Two friends were killed during a duck hunt on Reelfoot Lake on January 25, 2021. Chance Black, 26, of Union City, Tennessee, and 25-year-old Zachery Grooms were in a duck blind with a third friend, Jeffrey Crabtree, when 70-year-old David Vowell of Martin approached and asked to join them. According to Crabtree’s account, Vowell suddenly opened fire, striking both Black and Grooms. Crabtree wrestled the gun away, struck Vowell, who fell into waist-deep water, and then left in the boat to seek help for the mortally wounded men.

Authorities issued an arrest warrant charging Vowell with two counts of first-degree murder and conducted a search after finding his abandoned boat. Vowell’s body was recovered from the lake about a week later; an autopsy could not determine a definitive cause of death, listing drowning or hypothermia as possibilities, and toxicology found no mind-altering substances. No clear motive has been established; some reports mentioned an argument and others noted Vowell telling people he was in early stages of dementia, but the witness account describes an unprovoked attack.

Who knew Chance Black or Zachery Grooms and can share details about them or about that morning on Reelfoot Lake?