Paul Charles Jr., 58, a retired City of Memphis Division of Public Works employee, was found dead in the living room of his Millington-area home near Shelby Forest on September 15, 2016. He sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the head. In the weeks before his death Charles had let a couple, David Willingham and Roxie Hayes, stay in his home; after they left he reported several missing items including firearms, a crossbow, and a gold ring and filed a theft report with Shelby County deputies on August 25, 2016.

Investigators traced the stolen property to pawnbrokers and arrested Willingham and Hayes on theft charges; both were held on one-million-dollar bond. Authorities identified David Willingham as the primary suspect in Charles’s murder and the homicide was counted as Shelby County’s 13th killing of 2016.