Michael David Whitis Jr., 21, was shot and killed in the early morning hours of July 28, 2018, while with friends at the historic Shoofly Ruins in Payson, Arizona. Deputies from the Gila County Sheriff’s Office found his body in the backseat of a minivan with a fatal gunshot wound; witnesses saw a suspect run into nearby woods and a search followed.

That afternoon a passerby spotted someone matching the description trying to flag down vehicles. Law enforcement located and arrested 27-year-old Steven Brydie, who was taken to Banner Payson Hospital with unspecified injuries. Brydie and Whitis Jr. were friends, and accounts in the case say the shooting was not intentional. Brydie was legally prohibited from possessing a firearm and had a history of illegal drug use; those facts were cited at trial.

In September 2019 Brydie was tried on second-degree murder charges, convicted instead of negligent homicide and given the maximum 15-year prison term without early release. An appeal raising prosecutorial misconduct was later filed and rejected as insufficient for a new trial. Did anyone in the Payson area know Michael or have information about the events that night?