Jamie Darquez Cawthorne, a 32-year-old Black man from Huntsville, Alabama, was known to friends by the nicknames "Quez" or "Lee" and remembered as funny, crazy, and lovely. His life was cut short on a Saturday morning in the fall of 2024 when an argument escalated to violence.
On October 12, 2024, at approximately 10:50 a.m., Huntsville Police responded to reports of a shooting at a gas station in the 4000 block of Pulaski Pike.
When officers arrived, they found Jamie Cawthorne with fatal gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators believed the shooting was an isolated incident that stemmed from an altercation between Cawthorne and another man.
The Huntsville Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit moved swiftly, and in less than 24 hours, they identified a suspect. A warrant for murder was issued for Jerriance Dural Freeman, a 38-year-old also from Huntsville. A search for Freeman ended when agents with the U.S. Marshals located and arrested him in Colbert County.
Freeman was extradited back to Huntsville and booked into the Madison County Jail to face the murder charge. The case concluded when Jerriance Freeman pleaded guilty to murder in the shooting death of Jamie Cawthorne. He was sentenced to life in prison.
