In the early morning hours of a Tuesday in Gulfport, Mississippi, a call about suspicious circumstances led police to a grim discovery. Inside an apartment at the Cypress Lake complex on 29th Street, officers found the body of 39-year-old Ricky Davis, a male resident who had been fatally shot multiple times on November 15, 2022. The quiet community was suddenly the scene of a homicide investigation as authorities began to piece together the events that led to the violent death.
The
investigation quickly pointed to a suspect, 28-year-old Royce Alexander Barthelemy. Gulfport police identified him and issued a warrant for his arrest on a murder charge, describing him as an African-American male, six feet tall, and weighing about 150 pounds. They warned the public that Barthelemy should be considered armed and dangerous. As the search for the suspected shooter commenced, an arrest was made in connection to the case. Forty-four-year-old Renee Patricie Barthelemy was taken into custody and charged with hindering prosecution. The nature of her relationship with the primary suspect was not immediately made clear by law enforcement officials.
Renee Barthelemy was booked into the Harrison County jail, with her bond set at $50,000. While one individual was in custody, the man authorities believe was responsible for firing the shots that killed Ricky Davis remained at large. The Gulfport Police Department urged anyone with information on the whereabouts of Royce Alexander Barthelemy to come forward, hoping to bring a resolution to a case that had so tragically cut a man's life short. The search for the primary suspect and the legal proceedings for the woman accused of aiding him began to unfold, leaving a community to mourn and await justice.
