Destiny Marie Poplawski was 27 and a college student and artist when her body was found on November 6, 2014, lying next to a car in the 3900 block of West 57th Street South in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There were no obvious external signs of trauma at the scene; the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner later determined she died from a single gunshot wound from a small caliber bullet and the death was ruled a homicide.

Within weeks investigators identified four people in connection with the killing. On November 26, 2014, prosecutors filed first-degree murder and attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon charges against Steven Ramey, Brenna Tecumseh, Kristie Beavers, and Fred Wesley. Authorities say the group moved between safe houses and then separated, fleeing toward Texas. A coordinated effort by Tulsa County, Creek County and Texas law enforcement led to arrests: Ramey and Tecumseh in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, and Beavers and Wesley in Texas City, Texas. Another person, Shantell Crawford, was arrested in Texas on a material witness warrant.