Judy Forrest (left) Kanika Powell (right)

Kanika Powell’s case is still a Prince George’s County mystery….

Kanika Powell graduated from Largo High School in 1998, and enlisted in the Army two years later. She proudly served in Korea, and returned to her home in Prince George’s County after her tour. Trying to figure out the next steps in her life, Kanika decided to take on a job as a security contractor at Hopkins laboratory.  She was very private about the work she was doing for the laboratory, and would sometimes travel for days at a time to handle work projects before returning home.  Judy Powell, Kanika’s mom, said she always knew where her daughter was going, but her daughter was not allowed to discuss what she was doing when she got on location.

Kanika lived alone in her garden style apartment in Laurel, Maryland. On Saturday, August 22, 2008 she heard a knock at her door. Judy says Kanika told her she peeked through the hole and a man was holding up a badge claiming he was an FBI agent. Kanika wouldn’t open the door without seeing ID, and the mystery man left. She called 9-1-1 and police came to her apartment, but nothing was found. Judy says Kanika was planning to install a security system thereafter. The incident jarred her so much that she wrote this e-mail to share with her friends and family: