In the early morning hours of September 26, 2015, a brutal act of violence shattered the quiet of a Memphis, Tennessee neighborhood, leaving three people dead. Anthony Isom, a 35-year-old man, was found shot to death inside his duplex on Lake Grove Road. Alongside him were the bodies of his friends, 34-year-old Michael Glover and 28-year-old Chasity Springfield, who had also been fatally shot.
The discovery of the three victims launched a complex homicide investigation that would uncover a story of betrayal and alleged gang-related retribution.
Investigators eventually identified three suspects in connection with the triple homicide: Tony Thomas, Laronda Turner, and Demarco Hawkins. The case against them suggested a planned and premeditated attack. One of the suspects, Demarco Hawkins, whose case was later separated from the others, provided a statement to the police, claiming that he had planned the murders and a robbery. Hawkins became a key witness for the prosecution, and his testimony was central to the trials of his co-defendants.
In May 2019, after a week-long trial, a jury convicted Tony Thomas and Laronda Turner on three counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Isom, Glover, and Springfield. Both were subsequently sentenced to life in prison. However, the legal saga did not end there. In a later appeal, the Tennessee Supreme Court reversed Laronda Turner's convictions. The court ruled that the evidence presented at her trial, which heavily relied on the testimony of her co-defendant Demarco Hawkins, was not sufficiently corroborated to sustain her convictions.
The motive for the killings, as suggested in court proceedings, was tied to gang activities. Hawkins testified that the murders were an act of retaliation for a previous killing. His cooperation with the state was a critical, albeit contentious, element of the prosecution's case. While the legal outcomes for Tony Thomas and Laronda Turner are documented, the final disposition of the charges against Demarco Hawkins remains less clear from available online sources. He was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, but the ultimate result of his individual trial is not specified.
