On a summer day in Lanham, Maryland, the body of 24-year-old Troy Foster was discovered on a footpath in a wooded area on August 11, 2017. A resident had called for a welfare check, and upon arrival, Prince George's County Police Department officers found Foster deceased at the scene, having sustained multiple gunshot wounds. The investigation into the death of the Southeast D.C.
resident would soon uncover a story of a drug deal that ended in violence.
Investigators learned that Troy Foster and an acquaintance, 26-year-old Benson Thorne of Northwest D.C., had arranged to meet on the walking path on the night of August 10, 2017. The purpose of their meeting was for Thorne to purchase marijuana from Foster. However, the transaction turned into a fatal encounter. Residents in the vicinity reported hearing multiple gunshots that evening, a grim foreshadowing of the discovery to be made the following morning. The investigation pointed towards a botched robbery as the motive for the shooting.
The evidence gathered by law enforcement led them to identify Benson Thorne as the primary suspect. Cellphone records were crucial in placing Thorne at the scene, showing that he was the last person to have been in communication with Foster before his death. Following his arrest, Thorne was charged with first and second-degree murder, among other related charges. During the subsequent trial, testimony revealed that the meeting was for a marijuana transaction valued at $2,600. Thorne claimed that he was ambushed by Foster and another individual during the deal. He alleged that in the ensuing struggle, he managed to take a gun from the other person and fired at Foster.
A jury in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County ultimately convicted Benson Thorne. While he was initially charged with murder, the jury found him guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter, as well as the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony or a crime of violence. An appeal was later filed by Thorne on the basis of erroneous jury instructions, but it was ultimately unsuccessful.
