One dead, one wounded in robbery gone wrong

One dead, one wounded in robbery gone wrong

Police still investigating ‘ vague and conflicted’ witness accounts

news@theeveningtimes.com

An apparent drug robbery in West Memphis left one man dead and another wounded just after midnight Sunday morning.

The shootings scene occurred in the 1100 block of McAuley Cove at 12:20 a.m., Sept. 9. Unseld Nance, 25, was killed and 48 year-old Toney Davis was wounded in the house. Davis was expected to be released from the hospital Monday.

West Memphis Police Department Enforcement/Criminal Investigation Division Commander Captain Joe Baker said evidence at the scene and witness statements did not mesh. Police were set to sort out the details with another round of witness interviews yesterday afternoon.

“We are in the very early stages of working on it,” said Baker. “The statement we got at the hospital was vague and conflicted with what we saw at the crime scene.”

Baker said guns and a marijuana cache were discovered at the house.

“There was enough marijuana in the house it was obviously enough to sell, scales, and baggies,” said Baker. “There were several weapons in the house. On was an AR-15 rifle. Unseld had a weapon on him and there was another pistol in the house. From the looks of the house it was a trap house, a dope house Nance was operating.”

The evidence led police in one direction but waited for a corroborative statement from witnesses.

“At this point it looks like a robbery attempt of the neighborhood dope guy,” said baker. “We feel like the witness’ story should be different based on the forensic and physical evidence at the scene.

The murder represented the twelfth homicide in the city this year. Baker reviewed the year to date.

“We started at a fast clip this year,” said Baker. “We had some that were justified, like the one at the hotel Dumpster on Martin Luther King. We had a couple of vehicular homicides that don’t represent the typical.”

By John Rech