Ryan and his stepfather John were shot and killed in front of their Alpine, AL home by unknown individual on November 30, 2015.
In the quiet community of Alpine, Alabama, the evening of November 30, 2015, was shattered by an act of violence that claimed the lives of two men and left a family irrevocably broken. Stephen Ryan King, a 31-year-old Caucasian male, and his stepfather, John William Lowe Jr., were fatally shot outside their home on Oakdale Road. The two men were reportedly standing in their yard around 8:00 p.m. when they were approached by an unknown individual.
According to witness accounts, the stranger asked King and Lowe for directions. Moments later, the conversation turned deadly as gunshots rang out in the night. King's mother and Lowe's wife, who was inside the residence, heard the commotion and the sound of what she initially thought might be fireworks. When she went outside, she discovered both her son and her husband lying in the yard with gunshot wounds. Stephen Ryan King was pronounced dead at the scene, while John William Lowe Jr. was transported to a nearby medical center where he too succumbed to his injuries.
In the immediate aftermath, law enforcement began an intensive investigation into the double homicide. The assailant was said to have fled the scene on foot, disappearing into the darkness. Despite numerous interviews and appeals to the public for information, the case grew cold. No arrests were made, and a suspect was not immediately identified, leaving a grieving family and a concerned community searching for answers. The initial investigation stalled for years, with no significant leads to follow.
Years later, a glimmer of hope emerged in the stagnant investigation. In early 2023, a new witness came forward, providing investigators with a description of a person of interest. This individual was described as a light-skinned Black male who was seen in the vicinity of the crime scene before the fatal shootings occurred. This new information breathed life back into the cold case, prompting renewed pleas from law enforcement for anyone with knowledge of the man's identity to come forward. To incentivize potential witnesses, a substantial reward has been offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murders of Stephen Ryan King and John William Lowe Jr. The case, however, remains unsolved.
