DeVareya Rashad Powell, a 27-year-old Black man known as "Duke" to his loved ones, was the son of a Prichard homicide detective. His father, Lt. Robert Martin, described him as deeply loved. "Loved him as a child. Loved him as an adult," Martin said after his son's death. "I am really going to miss him. Me and his mom, we are trying to be strong."
On the night of Sunday, June 28, 2020, police in Mobile, Alabama, were called to the Summer Place Apartments for a report of a person shot.
When officers arrived, they found evidence of a shooting but no victim. DeVareya was reported missing, and a search began. The search ended tragically when his body was discovered on Shelton Beach Road. It was determined that he had been shot and killed at the apartment complex before being moved.
The loss was especially poignant for DeVareya’s father, who had spent his career seeking justice for other families. "I am always doing the investigation and trying to bring families relief from the loss of their loved one," Lt. Martin said. "Now, I am on the other end, where I am that parent who has lost a loved one and child to be exact." He called the killing senseless, stating, "My son, he didn't have no more than these other guys that took his life. And so for them to just take his life over something, whatever it may have been, it is just senseless."
The Mobile Police Department investigated the homicide and soon made arrests. Three men—Raquise Murphy, Rudolph Caver, and Gary Hudson—were taken into custody and charged with DeVareya's murder. Lt. Martin commended the department for its work on the case. As of the arrests in July 2020, the case was proceeding through the court system.
