3 Teens Charged With Murder In Des Moines Man's Beating
August 31, 2013
Three 18-year-olds have been charged with murder in a beating attack that police said reflected a “mob mentality” and left a Des Moines man dead.
Yarvon Nathaniel Russell, James Alon Shorter and Kent Anthony Tyler III, all of Des Moines, were charged Friday with first-degree murder.
Russell and Shorter were arrested and taken to the Polk County Jail. A warrant has been issued for Tyler’s arrest. He was still at large as of Friday night.
The three are accused of killing Richard Daughenbaugh, 40, who was found severely beaten in a parking lot near the Center Street bridge around 1 a.m. Sunday. He died from his injuries at a local hospital.
The homicide apparently stemmed from a verbal altercation between Daughenbaugh and one of the men arrested, though Des Moines Police Sgt. Jason Halifax declined to say which one.
The argument was two-sided. The physical altercation was not, police said.
At some point one of the suspects attacked Daughenbaugh, authorities said. The other two — and police believe several others — joined in.
“The phrase ‘mob mentality’ is probably accurate here,” Halifax said. “Once the assault began, acquaintances of the suspect jumped in.”
Investigators didn’t find a motive other than the argument. Police recovered Daughenbaugh’s wallet and determined the event wasn’t a robbery gone bad.
The suspects allegedly beat Daughenbaugh using no weapons other than their own bodies while others in the group tried to stop anyone from helping, police said.
A woman fishing nearby tried to step in and stop the assault and was struck, police said. Her companion was attacked as he jumped in to defend her.
And when the woman tried to call 911, two women from the group allegedly grabbed her phone and threw it. She eventually retrieved it and called 911.
Le’Prese Derrion Williams, 21, was charged with willful injury in the assault.
Shanayia Dianne Hamer, 23, and Franreca Delores Woods, 19, both of Des Moines, were charged with first-degree theft for grabbing the phone.
Police believe several dozen people were gathered in the parking lot and watched the attack. Investigators suspect there are three or four others who participated and are working to develop additional evidence.
“We feel there are probably more, and if we can file charges, we will,” Halifax said.
Investigators haven’t determined what Daughenbaugh was doing in the area that night, and they aren’t sure why such a large crowd gathered.
“It doesn’t appear as though he went there looking for a fight. And the group didn’t gather looking for a fight either,” Halifax said.
The homicide was more a crime of opportunity than a random killing, authorities said. The suspects didn’t pick a target at random to attack. But it was still unusual for Des Moines, where most homicides are between people who know each other.
Larry Bradshaw, the president of the Downtown Neighborhood Association, said he still feels safe being out at night.
“But it is cause for concern,” he said. “It probably does give you a little more cause to try to walk where there are people, make sure to be on lighted streets.”
The neighborhood group gets monthly crime reports from Des Moines police, and Bradshaw said the group usually hears the area is safe.
“Most crimes that happen, people know each other or it’s a bar fight, things like that,” he said. “This is definitely out of the ordinary.”
Authorities have found no connection between Daughenbaugh and anyone else involved. And police don’t usually see this many people involved in a single homicide.
But police could at least applaud an unusual aspect of the crime.
“We don’t typically see the uninvolved stepping in to try to stop things either,” Halifax said.
James Shorter
Yarvon Russell
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