Nathan Charles Martin was a 20-year-old White man from Tyler, Texas, remembered by friends as shy, friendly and kind-hearted. A student at White House High School, he was described as goofy and someone who always knew how to make people smile.

On the night of February 7, 2024, at approximately 11:40 p.m., Tyler police responded to a report of a person lying in the road at the intersection of Highway 69 North and County Road 489. Officers found Nathan deceased from gunshot wounds. Investigators say his Ford Mustang was taken after the shooting and was later found wrecked and unoccupied.

In the early hours of February 8, authorities located 25-year-old Joshua Renae Bryant about 500 feet from Nathan’s body; he was arrested on burglary and drug-possession allegations and told investigators he had been with Nathan earlier and had no memory of the shooting. A second suspect, 16-year-old Caleb Austin Ward of Whitehouse, was arrested Feburary 16 in Anderson County and booked into the Smith County Juvenile Detention Center. Both Bryant and Ward were charged with capital murder in connection with Nathan’s death.

Did anyone who knew Nathan or saw him that night notice who he was with or what happened near Highway 69 North and County Road 489?