully. And I want you to be honest with me. Alright. We do this job for a long time. I don't know why. Okay.

There's someone strange. I'm gonna lay it out on the table for you. He was trying. You're the only one who is. Okay. There's a lot of inconsistencies in your school. You're the only one who is. Okay? There's a lot of inconsistencies in your story. Mm-hmm. Okay.

Listen. If you felt like the world was crashing down and you had no other way to escape in order to give them a better life, and you thought that was the only way out It's okay So what really happened? I'm telling you what what happened. That's his neck right? Mm-hmm.

So you're telling me that the thing on his side didn't happen? There was. So I'm feeling like you're telling me something happened to him at the hospital. Ain't nothing happened to him at the hospital. It happened to him while he was in the woods. How? You didn't tell me that. I didn't.

But you already knew him. Do I get to see him? To see him? Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. You already told me. You want me to see him? To see him? Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll all tell him. But I don't know. We wanted to give you the opportunity to say the truth about what happened. That's what we're here to do.

I understand that, but... Now that we know the facts, now that we know the scientific facts, I understand that, but... happened that's all we know what happened being strangled so something happened to this little boy and you're you're his caretaker exactly what happened. Y'all trying to add that in. I want to see his body. Shanika McKenzie insists that someone at the hospital had to have hurt her son. If he was strangled, it happened to him after he got to that hospital. I don't understand why they would touch him like that, but that happened to him after he got to that hospital. He was in the car and then they took him out of the car. He was in the hospital. That would have shown. You don't have to remember that. No, what I'm saying is like...

When he got to the hospital, he was already sick. He was there for a while. There you go. What's a while? More than five hours. You're a gentleman, and I'm telling you. No, I'm telling you. You're telling me my story has inconsistencies about my child. He was in the car, on the floor. I was driving around for work. I didn't strangle him. I told y'all exactly what happened.

It's like you want me to add that in there or something. No, let's not add that in there. It's just what happened. Okay, well, I can see his body, right? Because I want to see those signs. Yeah, I can see his body right now. And I'm not feeling like everything's documented, everything's reported, everything's fine.

But according to police, McKenzie brought her unconscious son to the hospital after she'd been driving around with his lifeless body for hours. At one point, the investigator accuses the mother of being savvy enough to concoct a narrative about medical workers hurting Jason. I honestly think that you knew we were going to find something wrong with his neck. And that's why you said this story about the seatbelt. Who? No, it's a la-la. You can check it on camera. Yeah. He did this. He was looking at the bubbles. He went to a theater and told me. I was struck by the wanting to see him.

I'll find out. We'll definitely do it. We'll tell you. You don't want to see both of them? No, it's not. So basically I feel like if he was strangled then that hurt him more than I knew. That would be the only thing. The thing is, with the injuries that he's consistently got on his neck, he's not going to survive two or three years of like, that stability in any way.

It happened yesterday. I didn't say that the one-one thing caused that. I didn't say that, but you're telling me that he was strangled that's why the time something was wrong. No, what you're saying is that since you knew that. Since you knew, right, what happened? Right? How he died? Because whichever way, however it is that you thought he was trying to live? How? Wow. Yeah, I'm going to give you the hard truth. No, that's not a hard truth. That is an instant lie. Because of that because you just said that the wawa thing didn't happen and that and wawa has cameras i will when i get my car if y'all let me go because y'all are trying to like

that you didn't tell me no no i feel like that because you just told me something didn't happen that did happen at a place that should have cameras. You've got to remember, the medical examiner, right, they ruled this a homicide, right? Because he was killed by mechanical strangulation. That means somebody's strangled. You're the only person with him. Okay, you're not a dumb person. You're a smart girl. Okay?

So, all we need is the truth. You're saying, you're telling me things that I can't identify with because I don't know what it's like. You want me to add it in there or something like that. No, it's not. That's where you're lying about. And then you're saying the situation didn't happen at Wawa. Like, I can't. You're lying. The whole thing with the FEPA was to try to say that in case of a mark comes out of his neck. Because you're not a dumb person. You know you're not dumb.

Okay, but it did happen and I can prove that it happened because it actually happened they have cameras at that place and you see your camera okay let's say we were to find it that's not what killed oh that's what I'm saying but he's saying strangulation, that's the only time I'm hearing it around his neck. We want to know how your son died of mechanical asphyxiation. Meaning something was putting pressure on his airway, on his neck. Okay? Maybe he was screaming, maybe he was talking, maybe he was bugging you. I don't know.

You have another son. You are a strong, independent mother. A single mother. Be accountable for your actions. Show your other son that you are remorseful, that you own up to your mistakes in life. Maybe you're not remorseful. that you own up to your mistakes in life, that maybe you're not remorseful, maybe it wasn't a mistake, maybe you're happy,

maybe you feel a sense of relief. And let him know. Show him the mother that you can be, because you still have another son. But to lie and to not take responsibility for it, the story is not adding up. The story is not adding up to the physical evidence at all. So maybe he's suffocated back there on the floor. That's not what happened, ma'am. That's not what it shows.

It involves force. The investigators turn up the temperature and there's a lot of cursing, lots of F-bombs. You think that we're lying, that we're making this s*** up? I do. You really do. In your f***ing head, you think that we're lying. That's f***ing ridiculous. Because you honestly killed your f***ing kid, and it's f***ing sad that a mother does that s***. You know why? Because you're fucking weak. That's what the fuck you are.

You're fucking weak. You couldn't take care of your kid. You would always fucking lose him, right? And you couldn't fucking deal with it. You wanted to be alone, and you fucking killed your fucking kid. You strangled your own fucking flesh and blood. And then you keep blocking it out and trying to make some fucking story up. And that's all it is

Story a fairy tale in your head Which is ridiculous on the up to yours It is what it is you can start with your kid all the evidence is out on the table for it You're the one with him. The only caregiver. He lives with you only in that hotel. You take him everywhere. You drove around with your kid for more than five hours while he was dead in your car. Because when they took him out of your car, he was stiff as a board. You know what the f*** that is?

So, oh, if I failed as a mother. Yeah, you did f***ing fail. That's what you fucking did. You wanted to escape this whole life. Investigators then get McKenzie to open up again by showing her something that looked like she was trying to get help for her son. I'm going to see if I can help you out here with my book, because I actually looked through your phone earlier, okay?

And the first thing that popped up in your photos was a screenshot of Florida Department of Children and Families. And you had a screenshot of that, the Florida Department of Children and Families location. Yeah, you had a picture of that in your phone. McKenzie then describes what she did before police said she killed her son. He was snoring. Did you go to the Burger King first? Yeah. So from that spot, your next stop was Burger King, right? And you don't remember where that whole thing happened, right? The incident? You don't even remember exactly where? Do you remember any landmarks around you? Any signs? Any businesses? Nothing?

It was the very thing we lost to the place where we ended up. It wasn't close? It was in Miami that it happened? Oh, the burger thing in Miami. And you think he did the, he killed him in Fort Lauderdale? McKenzie was booked into the jail after police say she confessed. The part of her interview where she confessed is redacted until her case concludes. Good afternoon, Ms. McKenzie. You were arrested for one count of first-degree murder. The judge appointed a public defender to represent McKenzie. So I've reviewed the arrest affidavit. There is probable cause for the charge of first-degree

murder. She killed her child. So I'm holding you with no bond. Good day, ma'am. McKenzie almost looked confused. Recently, the court found that she was incompetent to stand trial. Competency is an issue that has to do with whether someone is mentally able to help with their own defense. A judge has determined she can't do that right now. But competency can be restored. So we'll see whether or not that happens. So for now, the case is on hold. So we'll see whether or not that happens.

So for now, the case is on hold. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.