Image from The Intercept website for the investigative podcast series Somebody — Image from The Intercept website for the investigative podcast series *Somebody*

By Ankur Singh

Chicago-based journalism nonprofit Invisible Institute, The Intercept, and Topic Studios, in association with Tenderfoot TV, teamed up to co-produce and launch a new investigative podcast series “Somebody” which premiered on March 31.

The new seven-part series documents Cicero mother of six, Shapearl Well’s quest to find out what happened to her son, Courtney Copeland, a 22-year-old man who wound up with a bullet in his back outside a Chicago Police station in Belmont Cragin in 2016 and died.

After her son was murdered, Wells began a years-long investigation into who killed her son after being skeptical and dissatisfied with the response the Chicago Police had given her. After hitting roadblocks with trying to retrieve police surveillance video of the incident, Wells teamed up with the Invisible Institute, an investigative journalism organization based on the south side of Chicago.

Episode one begins with a celebration of Courtney and childhood friends such as Chance the Rapper describing what he was like. “I wanted people to know who my son was in life as opposed to who he was in death,” Wells said to Cicero Independiente.

Read the rest of what Wells and producer Alison Flowers had to say in a Q & A with Cicero Independiente below:

This conversation has been slightly edited for length and clarity

Cicero Independiente: Just to start could you two introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about who you are?

Shapearl Wells: I’m the mom of Courtney Copeland. I’ve been in Cicero since 2002. We came here to be closer to our church, The Light of the World Church on 14th and 58th Ct. My children grew up here. I love this community and am very connected to it. I thought it was a good place to raise children.

Alison Flowers: I’m a journalist with the Invisible Institute and we focus on police accountability and human rights and criminal justice. I’ve been working on this investigation for three years with Shapearl and early on we thought it would be a powerful podcast series. I’ve been with the Institute since 2015. I direct our Investigations in Journalism program and work with journalist Jamie Kalven who uncovered the Laquan Mcdonald shooting.

Cicero Independiente: One of the things most remarkable about this podcast is that Shapearl is the main narrator. In a traditional journalism approach the journalist would have been the narrator, and Alison you don’t appear in the show until episode three. What inspired that decision?

Alison Flowers: It was an intentional choice to step back as the investigative journalist and be okay with being in the background of somebody else’s story. That’s the truth of it. We’re always telling somebody else’s story. I think sometimes journalists conflate that and become very possessive of a story that wasn’t theirs to begin with. We asked if Shapearl would be comfortable with being the host instead of us doing it.

Shapearl Wells: Jamie said, “I think that you need to tell this story.” Because after Courtney’s death this had become almost an obsession to me. I had to know all the ins and outs of what happened that night. We had made a timeline. We got it down to the 30 seconds to when he was shot. I had encapsulated everything into this night. Jamie saw how much passion and how much I put in this story. I could tell it in a way it could be told. I could offer a perspective from a mother to the world. I wanted the audience to feel that they’re going through this whole process with me from beginning to end.

Cicero Independiente: How did you all come up with the title “Somebody”? It perfectly summarizes the theme and essence of this story.

Alison Flowers: Shapearl inspired that title to a great extent. When we went through the transcript she would say Courtney was “somebody”. I started to noodle over that word and along the way it was pointed out to us that there’s also this beautiful speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. where he quotes somebody else talking about somebody. Additionally, Rev. Jesse Jackson has the back and forth “I am Somebody” speech which may be even more famous because of the Sesame Street appearance when he did that with kids. Rev. Jackson and his daughter Santita Jackson play a cameo role in the series as well...There are other parallels. At one point Shapearl says “somebody” knows something. “Somebody” knows what happened. There’s a morbid piece also. If you separate the two words “some body.” Courtney wasn’t “some body” he was “somebody.” It was a subtle way to examine that theme.

Cicero Independiente: Shapearl, during your investigation did you have any interactions with the Cicero Police Department or any local Cicero agencies?

Shapearl Wells: When Courtney passed, you know, he was like a little celebrity in Cicero. He was always at Paisans on 16th. All the sports leagues at the Park District, he was on all the teams and always at the stadium. When he died even the local officials came to our house. Maria Punzo-Arias, she was part of the Park District before she became Town Clerk. She reached out to President Dominick and he offered us the Cicero Community Center to hold Courtney’s funeral. He offered that for free and he said, “So many of our officials knew your son. I never met him but I heard so many good reports from our agents about your son.” They have been very supportive.

Cicero Independiente: Wow that’s amazing. Which schools did your son go to in Cicero?

Shapearl Wells: Courtney went to Goodwin Elementary and he went to Unity and he did one year at the Morton Freshman Center. Then he got recruited to play baseball at Jones College Prep in Chicago.

Cicero Independiente: Does the show have a conclusion? Do you ever learn for sure what happened to Courtney?

Shapearl Wells: We still have not concluded everything that happened to Courtney that night. We are still in battles right now with CPD to try to uncover everything. If you listen to episode three there’s a video of Courtney conversing with the officers. When I saw the video, it didn’t add up. They said my son didn’t say a word and that he collapsed and they took him to the hospital. When I saw the video and I saw them conversing I want to know what did my son say? I find it hard to believe that he didn’t tell you who shot him? He didn’t say what block he was on? That may be something that I never know. I’m hoping this podcast applies pressure so that information is released.

Cicero Independiente: Did working on this podcast help you heal or process your trauma at all?

Shapearl Wells: Everyone asks me, “How are you doing?” I tell them I’m working. Since he passed my mission for the last four years has been to resolve what happened to him. The grief comes in waves. It’s like an ocean. Since I’ve been encapsulated with this whole process of what happened I don’t think I have fully grieved. This is something you can't ever get over. For one you don’t have closure because you still don’t know 100 percent what happened. I have a church family and I have a lot of supportive friends. It helps me to always be prayerful. I meditate. All of this helps me to cope.

Alison Flowers: When I met Shapearl I was a new mom. Her story really has obviously forever changed my life. When you do stories like this as a journalist they always stay with you. This is my first experience covering a traumatic story as a parent. As a human you can’t help but be in pain when I hear Shapearl’s story.

Shapearl Wells: I couldn’t have asked anyone other than Alison to share this journey with me. You know how you want people to understand the way that you feel, the way that I think. She got what I was always trying to say, what I was feeling about a situation. Just as much as I was embedded in this story, she was too. I am forever grateful for her dedication.

Cicero Independiente: It’s been a really hard time for the entire world with this coronavirus pandemic. Despite this, what’s something during this past month that’s brought you joy?

Alison Flowers: I have a newborn and he just learned how to smile. That can’t help but inspire joy in the midst of a scary time.

Shapearl Wells: To be honest this project has brought joy to my heart. It was a labor of love. What happened to Courtney is happening all around this world. I want Courtney to be the shining light to people that it’s wrong what's happening to him. It brings me joy to say that the world needs to hear this story because nobody else needs to feel this pain like I feel. Until everybody understands that all these black and brown children are dying, until we understand as a community that one life gone is too many. One mother’s pain is too many. I think that this is gonna help a lot of people.

Cicero Independiente: Is there anything else you would like to say that I didn’t ask about?

Shapearl Wells: Sometimes you feel like you know your child but I didn’t know how great he was until after he was taken away from me. He was a tremendous friend. I was happy to hear wonderful stories from strangers on the street telling me how he helped them. One thing we tried to do is keep his name alive. We created the Courtney Copeland Memorial Foundation. We do a lot of charity work with the Light of the World Church in Cicero. We do book bag giveaways, this year we’re going to do some college trunk party giveaways. That’s what my son was doing. He was giving back to his community. I try to keep his memory alive because he gave every ounce of him to this world and I don’t want that to stop. As long as I have breath I will give back to our community. You can visit and make a donation at http://thecourtneycopelandmemorialfoundation.com/

Episode four of “Somebody” will air on April 21, with subsequent episodes releasing every Tuesday. It can be listened to everywhere podcasts are available. To learn more about the making of “Somebody,” visit somebodypodcast.com

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