A welfare check on the evening of July 1, 2015, brought police to the 4300 block of Travancore Road in Randallstown, Maryland, where 51-year-old Lonnie Bernard Paye Jr was found dead on his garage floor from at least one gunshot wound. There were no signs of forced entry at the residence. Lonnie was described as a successful construction business owner whose life ended abruptly in what investigators treated as a homicide.

Detectives focused on a woman from his past after learning Lonnie and his ex-girlfriend, Deidra Veella Griffin, were engaged in a contentious custody dispute; a court had recently granted Lonnie visitation rights. Investigators allege Griffin traveled from Bay City, Michigan, to Randallstown on June 19, 2015, and that security footage captured a woman matching her build entering the property. Records show she had been practicing with a 9mm at a shooting range in the days before the killing.

Griffin was arrested in Michigan on July 20, 2015; police recovered a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, empty ammunition boxes, and paper targets at her home. She was charged with first-degree murder and handgun violations and was extradited to Maryland for trial. Does anyone have further information about Lonnie’s life or that custody dispute that might shed light on what happened?