EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio (WJW) – Jury selection begins Monday for the trial of three of six people charged in connection to the torture and murder of a young woman from East Cleveland.

Prosecutors say 21-year-old Alishah Pointer was lured out of her home in November of 2021.
She was then allegedly taken to several different locations where she was physically assaulted in order to get information about a friend’s death.

Alishah Pointer (Photo courtesy: Cleveland Division of the FBI)

Pointer was later driven to an abandoned home and shot several times. Her body was found days later in the basement of a burned-out house on Savannah Avenue.

In the trial that begins Monday, Anthony Bryant, 19, Brittany Smith, 33, and Hakeem-Ali Shomo, 31, face several charges including murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy.

In November, two others charged in the case pleaded guilty for their roles in the crime and will likely face life in prison.

Portria Williams, 31, Nathaniel Poke, 23 and Destiny Henderson,18, are scheduled to be sentenced, later this month.