An arrest was made this week that could help close the book on a 20-year-old unsolved murder in Columbus.
Investigators with the Columbus Police Department, along with other agencies from the state and region, said David Solomon Murray, II, 52, was arrested on Tuesday by the U.S. Marshal’s Task Force in Jackson in connection with the murder of 78-year-old Mack Fowler in 1996.
Murray was transported from Jackson back to the Lowndes County Adult Detention Facility in Columbus.
Murray was then arraigned on the capital murder charge by Municipal Court Judge Rhonda Ellis and was denied bond.
CPD Captain Brett Swan said in a press conference Wednesday that DNA evidence ultimately helped lead investigators to arrest Murray.
On July 9, 1996, CPD responded to a call in the 2400 block of 3rd Avenue North in Columbus to a report of a dead body. The initial investigation concluded that the victim - Fowler - had been beaten and stabbed to death in his home.
Investigators in 1999 then submitted DNA evidence gathered at the scene to the Columbus Forensics Lab, who worked with the Mississippi Department of Public Safety Crime Laboratory to build a DNA profile on a possible suspect.
Murray was then arrested by the Jackson Police Department last October on an unrelated felony charge, where a DNA swab was taken and submitted to the state crime lab for examination. In May 2017, it was determined that Murray’s DNA matched the unknown DNA found at the Fowler crime scene.
Mississippi Crime Lab Director Sam Howell, along with Columbus Forensics Lab Director Austin Shepherd, praised the work of the first investigators on the case, saying their evidence gathering and police work ultimately led to progress being made with new forensic technology in the present day.
“It’s commitment like that that allows us to use state-of-the-art technology today to help them solve crimes,” Howell said.
District Attorney Scott Colom said the case will now go to grand jury, and if Murray is indicted, Colom said his office will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.
“Hopefully it will give the Fowler family justice after all these years,” Colom said.
THE SUSPECT
Murray - who was arrested on Tuesday in the 400 block of Earle Street in Jackson - is originally from Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
After attending school in Texas, Murray lived in Columbus from 1986 to 2005. Some time after that, Murray moved to Jackson.
While details about Murray’s relationship to Fowler were not disclosed, Swan said Murray was invited into Fowler’s home as a guest the night of the murder.
Investigators also could not disclose if Murray had committed or been accused of any prior criminal offenses.
No court date has been given for Murray at this time.
CONNECTION TO OTHER UNSOLVED MURDERS
While Murray has only been charged in connection with one murder, investigators were also asked if Murray was a suspect in a string of unsolved murders that rocked Columbus in the late 1990s.
Five elderly people in Columbus - including Fowler - were murdered from 1996 to 1998. The other victims were Betty Everett, Robert Hannah, Louise Randall and George Wilbanks.
Swan said CPD wants to investigate each unsolved murder on its own merits, instead of rushing to conclusions following one arrest.
“We want to make sure each unsolved murder is an individual case where the individual lab analysis is done, forensics are done, interviews are done,” Swan said. “If forensics ties these cases together, then so be it, but we don’t want to do that from an investigator's standpoint.”
The unsolved murders left an undeniable cloud over the city of Columbus, but CPD Chief Oscar Lewis said he hopes the cases will be closed soon, starting with Fowler's.
“Any time there is a murder, we are very excited to get an arrest, no matter how long it takes to bring the person to justice,” Lewis said.
Despite Swan not confirming whether Murray is a person of interest in other unsolved murder cases, he said investigators have suspects in several unsolved crimes, but continue to push forward to build cases.
“We have potential suspects in many of the murders we have that are unsolved,” Swan said. “Some of these cases come together better than others, some don’t come together at all.”