featured case

A report of a shooting brought Memphis Police officers to the “Always On” heating and
air conditioning company building at 2129 E. Person Avenue, just off Lamar Avenue in
the Orange Mound neighborhood. It was high noon on Saturday, November 18, 2017.
When they arrived they found the business’s owner, Steve Guidry, 67, on the floor near
his office. He was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds and died at the scene.

Homicide detectives learned that a tan-colored SUV was seen on the property just before
the murder occurred, and a blue four-door Chevrolet Impala or Malibu was seen leaving
the property about the time of the shooting.

The Cold Case Unit of the Memphis Police Department is asking for the public’s help.
Any witness to the shooting, or anyone with information about the suspects is asked to
call CrimeStoppers at 528-CASH (2274) to report anonymously, or to call the MPD
Homicide Case hotline, (901) 363-2653.

Firefighters with the Memphis Fire Department responded to a grass fire on what
was then YMV Road, north of Fields Road and near Hicky Street in southwest
Memphis. It was about 8 p.m. on October 16, 1974 — almost 47 years ago. As they
worked to put out the fire they discovered a human body beneath a pile of burning
debris.

The Memphis Police Department responded to a call from the Fire Department at
8:40 that night. The body later was identified as that of Gloria P. Johnson. The 19-
year-old woman had been reported missing 10 days earlier. Cause of death was by
multiple stab wounds, the Shelby County Medical Examiner ruled. She may have
been killed and her body dumped in the field.

The Memphis Police Department’s Cold Case Unit is actively investigating this
unsolved homicide case and is asking for the public’s help. The family has posted a
new $28,000 extra award with CrimeStoppers in the case, making a total of $30,000
the amount available to someone who provides information that helps police make an
arrest.

Anyone with information — it might be a witness from 1974 or someone who has
heard information on this crime since then — is urged to contact CrimeStoppers,
(901) 528-CASH, or the MPD Homicide Unit. A call to CrimeStoppers is always
anonymous and callers will be given a secret code.

A “man down” call brought MPD officers to an apartment at 109 North Belvedere in Midtown at 10 pm, Saturday, August 29, 2009. When they arrived they found victim Fate Coaty, 36, alive but badly injured. He was transported to The MED, now Regional One Hospital, but he died soon after.

Witnesses described two suspects to police. Suspect 1 was a black male, five foot nine inches tall and weighing then 175 to 180 pounds, with medium build and dark complexion. Suspect 2 was a black male six feet tall, with dark complexion.

The suspects took either a DVD or VCR player from the apartment before they fled in a burgundy or red four-door Ford Taurus. The vehicle had been loaned to the victim by a friend. Cold Case Bureau detectives need the public’s help to solve this case.

A shooting victim was driven from the 200 block of Adolphus Avenue to the nearby Memphis Fire station on South Third Street about 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 7, 2020.

Meanwhile, Memphis Police officers from the Crump Station arrived at the crime scene on Adolphus. Onlookers reported that a man in a red sedan with a white hood fired multiple gunshots at a group of people in front of a house, then sped away. Fleming was struck. She was put in a car for the trip to the firehouse but there she died.
           
The killing is now a cold case, waiting for information such as someone coming forward with more details on the shooter’s car, or even a name heard later about the crime. Cold Case Bureau investigators say any further detail about the woman’s murder could help solve the case.

The body of a woman found inside her residence was reported to Memphis police 30 minutes after noon on Tuesday March 2, 2021. The victim was identified as Lamonica Myers.

The medical examiner ruled that she the case a homicide — the woman had been beaten to death in the Pendleton Place apartment on Pendleton Street near Lamar Avenue in south Memphis. The woman had two small children.

Investigators need helping solving this murder.

It was just after 6 p.m. Oct. 9, 1989 when Nancy R. Little, 32, was found dead in her white four-door 1988 Honda Accord. Someone had held her in an awkward position until she stopped breathing. Her death was ruled a homicide due to “positional asphyxia” by then Shelby County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jerry T. Francisco.

Also murdered was her unborn child. Nancy Little was nine months pregnant and was due soon to deliver the baby.

The car was parked on Slate Road, just 20 feet west of Hornsby Drive in the Whitehaven neighborhood. Memphis Police investigators have worked since that day to try to determine who is responsible for her death and what was the motive for the attack.

It was 2:40 on a Sunday morning when Memphis Police responded to a shooting in the parking lot of the Woodlake Apartment complex at Tchulahoma and Winchester. The exact address was 3304 S. Woodlake Circle.

On arrival the officers located a black sedan in the lot and then found Marie Barton, 33, who had been shot. She died at the scene. The information collected indicated there had been an attempted robbery or car jacking, resulting in Barton’s death.

The MPD Cold Case Team is asking the public for any information that may help solve this murder. Even a small detail could prove pivotal.