In January 2022, 26-year-old Tiara Burch was found dead inside her 11th Street NW apartment in Canton, Ohio. She was discovered after police conducted a welfare check. Investigators determined that two people, Aja Lindsey and Jamal Bullock, broke into Burch’s home, robbed her, and stabbed her to death. Both suspects were arrested shortly after the body was discovered.
Police bodycam footage posted by STAYAWAKE – Crime & Psychology shows police officers arriving at the apartment and the horrors that unfolded afterwards. Tiara’s father had called 911 earlier to report that he suspected “something is wrong” with his daughter.
Two police officers were sent directly to Tiara Burch’s apartment. When they pulled up, her father was outside waiting. He revealed that his daughter texted him at 6:39 that morning, saying she had COVID. After he got off work, he came over to bring her medicine. However, she didn’t answer, and her phone went straight to voicemail.
Tiara’s father further added that he checked with two of her friends, but neither of them had heard from her. A girl living in the blue house behind us said she saw a tall man driving his daughter’s car, and someone was taking laundry baskets out of her place. After forcing their way inside, police officers found Tiara lying face down in a pool of blood. Investigators smelled a strong odor of bleach and found very little physical evidence. They were certain that the killer spent a lot of time cleaning up after the attack.
Shortly after her body was found, Tiara’s father received a horrifying text from Tiara’s own phone that read: “Sorry about your daughter. Know the game.”
The killer was using Tiara’s stolen phone to taunt her family, which gave detectives a huge lead. By tracking the phone’s location history over 24 hours, police pulled security camera footage along that path to hunt down the killer. Tiara’s family suspected Vincent Ryan, who had recently gotten involved with Tiara Burch, was behind the murder. When police questioned Vincent, he claimed he was being set up.
Before the murder, Taylor’s boyfriend, Vincent’s exes Asia and Taylor Hammond filed a fake police report to put Vincent in jail for burglary. With him behind bars, Tiara was left isolated and vulnerable. Police found out that the two people who reported Vincent were Aja and a person named Jeffrey James.
Under intense police questioning, James cracked and revealed that two of his friends, Aja and Bullock, had asked him to file the police report against Vincent.
Ohio police zoomed in on daytime footage near Tiara’s apartment showing one suspect wearing specific Nike sneakers. Comparing this to a police station lobby video, they saw Aja’s roommate, Jamal Bullock, wearing the exact same shoes. Ohio police tracked Tiara’s stolen phone to a yellow Ford Focus hatchback with stripes.
However, the surveillance video was too blurry to read the plate. The Ohio traffic camera database footage from a nearby intersection captured the license plate, confirming that it was registered to someone named Aja Lindsey. When police took Aja to the station, she appeared calm.
“I’m not going to sit here and lie to you about anything. Like you got to understand, one thing about me is um I’m a very very very very honest person. I’ve done bad things, okay? And when I’ve gotten caught, I never lied. I told the truth.” After she was informed she was a suspect in Tiara Burch’s murder, Aja changed her story multiple times. “I was selling I know that sounds bad, but I’m going to be honest. I make more money doing that than if I spent a whole shift at work, you know,” she claimed at first.
After she realized she was caught on surveillance camera making trips from Tiara’s house, she changed her story again and claimed she was chained to a timed leash in her basement during a late-night roleplay session.
“I’m involved in some weird stuff. And that’s kind of like what I was involved with. And I just don’t like telling people that. That’s embarrassing…I got kids…you know, I can’t be you know, I got to make sure they’re nice and sleeping, sorry. Like I got a whole basement. I like to get real active down there.”
Jamal, on the other hand, cracked after facing surveillance footage and intense questioning and admitted that Aja stabbed Tiara. He claimed he only agreed to help steal items from the apartment and didn’t know Aja planned to murder her. Lindsey pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. Jamal pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and aggravated burglary, receiving 20 to 25 years in prison.
Jamal tried to file a late appeal claiming he wasn’t informed of his rights, but the court denied it. His first parole hearing is set for November 2041, while Aja’s is set for January 2042.
Aja’s involvement in another unsolved murder came to light after her arrest. In 2010, 32-year-old father Nino Bennett was found dead in a Canton alley after being crushed by a vehicle following a tavern fight. The 911 Ohio caller who reported finding Nino’s body was none other than Aja Lindsey. Police treated his death as a vehicular homicide. And the Ohio case still remains unsolved.
Disclaimer: Inquisitr could not independently confirm the facts of this incident and is reporting based on the information available within the public video record.
