William Billy Craig Buchanan II was 32 when he was killed by gunshot in Free Soil Township, Michigan, in April 2019. Deputies and state troopers responded in the early hours of Tuesday, April 16 after a woman in a home on North US-31 reported a shooting. Officers evacuated the wounded caller and two children, who were not physically harmed, while learning there was another victim and that a man had barricaded himself in a room. After a standoff ended with the man surrendering, investigators found Buchanan dead inside.

The man taken into custody at the scene was Corey Ryan Beekman, who lived at the address. Prosecutors initially filed open murder, assault with intent to murder for the injured woman, and felony-firearm counts. Those charges were later amended to second-degree murder and felonious assault as the case proceeded toward a jury trial scheduled for spring 2020.

The dismissal meant no active charges were pending at that time and left the possibility of reprosecution open because Michigan has no statute of limitations for homicide. Buchanan’s family has continued to press for the case to be revived; the killing remains unresolved in court pending witnesses willing and available to testify. If anyone knew Billy Buchanan or has information about what happened at the North US-31 home that night, please share what is known.