On the evening of April 2, 2014, Robert J. Blanchard, a 36-year-old male, was found deceased in his Afton, Tennessee, residence, the victim of a fatal gunshot wound. His death set in motion a search for his teenage son and three other youths that would cross state lines.
Investigators promptly identified Mr. Blanchard's 16-year-old son, Zachary Blanchard, as a person of interest. Friends of the family later described the relationship between the father and son as being strained. In the aftermath of the shooting, Zachary, accompanied by 15-year-old Liam Lawler, 15-year-old Daniel Richards-Birchfield, and 16-year-old Shelby Riley, absconded from the area.
The four teenagers were located in South Carolina, leading to a vehicle pursuit with law enforcement. The chase concluded when their van was disabled by spike strips, and after a brief attempt to flee on foot, all four were taken into custody. A search of the vehicle and the teens yielded multiple stolen firearms.
Following their apprehension, Zachary Blanchard was charged with the first-degree murder of his father. The other three teenagers, Lawler, Richards-Birchfield, and Riley, faced charges of being accessories after the fact to first-degree murder, as well as theft. While a definitive motive was not immediately established, the troubled nature of the father-son relationship was a significant element in the investigation. The youths were initially held in a juvenile detention facility in South Carolina before facing extradition to Tennessee.
