Just before dawn on July 13, 2025, police were called to the 800 block of Virginia Street by Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. There, officers found Ryo DeCari Steele, 19, male, gravely wounded alongside his friend La’Ren Dickens, 20. Despite efforts to save them, both were pronounced dead at the scene, a sudden end that rippled across the city before sunrise.
A police summary later laid out the cadence of that night—multiple gunfire calls across Rocky Mount within minutes of each other—while confirming that the Virginia Street scene was a double homicide.
By late July, investigators began to name the people they believed were responsible. According to Rocky Mount police, Devonte Dales, 22, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Ryo DeCari Steele, 19, male. Two other men—Bernard Smith, 27, and Trevion Jayvon Scarboro, 20—were charged with first-degree murder in the death of La’Ren Dickens, 20. Days later, a fourth arrest followed: Keyvonte Keyshaw Tyson, 19, was taken into custody and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the same double homicide. Authorities said Tyson was held without bond as the investigation continued.
The outlines of the case were stark: it was shortly before 3 a.m. when officers responded to the park; the victims were found where the night’s quiet broke; and the city awoke to the news that two young lives were gone. Public records and funeral notices identified the slain man as Ryo DeCari Steele, 19, male, of Rocky Mount, whose memorial services were announced by the family’s chosen funeral home in the days after his death.
Even as the arrests mounted, police released few details about motive, leaving families and neighbors to trace the last known moments: the address by the park, the time stamp before sunrise, the multiple investigations that spun up across the city that weekend. With suspects in custody and first-degree murder charges filed, the case moved from the shock of July into the grind of the courts, where the narrative of what happened to Ryo DeCari Steele, 19, male, and his friend would have to be set out, sworn to, and proven.
