MNPD looking into phone data to try to solve 2017 cold case
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — In 2017, a woman was found shot and killed inside a vehicle outside an apartment building in South Nashville.
To date, no one has been arrested in connection with the crime.
MAY 2017 | Woman found shot to death in South Nashville
On the morning of May 26, 2017, the MNPD received a call about a dead woman inside a white Kia Soul at an apartment complex in at 455 Swiss Avenue.
'She was seated in the driver's seat and appeared to be shot and was pronounced deceased at the scene,' Christopher Stevick, a Cold Case Unit detective with the MNPD, told News 2.
The victim was identified as 31-year-old Vian Ahmed Kasim. For years, no one could be linked to the crime.
'Shooting investigations in general when there's not an immediate motive can be tough,' Stevick said.
Kasim's sister told News 2 that Kasim was an entrepreneur and had a phone business, adding that Kasim's passion was singing. She and her family came to the U.S. from Kurdistan in 1993 and she lived in Nashville for six years before her death.
'She seemed to be really active and trying to establish herself and had established herself in Nashville and was pretty driven to be a small business owner,' Stevick said.
Stevick said that Kasim was not a resident of the apartment complex near where her body was found, but had a friend who lived there. Stevick told News 2 that no surveillance video was submitted in the case, making it more difficult to solve.
However, there have been some investigative leads.
'Some of these leads are leads towards potentially new information. Some of these are leads that point to specific people,' Stevick said. 'There are several of them and that's one of the challenges with these cases.'
There is a deep investigation needed for several potential leads, Stevick said. On top of that, three cell phones that belonged to Kasim were found in the vehicle.
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With new technology, the MNPD is now the process of taking another look through phone data.
'Now, we have new technology. It's best practice [that] as new technology emerges and advances, we always want to take another look,' Stevick said.
If you have any information regarding the murder, you're asked to call the Cold Case Homicide Unit at MNPDColdCase@nashville.gov or call 615-74-CRIME.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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