Chicago Mother Investigates The Murder Of Her Son In 'Somebody' Podcast

Source: Invisible Institute / Somebody Podcast

There’s a powerful podcast on the way that probes the untimely passing of a Chicago man with help from an unlikely narrator. “Somebody” looks into the 2016 death of Courtney Copeland, a 22-year-old man who was fatally shot in the back outside a Chicago Police station.

Courtney’s own mother Shapearl Wells narrates the seven-part audio series that investigates her son’s passing. Over a three year span Wells joined forces with a team of journalists, Alison Flowers, who leads investigations at the Invisible Institute on the South Side of Chicago, and Billa Healy, an independent radio producer, to confront Chicago Police and challenge the city’s long-standing racial disparities.

Source: Shapearl Wells / Somebody Podcast

Source: Allison Flowers / Somebody Podcast

“The dead can no longer speak, so it’s up to the living to speak for them –– especially in the face of an abysmally low murder clearance rate for Black people in Chicago like my son,” said Wells, a mother of six from Cicero, Illinois who serves as the vice president of the Courtney Copeland Memorial Foundation.

The foundation works to reduce violence, strengthen education and build rapport between the community and police.

Additionally, rapper and activist Chance the Rapper lends music to the podcast in honor of Courtney his friend, and Chicago classmate.

“He was very loved by everybody,” Chance said of Courtney. “I just wish that he was respected as a human life on the level that he should have been.”

The series is co-produced by Chicago-based journalism nonprofit Invisible Institute, Topic Studios, and The Intercept in association with Tenderfoot TV.

BOSSIP has an exclusive clip from “Somebody”. In it, Wells explains to Facebook Live that the city of Chicago won’t give her family answers about what happened the night Courtney was murdered.

“We are the average black family trying to fight against a huge city, everywhere we turn we hear the doors getting slammed in our face,” says Wells. “They want you to accept that your child is dead and move on. I can’t he didn’t deserve what happened to him!”

“Somebody” premieres on March 31, 2020, with new episodes rolling out weekly for the seven-episode podcast, in addition to a number of bonus episodes. Subscribe to the podcast here and listen on iHeartRadio and everywhere podcasts are available.

To learn more about the making of “Somebody,” visit somebodypodcast.com.