On the morning of December 23, 2020, Michael Ray Crowe, a 49-year-old White man, was found in a residence in the 1700 block of McCulloch Avenue in Owensboro, Kentucky, with a fatal gunshot wound to his neck. Officers from the Owensboro Police Department arrived following a report of a shooting and pronounced him dead at the scene. The incident was investigated as a homicide.

Investigators focused on 35-year-old Brandon L. Ress of Hawesville, who was known to be an acquaintance of Crowe. After numerous interviews and evidence collection, police arrested Ress on December 24, 2020, and charged him with murder; he was also facing unrelated charges in another county at that time. The prosecution’s case led to a plea agreement in which Ress, then 39, entered an Alford plea to second-degree manslaughter with a recommended seven-year sentence and remained lodged at the Daviess County Detention Center awaiting final sentencing.

If anyone knew Michael Crowe or has information about his relationships or movements in Owensboro in late 2020, please come forward.