Late on April 23, 2022, police in Grand Junction, Colorado, responded to a disturbance at the Days Inn on Horizon Drive and found 31-year-old Buddy Cates dead on the motel room floor from two gunshot wounds. Investigators located a revolver, an automatic pistol, a bundle of cash on the bed, and three pills suspected to be fentanyl on a TV stand. Surveillance showed four people forcing their way into Cates’ room; the video did not capture the interior events but audible pops are heard and the four then leave. A trail of blood led away from the room.

Within a day two people were arrested, K.C. Hatley, 21, and Cory Davis, 36; two more, Amanda Cunningham, 31, and Lanea Cameron, 27, were later arrested. A witness told police the group went to the motel intending to rob Cates, that Cates shot Hatley, and that Davis then shot Cates. In December 2023 Hatley pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and was sentenced to 19 years; multiple more serious charges against him were dismissed under the plea deal.

If anyone was at the Days Inn that night or has information about the people seen on the surveillance footage, please share what is known.