On the evening of August 28, 2017, 20-year-old Carldrake Finister was shot multiple times and killed while sitting with a friend at a picnic table near the tennis courts in the Vista Lake subdivision in Dallas, Georgia. A graduate of Paulding County High School and a student at Georgia Perimeter College, Finister was reportedly involved in an argument with a neighbor that escalated into a physical confrontation and then the fatal shooting.

The neighbor, 23-year-old Lowe Deontae Payne, who lived in the same Vista Lake community, surrendered to detectives at the Dallas Police Department on August 30, 2017, and was arrested. Payne was charged with felony murder and aggravated assault related to Finister’s death. At trial in January 2020, Payne claimed self-defense, but a jury convicted him of murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony; he was sentenced to life without parole plus an additional five years for the firearms count. Reports during the proceedings noted Payne showed no remorse.

If anyone knew Carldrake Finister, his routines, or witnessed the events that night, please come forward with any information.