Cincinnati police have issued a chilling update in the murder of Lanyah Dawson, the 20-year-old rising rapper whose body was found in the depths of Mount Airy Forest, riddled with gunshot wounds and left to decay in silence.

“This was not random,” a police spokesperson said. “We believe someone knows exactly what happened — and who did this.”

Lanyah was discovered in the early hours of December 7, 2024, lying beside a deserted road within the forest. Officers at the scene recovered eight shell casings, a detail investigators say paints a grim picture of her final moments. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

For detectives, the brutality of the crime suggests intent. For her family, it confirms their worst fear: that Lanyah was targeted, and that her killer may have been someone she trusted.

“She was finally getting somewhere,” a family friend said quietly. “Her music was starting to be noticed. But more than anything, she was a mother.”

Lanyah Dawson had just turned 20. She was balancing late nights in the studio with early mornings caring for her 1-year-old daughter, a child now left without her mother. Friends say Lanyah’s music often reflected that struggle — ambition, survival, and the fierce love she had for her baby.

“She used to say everything she did was for her daughter,” one friend shared. “Now that baby is growing up with only stories.”

Police have not released details about where Lanyah was before her death or how she ended up in the forest, but investigators confirmed they are reviewing phone records, surveillance footage, and social media activity in the hours leading up to the killing. They are also speaking to people within her personal and professional circles.

“We are looking very closely at who she was with and who she spoke to,” police said. “This case will be solved.”

The Mount Airy Forest location has raised further questions. Known for its isolation after dark, the area is not somewhere people typically stumble upon by accident. Detectives believe Lanyah was either lured there or taken there, intensifying suspicions that the crime was planned.

Community members have begun leaving flowers and candles near the forest entrance, while tributes flood social media. Fans share clips of Lanyah’s songs, now heavy with meaning, while others express anger that another young life — and another mother — has been lost to violence.

“This hits different,” one post reads. “She didn’t just lose her life. Her baby lost her whole world.”

Police are urging anyone with information, no matter how small, to come forward. Investigators emphasized that silence only protects the killer — and prolongs the pain for a child who will grow up asking why her mother never came home.

“There is someone out there who knows something,” police said. “We need them to speak now.”

As the investigation continues, Lanyah Dawson’s story stands as a devastating reminder of how fragile success can be — and how quickly it can be stolen. At just 20 years old, she was on the brink of something bigger, building a future not only for herself, but for her daughter.

That future was ended in the woods.

And until justice is served, Cincinnati is left with questions, grief — and a one-year-old girl waiting for a mother who will never return.