A Bowie County grand jury indicted a third teen in the home invasion murder of a local husband and father who was shot to death last year.
Kentraile Collins Jr., 17, was arrested about a week before a trial jury found Daveon Woods guilty of capital murder. Woods and Cameron Ware were arrested within a week of the shooting in November 2019. While preparing for Woods’ jury trial, investigators determined that Collins should be charged in the case also.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Woods forced someone at gunpoint to give him and the other defendants a ride to the River Crossing Apartments on College Drive in Texarkana, Texas, around 1 a.m. Nov. 9, 2019. Woods, Ware and Collins allegedly kicked in the door to Craig Garner’s apartment where he, his wife and children were sleeping.
Garner, 31, was shot after he got out of bed to investigate the noise. According to testimony at Woods’ trial, Woods fired a shot from a .40 caliber pistol which struck Garner in the head.
The gang of teens allegedly went to Garner’s apartment by mistake, according to a probable cause affidavit. Collins was allegedly looking for a man he had unsuccessfully tried to rob the day before.
Woods and Ware are now 18 but they were 17 at the time of Garner’s murder. Because they were 17 at the time of the alleged crime they do not face the death penalty or life without parole as adults convicted of capital murder do. The men face life with parole possible after 40 years under Texas criminal statutes.
Woods is currently serving a life sentence and will be eligible for parole after 40 years. Collins and Ware are being held in the Bowie County jail. Bail for each is set at $1 million.
