Suquorey Pitts Jr

In the early morning hours of December 3, 2023, a 911 call brought deputies from the Drew County Sheriff's Office to the old Wilmar School on North 5th Street in Wilmar, Arkansas. Around 2:30 a.m., they arrived to find a tragic scene. Suquorey Pitts Jr., a 25-year-old Black man from Dumas, was discovered deceased in the front passenger seat of a vehicle parked in the school's driveway. Nearby, 21-year-old Independence Young of McGehee was found lying on the street. Both men had been shot and were pronounced dead at the scene.

The Drew County Sheriff's Office requested assistance from the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division, which joined the homicide investigation. For months, authorities worked to find who was responsible for the deaths of the two young men.

A breakthrough came nearly eight months later, on the evening of July 30, 2024. Arkansas State Police troopers conducted a traffic stop on a black Dodge Charger in Lake Village. A passenger in the car was identified as Taiwan V. Collins, a 27-year-old from McGehee who was wanted in connection with the double homicide. Collins was arrested and transported to the Drew County Detention Center.

Collins was initially charged with two counts of capital murder for the deaths of Suquorey Pitts Jr. and Independence Young. The case proceeded to trial, where a Drew County jury convicted Taiwan V. Collins of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of committing a terroristic act. Following the conviction, he was sentenced to 57 years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections. This development occurred in November 2026.