UPDATE: Witness to homicide found dead in Panama City // photo gallery, video

PANAMA CITY — A witness to a homicide who had been receiving death threats after a fatal shooting in June was himself found dead in the trunk of a car Thursday, authorities said.

Police found the body of Tavish Greene, 24, in the trunk of a white 2004 Chevy Malibu behind an abandoned home at 526 E. Eighth Court in Panama City. The Panama City Police Department was alerted to the vehicle Thursday at about 11 a.m. after the Bay County Sheriff’s Office issued a missing persons report Wednesday evening.

Police have not released the cause of Greene’s death or the nature of his wounds to the public, pending an autopsy, but they are working the case as an “active death investigation,” according to Officer Richard Thore, PCPD spokesman.

“It doesn’t appear he died from natural causes,” Thore said, noting the body showed signs of severe decomposition. “He had been there for several days, but a definite timeline has not been established at this time.”

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Tangela Peterson, Greene’s mother, said he had been missing since Sunday. Greene was last seen alive at 2:30 a.m. that morning at Big Daddy’s near the corner of 12th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Greene was seen in the driver’s seat of the Malibu as the club closed, according to witnesses.

Peterson said her son had been receiving death threats over the past few days for what he’d seen June 9. Police were called at about 3:20 a.m. to KJ’s Nightclub, 908 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Once there, officers found 19-year-old Jshun Smith, of Atlanta, near the intersection of 10th Street and MLK Jr. Boulevard with a gunshot wound to the head. Smith was then taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Officers reportedly learned Khiry Ross, 24, and Marcus Mathis, 25, both Panama City residents, had been in a confrontation inside the club with Smith, and the argument spilled outside to the parking lot, where gunfire broke out, according to police reports.

According to his arrest record, Ross fired shots into the air near Smith, and Smith returned gunfire before attempting to enter a vehicle. Ross took cover behind another vehicle and continued firing, authorities reported, but Smith was struck in the head at some point in the melee.

Smith, a passenger in one vehicle, tumbled out onto the roadway as the vehicle sped away, police reported. Ross and Mathis then fled the area in another vehicle driven by Mathis, according to police reports.

Ross and Mathis were later arrested in connection to the shooting, and both men are in jail. Ross is charged with an open count of murder, felon in possession of a firearm and felon in possession of ammunition. Mathis is charged with accessory after the fact to murder.

Peterson said Greene’s testimony was particularly unique for the prosecution’s case and she became concerned when days lapsed without contact from her son.

Greene was out on bond for several felony drug charges. He bonded out about a week before the shooting near KJ’s, and it was unlike him to go without checking in with either his cousin, his pregnant former girlfriend or Peterson, she said.

Peterson, a Panama City resident of Franklin Avenue, said she became frustrated with the Panama City Police Department after attempting to file a missing persons report with the agency Tuesday and Wednesday, she said. She instead turned to BCSO, which took her report. However, she admitted she was unwilling to share the license plate number of the Malibu with PCPD.

Thore said he was unaware of an attempt to file a missing persons report with PCPD.

Residents of the tightly concentrated neighborhood noticed the car behind the abandoned home Thursday morning after BCSO issued a missing person’s report Wednesday. Before then, neighbors had not given the white Malibu a second thought. Many said they reached the conclusion that whoever parked the car there — visible from several side streets — knew the area well enough to figure an abandoned car would go unnoticed for days, despite the densely populated neighborhood.

Police had not identified suspects and were not discussing details of their investigation Thursday evening.

“As far as how the car got there, it’s still too early in the investigation to tell,” Thore said.

Earlier versions of this story appear below:

 PANAMA CITY — Authorities confirmed the body found Thursday in Panama City was a man reported missing Tuesday.

The body, which was found behind 526 E. Eighth Court, was 24-year-old Tavish Greene, who had been receiving death threats.

Check back soon for more details