In the late summer of 2019, the quiet life of O.C. Winston, a 72-year-old Black / African American male, came to a tragic and unsettling end in his North Little Rock, Arkansas home. On August 19th, after family members had been unable to reach him for several days, a relative went to his house on East Emily Street to check on him. A foul odor prompted a call to the North Little Rock Police Department for a welfare check.
What the responding officers discovered inside escalated the situation into a homicide investigation. Winston had been shot to death, leaving his family and community in shock.
Investigators at the scene noted peculiar details that suggested the person or persons responsible may have been known to Winston. There were no signs of forced entry into his residence, pointing to the possibility that he had willingly let his killer or killers inside. The scene also appeared to have been staged to look like a robbery or burglary, indicating that the assailant might have been searching for something specific within the home. Despite these initial observations, police did not release any information about a potential motive or a description of any suspects.
In the weeks and months that followed, Winston's family pleaded for answers and for the community to come forward with any information that might lead to an arrest. They held vigils, lighting candles and releasing balloons to honor the memory of a man they described as the life of their family gatherings, someone who loved to laugh, fish, and ride motorcycles. His son, Patrick Greene, expressed the family's devastation and their determination not to let his father's case go cold. Despite their efforts and an offered reward of up to $6,000 for information, the investigation into the murder of O.C. Winston has yielded no arrests. The case remains an unsolved homicide, a source of ongoing pain for a family still seeking justice.
