In the early morning hours of January 16, 2017, gunfire and shouting drew police to a north Tulsa home near 29th Street North and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Officers found three people inside who had been shot to death: 28-year-old Thomas Lee Brown, his 52-year-old mother Cara Brown, and 58-year-old Kenneth Sellers. The house had been ransacked, but there were no signs of forced entry, leading investigators to believe the victims may have known their killer or killers.

Investigators concluded Thomas Lee Brown was likely the primary target and that the other two victims were killed as witnesses. Arrests followed in February 2017 when Melvin Porter was taken into custody; a second suspect, Christopher President, was also arrested later. Prosecutors relied in part on cell phone records that conflicted with the defendants’ statements during a week-long trial in 2021, and a jury found both men guilty of three counts of first-degree murder and one count of armed robbery, recommending life without parole.

Anyone with information about Thomas Lee Brown, the night of January 16, 2017, or the neighborhood is asked to come forward.