In the early morning hours of Sunday, December 3, 2023, the life of Independence Bryton Denell Young, a 21-year-old Black/African American male, was tragically cut short in his home state of Arkansas. Known affectionately to friends and family as "Inde" and "Lil Chucky," Young was born on the Fourth of July in 2002, a fitting birthday for a man named Independence.
He grew up in the McGehee School District and was remembered as a young man with a curious mind, often taking things apart just to figure out how to put them back together. He had a love for the outdoors, enjoying fishing and hunting, and cherished the time he spent with his family and his dogs.
The circumstances of that December morning in Wilmar were grim. Responding to a 911 call around 2:30 a.m., deputies from the Drew County Sheriff's Office arrived at the old Wilmar School on North 5th Street to find a devastating scene. Young was found lying deceased on the street. In a vehicle parked in the school's driveway, another man, 25-year-old Suquorey Pitts Jr. of Dumas, was discovered in the front passenger seat, also a victim of the fatal violence that had unfolded. The Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division was called in to lead the investigation into the double homicide that had shaken the small community.
For months, the case progressed as investigators worked to piece together the events that led to the deaths of the two young men. A significant breakthrough came much later. On the evening of Tuesday, July 30, 2024, nearly eight months after the incident, the Arkansas State Police conducted a traffic stop on a black Dodge Charger at an intersection in Lake Village. A passenger in the vehicle was identified as Taiwan Collins Jr., a 25-year-old from McGehee. Collins was wanted in connection with the double homicide investigation. He was promptly arrested and transported to the Drew County Detention Center, where he is being held on two counts of Capital Murder for the deaths of Independence Young and Suquorey Pitts Jr.
