In the early morning hours of March 8, 2010, the life of 27-year-old Lofton V. Sprouls, a male resident of Madison, Wisconsin, was tragically cut short. Sprouls was found outside an apartment building in the Nob Hill complex, located near 1116 Moorland Road on the city's south side. An autopsy would later confirm that he had died from a gunshot wound.
The City of Madison Police Department, in conjunction with the Dane County Coroner's Office, immediately launched a homicide investigation into the shooting.
As authorities delved into the circumstances surrounding Sprouls' death, a person of interest soon emerged. Deleon D. Harland, a 22-year-old from Chicago, was identified by prosecutors as the "prime suspect" in the case. While the investigation was active, Harland was taken into custody and held in the Dane County Jail. However, the charge against him was for obstructing the police in their investigation into the homicide, not for the homicide itself.
Despite the initial identification of a prime suspect, the investigation into Lofton Sprouls' death eventually stalled. The charge of obstructing the police against Harland did not culminate in a homicide charge. The case grew cold over time, and no further arrests were made in connection with the shooting. The details of what transpired on that early spring morning and the motive behind the killing remain unresolved, leaving the death of Lofton Sprouls a lingering mystery in the community. The case is now listed among Dane County's cold cases.
