TEXARKANA, Texas–One of two men charged with murder this year in a case that had been unsolved since 2009 is facing a charge of witness tampering for allegedly asking a witness to lie for him.
Joshua Undronde Murphy, 34, and Charles Louis Madlock, 34, are both facing a murder charge in the Oct. 7, 2009, murder of 25-year-old Rickey Lee Dorsey Jr. The case had been unsolved until February when the pair were taken into custody on separate dates and booked into the Bowie County jail.
Murphy appeared Monday before 202nd District Judge John Tidwell with Texarkana lawyer Jeff Harrelson. He pleaded not guilty to murder and to a charge of witness tampering. Murphy allegedly called a girlfriend from the jail on March 5 and asked her to provide an alibi for his whereabouts on the night Dorsey was shot multiple times with a .45 caliber weapon in the 1600 block of Apple Street, according to a probable cause affidavit. Murphy allegedly asked the woman to change her previously truthful statement to one that includes a false alibi for him.
Members of the Texarkana street gang Loyalty Cash Business or LCB, known previously as Little Cuz Boys, allegedly were involved in the reportedly drug-related hold-up that ended in bloodshed.
“The location of the murder was a known LCB house that distributed narcotics,” the affidavit said.
A Chrysler 300 with Virginia plates was reported driving away after the shots were fired. Murphy, who allegedly drove a Chrysler 300 with Virginia plates at the time, denied any involvement when interviewed by investigators with the Texarkana Texas Police Department.
Madlock allegedly claimed in a 2010 interview with a detective at the Texarkana Texas Police Department that he’d been living in Long Beach, California, since June 2009 and hadn’t returned to Texarkana until December 2009. However, a bus ticket receipt allegedly put him in Texarkana until the day after the murder and his California identification was issued six days after Dorsey’s death.
Phone records allegedly show that Madlock called Murphy three times in the half hour before a shots fired call sent officers to the Apple Street residence and once in the hour afterward. Murphy allegedly called Madlock seven times in the hour before the shooting and once in the hour after.
“This shows communication between Madlock and Murphy during the time frame of this murder,” an affidavit states.
Judge Tidwell scheduled Murphy to return to court in August for a pretrial hearing. Madlock has not yet appeared for arraignment. If convicted of murder, the men face five to 99 years or life in prison.
Murphy faces five to 99 years or life on the witness tampering charge as well.
Bonds for both men in the murder case is set at $1 million.
