On August 6, 2015, 36-year-old Reginald Ford was fatally shot during an attempted robbery outside his home on Hermosa Street in Nashville. The shooting occurred just after midnight; Ford was found lying on his back with one foot still inside his car and a gunshot wound to the head. His wife, Cheressa Miller, heard banging and was told by her son that his father had been shot.

Metro Nashville Police identified four suspects in the case. Rolandus Denzmore, 20 at the time, Davonta Sherrill, 23, and Demontez Watkins, 21, were taken into custody, and a fourth suspect, Troyvonte Watkins, 22, was later arrested after a traffic stop where officers found a loaded pistol and, when he was booked, 45 Xanax bars concealed on his person.

At trial prosecutors presented DNA mixture evidence recovered from the pockets of Ford’s khaki pants. An advanced reanalysis of the complex DNA data was used to link Demontez Watkins to the evidence; on March 29, 2019, a jury convicted him of first-degree murder, robbery, and weapons charges, and the court imposed an effective sentence of life plus twenty-seven years. Does anyone have additional information about Ford’s last known movements that night or witnessed the disturbance on Hermosa Street?