A Crimestoppers poster offers a reward for information about the murder of Daushawn Guthridge; his alleged killer has since been charged with a federal crime.
A years-old recording on a PlayStation video game console helped investigators make a rare murder case against the man responsible for the murder, according to a recently unsealed federal criminal complaint.
In the early morning hours of July 10, 2019, 41-year-old Daushawn Guthridge was fatally shot in a Kent Street home in Flint, Michigan. Police found a dozen 9mm casings at the scene. A woman was also shot while using her body to protect Guthridge’s 9-year-old son.
The woman, identified in the complaint as Victim-2, said three men entered the residence and began talking with Guthridge when one of the attackers pointed a gun at her head and told her to get away. sit on the sofa. She said she was keen to mention the young boy in the room, but the thieves apparently didn’t care much.
“Where is the money?” one of the men allegedly asked Guthridge, the woman recalled. She told law enforcement that she recognized one of the three intruders as having had dealings with Guthridge in the past. The deceased’s son said he remembered one of the men once buying marijuana from his father.
The next day, an anonymous person submitted a tip about what they overheard during an online multiplayer basketball game.
“I was on the PlayStation 4 playing with the 41-year-old man who died at the scene in the 1600 block of Kent Street near Seymour Avenue,” the person told law enforcement. “He was playing the game with several people in a group chat about the game system. I have a short clip that proves that I just want justice… His player tag is shawn4uall… We’ve heard all the arguments and more shots. I hope this video will help you. The conflict begins at the 25th second.
Dustin Hurt, an officer with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, reviewed the clip in question, the complaint states.
“Don’t move,” said a man recorded by the video game system. “Speak quickly. Where is the money ? You have thirty seconds bro. I’ve been sitting outside your house for a while now, man. Where’s the f—— money? You have thirty seconds. Do you think I’m playing? If I can’t find money in twenty seconds, bro, if I can’t find f——bows and no money in twenty seconds, I’m sorry…”
In the complaint, the ATF agent notes that the term “bows” is a known reference to one-pound packages of marijuana.
“During the PlayStation video, I heard another male voice counting down from thirty,” Hurt continues. “At approximately 2:26 into the PlayStation video, I heard the first of twelve shots. The twelve shots match the twelve spent 9mm cartridge casings that the police found when they responded to the Kent house.
In October 2020, Darel King was arrested on state-issued warrants for charges related to Guthridge’s murder. In May 2021, the charges against the state were dropped — although Genesee County prosecutors insisted they quickly refile them. In the meantime, King was able to flee Wolverine State.
“I’m running away from that mother f—-,” King reportedly said in a phone call to the jail after the hearing in which charges against him were dropped by local prosecutors.
King was arrested in October 2021 in Nevada on unrelated charges.
In a federal investigation, Hurt played the recording for the woman who was shot the night of Guthridge’s murder.
“It’s him,” she told the federal agent. 100%.”
Next, Hurt tracked down two other people playing basketball online during filming using their PlayStation grips, the complaint states. Witnesses who released the recording said they remembered that night exactly as shown in the video.
Three criminal informants are also named in the criminal complaint.
One of these informants died but provided the initial information linking King to Guthridge’s murder by way of a nickname. After including King’s image in programming, the female victim identified King as the shooter.
“It was the man who shot me,” the woman told investigators.
The other two informants named in the complaint listened to the PlayStation recording and said the voice uttering the threats belonged to King.
According to the complaint, the “theft of drugs and drug products” gave federal agents the power to prosecute the case – because such theft impacts intrastate commerce.
On Monday, King was charged with one count of knowingly and unlawfully interfering with commerce by theft and knowingly using a firearm during and in connection with a crime of violence in which he used a weapon on fire to commit murder.
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