PANAMA CITY — Panama City police have made three arrests in connection to an investigation into the death of Tavish Greene, who was found dead in a car trunk less than a week ago, officials announced Wednesday.
Darryl Mack, 21, Tyricka Shavon Woullard, 20, and Dontavis Terrell Thomas, 22, have been arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit robbery, police said. Mack and Woullard are in Covington, Ga., awaiting extradition and Thomas has been booked into Bay County Jail.
None of the suspects was charged with murder, but police said they believe the three played a role in Greene’s death. Police are pursuing additional charges against them, according to PCPD spokesman officer Richard Thore.
Greene, 24, was one of several witnesses to a nightclub argument in June that ended in the slaying of 19-year-old Jshun Smith. He allegedly received death threats before being reported missing. Police discovered Greene’s body last Thursday in the trunk of his 2004 Chevy Malibu behind an abandoned home at 526 E. Eighth Court.
However, investigators are not linking his death to what he witnessed and have not brought charges of murder on the three suspects, Thore said.
“Right now, all the evidence does not indicate any of these occurrences happened due to the death he witnessed,” Thore said.
Police have not released the nature of Greene’s injuries and left several details unclear as to events that led to his death.
During the investigation, officers learned Greene was the victim of a robbery, according to a PCPD statement. A search warrant was executed on Woullard’s home at 3710 W. 21st St. Evidence obtained from the residence indicated that the robbery occurred there. Police later found that Woullard had vacated the residence the day after the robbery and fled to Georgia with Mack. Greene’s body was discovered in a trunk several days after the robbery, police said.
Greene was last seen alive July 20 at 2:30 a.m. leaving Big Daddy’s near the corner of 12th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Nearly two blocks away, he’d witnessed Smith, the passenger in his car, get shot in the head more than a month before.
Police arrived at about 3:20 a.m. at KJ’s Nightclub, 908 Martin Luther King Blvd., to find Smith, of Atlanta, in the roadway with a gunshot wound to the head, police reported.
Witnesses told police they saw Khiry Ross, 24, and Marcus Mathis, 25, both of Panama City, in an argument with Smith before both sides drew guns in the parking lot and began firing.
Smith was struck in the head and tumbled out of Greene’s car as the vehicle sped away, police reported.
Ross and Mathis were later arrested and charged in connection to Smith’s death. Both men are in jail.
Several community groups have bonded in the wake of months plagued by gun violence in Panama City. Greene witnessed the fourth of five gun-related homicides within a month.
Police would not specify what other charges the three suspects arrested Wednesday might face, saying they will be pursuing charges that would result in convictions consistent with the appropriate crimes.
“We are going to continue our investigation and are coordinating with the State Attorney’s Office to determine the appropriate forthcoming charges,” Thore said. “… Law enforcement is out there and we’re out there doing everything we can to keep the streets safe.”
An earlier version of this story is posted below:
PANAMA CITY — Police have made three arrests in the death of 24-year-old Tavish Greene.
Greene was found dead in a trunk July 24 in the trunk of a white 2004 Chevy Malibu behind an abandoned home at 526 E. Eighth Court.
He was one of several witnesses to a nightclub argument in June that ended in the shooting death of 19-year-old Jshun Smith. Prosecutors said Greene was prepared to testify about driving the getaway car the night of Smith's death.
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