In the late morning of a Monday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the body of 20-year-old Charles Bowah was discovered in the backyard of a residence off Eddie Robinson Sr. Drive. It was February 26, 2018, just one day after he had celebrated his birthday. Originally from the Ivory Coast in West Africa, Bowah had come to the United States as a refugee at the age of four. Investigators with the Baton Rouge Police Department determined that he had been shot to death.
The investigation led them to believe the actual shooting occurred about a block away from where he was found.
Detectives soon pieced together the events that led to the young man's demise, believing it to be a drug transaction that escalated into a fatal armed robbery. Authorities alleged that Bowah had arranged to sell marijuana to two individuals. During the course of this meeting, he was shot, and the perpetrators fled the scene in his vehicle. Community members who knew Bowah remembered him as a positive force. He was a former wrestler at Tara High School and had recently enlisted in the National Guard, dedicating his free time to mentoring local youth.
Within days of the discovery of Bowah's body, police arrested two teenage brothers in connection with the killing: 17-year-old Devin Harris and 18-year-old Kendrick Wesley. Both were initially charged with first-degree murder. Years later, the case saw a development in court. In July 2025, Devin Harris, then 25, pleaded guilty to the lesser charges of manslaughter and criminal conspiracy to commit armed robbery. As a result of his plea, he was sentenced to serve 35 years in prison. His older brother, Kendrick Wesley, was still facing charges of second-degree murder and armed robbery at that time.
