In November of 2019, Matthew Joseph Wiser, a 39-year-old male, was found deceased in his Mobile, Alabama, home. A professor of economics at the University of South Alabama, his colleagues became concerned and requested a welfare check when he didn't show up for work. On the afternoon of Wednesday, November 20, 2019, university police entered his residence on Gaillard Drive and discovered his body; he had been fatally shot.
The Mobile Police Department was notified and began a homicide investigation into what they believed was a home invasion.
The investigation into the death of the well-liked professor led to the arrests of three individuals. In December 2019, police charged 20-year-olds Tiquez Timmons and Derric Scott with murder. Authorities suggested that Wiser was killed during a burglary at his home. A significant breakthrough in the case came from a stolen Nintendo Switch gaming console that belonged to Wiser. After the murder, one of the suspects connected the device to the internet, allowing police to track its location, which ultimately led them to Timmons and Scott. Investigators stated that a GPS in Timmons' vehicle also placed him in the vicinity of the crime.
A third suspect was apprehended in February 2020. Curtis Anthony Womack Jr., 23, was also charged with murder in connection to Wiser's death. During court proceedings for the first two suspects, prosecutors indicated that the men were allegedly engaged in a series of burglaries when they entered Wiser's home. Investigators believe that Derric Scott was the individual who fired the shot that killed the professor.
