Makai Kenith Neal, a 15-year-old Black/African American male from Milwaukee, was killed on February 10, 2025, in a shooting that investigators said was followed by an effort to destroy evidence by setting fire to the vehicle containing his body. Milwaukee firefighters were dispatched shortly after 9 p.m. to a burning gray 2022 Honda Accord behind a residence near North 26th and West Locust streets. After extinguishing the flames, firefighters discovered Neal in the front passenger seat.
His remains were so badly burned that the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office later identified him through dental records. An autopsy determined that he had suffered eight gunshot wounds, and his death was ruled a homicide.
Investigators eventually reconstructed what they alleged happened during the hours before the car was discovered. According to the criminal complaint, Charles Edward Roby and DJ Jamyele Chandler had been spending time with Neal earlier that evening. Prosecutors alleged that Roby accused Neal of having a firearm that Roby believed had been stolen from one of his friends. Roby took the weapon from Neal, and Neal began contacting a cousin to tell him what had happened. Authorities alleged that Roby then opened fire on Neal. Despite being gravely wounded, Neal was still alive and calling for someone to take him to a hospital.
Rather than seeking medical help, investigators said Roby continued the attack. Prosecutors alleged that Roby later acknowledged that he did not want Neal taken to a hospital because he feared the teenager would identify him to authorities. Investigators said Neal was ultimately shot eight times. The prosecution's case relied on witness statements, surveillance recordings, cellphone-location information, ballistic evidence and searches of properties connected to the people involved. Shell casings recovered near a residence on West Sarnow Street were linked to casings found inside the burned Honda, helping investigators identify the location where the shooting occurred.
Authorities alleged that a plan to conceal the killing developed almost immediately afterward. Investigators said Roby contacted others and discussed getting rid of evidence because fingerprints were inside the stolen Honda. Shatianna Williams and her mother, Shatise Williams, were accused of assisting during the aftermath. Surveillance evidence showed the women obtaining a gasoline container, and prosecutors said gasoline was later used to ignite the Honda with Neal's body still inside. Keyshawn Barnett, who was charged later in the investigation, was alleged to have been present when Neal was shot, when gasoline was obtained and when the car was burned. Chandler was also alleged to have been present during important portions of the crime and attempted cover-up.
Police initially announced the arrests of four people: Roby, Chandler, Shatianna Williams and Shatise Williams. Roby faced the most serious accusations, including first-degree reckless homicide as a party to a crime, mutilating a corpse, arson, possession of a firearm by a felon and possession or use of a machine gun. Chandler, Shatianna Williams and Shatise Williams were charged primarily with harboring or aiding a felon, while Chandler also faced a felony firearm charge. In March 2025, prosecutors charged Barnett with harboring or aiding a felon, bringing the total number of people criminally charged in connection with Neal's death to five.
The case ultimately resulted in guilty or no-contest pleas and sentences for all five defendants. Roby pleaded guilty in October 2025 to first-degree reckless homicide and mutilating a corpse as part of an agreement in which other charges were dismissed and read into the record for sentencing purposes. On November 24, 2025, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge David Borowski sentenced him to 32 years in prison followed by 17 years of extended supervision. Court proceedings established Roby's central role as the gunman, while prosecutors maintained that the burning of the vehicle was an attempt to hide Neal's killing and destroy physical evidence.
DJ Chandler later pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and entered a no-contest plea to harboring or aiding a felon. In January 2026, he was sentenced to eight years in prison followed by six years of extended supervision. Barnett pleaded guilty to harboring or aiding a felon and was sentenced in February 2026 to one year in prison and one year of extended supervision.
The final two defendants were sentenced in May 2026. Shatise Williams pleaded guilty to harboring or aiding a felon and received 15 months in prison, with credit for time already served, followed by 15 months of extended supervision. Shatianna Williams also pleaded guilty to harboring or aiding a felon. She was initially given a one-year confinement sentence, but the judge stayed that sentence and instead placed her on two years of probation. With those proceedings completed, all five people charged in connection with Neal's killing and the effort to conceal it had been sentenced.
Neal's death drew particular attention because of both his youth and the calculated actions prosecutors said followed the shooting. Family members remembered him as a student-athlete with a love of football and art, while the court proceedings documented the lasting devastation his killing caused those closest to him. What began for first responders as a report of a burning vehicle on Milwaukee's north side ultimately became a homicide investigation that traced Neal's final hours, identified the gunman and several people accused of helping conceal the crime, and ended with prison, supervision and probation sentences for everyone criminally charged in the case.
