On the evening of August 24, 2020, in Wichita, Kansas, 33-year-old Joe "JoJo" Glennis Wheeler III was fatally shot. The incident occurred in the parking lot of Baby Dolls, an adult entertainment club located at 4900 N. Arkansas, where Wheeler was an employee. Police responded to a shooting call around 9 p.m. and discovered Wheeler inside his red Jaguar, having sustained two gunshot wounds to the head.
He was pronounced deceased at the scene.
The investigation into the death of the male victim revealed that it was not a random act of violence. Leading up to the shooting, Wheeler, who had stayed at the club after his shift, was involved in a prolonged and heated argument with a coworker, a dancer named Autumn S. Metcalf. Witnesses reported that the dispute lasted for hours and that Metcalf had made threats to have someone come to the club to harm or kill Wheeler in retaliation for him allegedly calling her derogatory names. She was heard making multiple phone calls and at one point stated, "I'll have him killed," or "I'll have him shot.".
In September 2022, Autumn Shanequa Metcalf, then 33, was arrested in connection with Wheeler's death. Following a trial, a jury found her guilty of first-degree premeditated murder and solicitation to commit first-degree murder in August 2024. During the trial, Metcalf claimed that Wheeler had threatened and assaulted her on the night of the shooting. She testified that he was reaching for a weapon when her brother shot him in what she described as self-defense. Despite her plea of not guilty, the jury deliberated for about three hours before returning the guilty verdict.
A Sedgwick County judge sentenced Metcalf to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 50 years for the first-degree murder charge, a sentence known as the "Hard 50.". An additional 61 months were added for the solicitation count, with the judge ordering the sentences to be served consecutively. This means that if she is granted parole after 50 years, she would then begin serving the sentence for the solicitation charge. As of March 2025, no one else had been charged in connection with the fatal shooting.
