On January 30, 2021, 22-year-old Mariah Cheyenne Petracca of Bloomington, Illinois, was shot and killed outside Daddios bar on North Main Street in Bloomington. Mariah, born June 23, 1998, in Englewood, Colorado, was a mother to her son Karson and a student at Heartland Community College. She enjoyed music, dance, animals, and the outdoors.

Another woman with Mariah, Bibi Cornejo, was wounded in the same shooting. The altercation that preceded the shooting involved a dispute outside the bar; the shooter, 44-year-old Michael Bakana of Normal, later claimed he had been subjected to racial slurs. The court found the killing premeditated and described the shooting as an execution.

Bakana was tried and found guilty of Mariah’s murder and the attempted murder of Cornejo; he was sentenced in July 2023. Mariah’s family, including her mother Madeline Petracca, spoke about the loss at sentencing. Does anyone have memories of Mariah or information about that night that could add to the record?