A Missouri woman has been federally charged in Texas after allegedly issuing threats against the family of Austin Metcalf following Karmelo Anthony’s conviction in the teenager’s death.
Sharifa Nicole Henderson, 34, was taken into custody in Kansas City on Sept. 11, two days after a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Texas returned an indictment accusing her of three counts of transmitting threats across state lines.
Anthony’s trial ended June 9. Prosecutors allege Henderson made three separate threats against the Metcalf family in the days immediately after the verdict.
According to the indictment, Henderson sent one family member a Facebook Messenger message on June 10 threatening to kill them and place them in a body bag. She allegedly followed the threat by writing, “now this is a threat take me to court [expletive].”
A file image shows Jeff Metcalf with his son, Austin Metcalf, a Memorial High School junior from Frisco who was fatally stabbed in the chest. Authorities allege 17-year-old Karmelo Anthony, a student-athlete at Frisco Centennial High School, was responsible. (Courtesy Jeff Metcalf)
Later that same day, Henderson allegedly contacted the Collin County government, which prosecuted Anthony, and said she would “demolish” the Metcalf family and “strangle” one of its members, court documents state.
Prosecutors say Henderson sent a third threat to a Metcalf family member through Facebook Messenger on June 11.
“Don’t worry I’ll kill you next,” she allegedly wrote, according to the indictment. “I will hunt you forever until I kill you…I will be there. You will always have to look over your [expletive] shoulder.”
Each charge carries a potential sentence of up to five years in federal prison if Henderson is convicted.
Austin Metcalf is shown on the left, while Karmelo Anthony appears on the right in a mugshot taken after his arrest in connection with the killing. (Jeff Metcalf; Collin County Sheriff’s Office)
MORE STORY: Whoops: Hamas Just Completely Nuked All Its Pathetic Apologists – NewsFinale
Jeff Metcalf, Austin’s father, recently told FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth that the family has faced more than 100 threats since the murder trial concluded.
The case attracted national attention and became deeply charged along racial lines. Anthony’s supporters questioned the absence of Black jurors and urged an acquittal, while supporters of the Metcalf family gathered outside the courthouse demanding justice.
Anthony, now 19, was convicted more than a year after 17-year-old Metcalf was fatally stabbed during a regional high school track meet at Kuykendall Stadium in Frisco, Texas, on April 2, 2025.
Investigators said Anthony, who attended Centennial High School at the time, approached the Memorial High School team’s tent and sat beneath it.
Supporters of Austin Metcalf and Karmelo Anthony confront one another outside the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney, Texas, before the verdict in Anthony’s murder trial was announced June 9, 2026. Jurors found Anthony guilty in the stabbing death of 17-year-old Metcalf at a Frisco track meet the previous April. (Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News)
Metcalf, a Memorial High School student, allegedly told Anthony to leave. Prosecutors argued that the confrontation escalated after Anthony provoked the encounter, ending when Metcalf was stabbed in the chest.
Surveillance video released later appeared to show Anthony fleeing the tent. Police reports obtained by News Media say Anthony told officers during his arrest, “I’m not alleged, I did it.”
Authorities later reported finding no indication that the two teenagers had known each other before the track meet.
A Collin County jury sentenced Anthony to 35 years in prison. A judge rejected his request for a new trial last month, but his family is preparing to pursue another appeal.