Meticulous investigation by the police department’s Cold Case Unit has led to the identification of a convicted killer as the man believed responsible for the 1991 robbery and murder of American Airlines employee Ernest Wilson.
David Bryan Smith, 33, is currently serving a 17-year sentence for a 2005 murder in East Nashville. Because Smith was age 16 when Wilson was shot to death, the prosecution process must begin in Juvenile Court, where a petition charging Smith with criminal homicide is now on file.
Shortly after 10 p.m. on July 9, 1991, Wilson, 41, who lived on Kingview Drive, was cleaning his Chevrolet pickup truck at a carwash in the 3400 block of Clarksville Pike when he was approached by two teenagers, one of them believed to have been Smith. Detectives think Smith, who was armed with a pistol, ordered Wilson into the truck while the second teen got into the back. Wilson drove a short distance to Ashland City Highway and Briley Parkway where he was shot several times while being robbed of his wallet and keys. The second person at the scene, who was age 19 at the time, has been located and interviewed. He is not facing any charges at present.
Smith, when visited in prison by Cold Case Detective Hugh Coleman, refused to answer questions about the Wilson murder case.
In a second cold case investigation by Detective Coleman, two persons face a first-degree murder indictment for the January 15, 1999, shooting death of Marquis Randolph Miller.
Charged are Fredrico Lorenzo Horton and his girlfriend, Marria Thompson, both 28.
The investigation shows that Miller was shot in the head behind a building on 25th Avenue North in retaliation for his suspected robbery and wounding of a drug dealer earlier in the month. Horton and Thompson were close friends of the drug dealer and witness information led to their identification in the murder investigation.
Thompson was arrested on the indictment this week. Horton is currently serving a nine-year sentence for a 2006 robbery conviction.
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