On the evening of April 26, 2021, in North Little Rock, Arkansas, a burst of gunfire shattered the night at The Greens at the Rock Apartment Complex on Counts Massie Road. When police officers arrived around 10:30 p.m. in response to reports of shots fired, they discovered a tragic scene. Two individuals, a 23-year-old female named Andrea Verser and a 20-year-old male named Roderick Shelby, were found with gunshot wounds.
Both were pronounced dead at the scene, their lives abruptly ended as they were exiting their vehicle. The North Little Rock Police Department immediately launched a homicide investigation, and the bodies were sent to the Arkansas State Crime Lab for autopsy.
The investigation into the double homicide moved swiftly, and within a month, authorities began to close in on those they believed were responsible. On May 25, 2021, North Little Rock Detectives took 19-year-old Joecortland Roberson into custody, charging him with two counts of Capital Murder. The investigation continued, and on June 7, 2021, a second suspect, 19-year-old Martez Holmes, was arrested by detectives with the assistance of the Eastern Arkansas Fugitive Task Force. Holmes also faced two counts of Capital Murder for his alleged involvement in the killings of Verser and Shelby.
Further investigation revealed a more complex plot behind the tragic deaths. Another individual, Ke'von Turner, was identified and later convicted on two counts of felony-capital murder for his role in orchestrating the ambush. Evidence presented during legal proceedings indicated that Turner had planned the attack with the motive of robbing Shelby, who he believed had a large sum of money stored in his apartment from their mutual criminal activities. Turner was found to have been in communication with the gunmen multiple times before the shooting, effectively setting up the fatal encounter. He was subsequently sentenced to two concurrent life terms in prison without the possibility of parole.
