Shawn Alexander Spry, a 21-year-old male from Salisbury, NC, was found dead on July 31, 2017. He was discovered outside a South Link Avenue apartment complex, the victim of an apparent gunshot wound. Spry, who was born on March 18, 1996, in Cabarrus County, was a graduate of South Rowan High School and an avid basketball player. His body was found by a passerby, and the police were called to the scene.
Spry's mother, Tomasa Furr, his sister, and his girlfriend, Hayley Head, had reported him missing earlier that day. Spry had two distinguishing tattoos, "704" on his chest and a "K" and a heart on his index finger, which helped in identifying his body.
The investigation into Spry's death revealed that he had met his accused killer, Joseph William Whitmire, also known as Joey Portis, to sell marijuana. According to search warrants, Spry was driven to the apartment complex by his friend, Matthew Taylor Childress, who heard a single gunshot and later found Spry dead. Whitmire, 24, did not live at the apartment complex but was known to Spry through social media. Detectives discovered that Whitmire had a social media account under the name Joe Portis, and they compared his jail booking picture to the account, confirming his identity. Another witness, Travis Abbitt, was also implicated in the case and was arrested after admitting to knowing Whitmire.
The case against Whitmire and Abbitt involved multiple search warrants and witness testimonies. Detectives seized Childress' cell phone, which was used to communicate with Whitmire, but found that all information from before August 1 had been deleted. The investigation also revealed that Spry had aspirations of playing basketball professionally, either in the NBA or a European league, but his dreams were cut short by his untimely death. Spry's family and friends remembered him as a loyal, caring individual who always had a smile on his face.
