Famous Lockhart was murdered in 2005. Fort Worth police need help finding his killer.
Police in Fort Worth are asking for help to find the person or people who killed 16-year-old Famous Lockhart in 2005, according to a news release.
Lockhart was killed on April 23, 2005. A Fort Worth police officer noticed a vehicle driving erratically around 11:50 p.m. and followed the car to Baylor Hospital, where the occupants told the officer, “He got shot in the chest,” according to police.
Police said Lockhart was shot in front of a home during a massive birthday party in the 2500 block of Butterfield Drive and died at the hospital.
Lockhart’s family in 2006 described him as a good-natured kid who usually stayed close to home and enjoyed writing and recording rap lyrics.
The initial investigation into Lockhart’s murder had hundreds of possible witnesses, and police in May 2005 interviewed around 100 of them. In August 2006, Lockhart’s mother, Angela Lee Black, said she would never stop looking for justice.
As Fort Worth cold case investigators bring attention back to the case, they’re asking anyone with information to call 817-392-4307 or send an email to coldcase@fortworthpd.com.
The initial investigation
A police sergeant in 2005 told the Star-Telegram one of the mothers at the party estimated there were 300 people at the party, mostly teenagers, and investigators were trying to locate and interview all of them.
According to an August 2006 news article, estimated attendance ranged from 150 to 300.
Lockhart, a North Crowley High School student, was standing outside a Chevrolet Suburban getting ready to leave the party when he was shot in the chest. Relatives loaded him into the SUV and took him to Baylor All Saints Hospital.
Fliers about the party, hosted by Adrian Brewer — who said she, her cousin and a friend from church threw the party to celebrate the recent birthdays of their four teen children — were distributed at the teenagers’ schools, including Everman, North Crowley and Eastern Hills.
In August 2006, the Star-Telegram reported the fliers went beyond those schools and “the party took on a life of its own.”
The party was a sort of annual tradition, Brewer said. It was hosted at Brewer’s house that year.
The shooting happened shortly after a confrontation in a neighbor’s yard between guests at the party and Lockhart’s cousin, Brewer told the Star-Telegram. The cousin had worn a red shirt to the party, not realizing it was a gang color.
Brewer said in 2005 that Lockhart’s cousin was being given a hard time by some at the party because of the color of his shirt.
“He said, ‘Ma’am, I’m just here to have fun. I’m not trying to cause any problems,’ “ Brewer told the Star-Telegram in 2005.
She was telling him he could wear whatever he wanted when he was jumped by a group of boys, Brewer said. The Star-Telegram reported in 2006 the boys who jumped him were believed to be gang members. Lockhart was not involved in the fight.
“We broke it up,” Brewer said. “I told them the party was over. ‘That’s it, everybody go home.’ ”
Brewer’s cousin, Yolanda Spears, said she witnessed the confrontation.
“I was running down the street to make sure the kids were getting in their cars and the troublemakers were leaving,” Spears said.
She was approaching the Suburban when she saw an unknown teen kick out a window, Spears said. She was about to question him about why he did that when she heard a gunshot and took off in the opposite direction, back to Brewer’s house, where she told everyone there that someone was just shot.
Lockhart’s family said in 2006 that he rarely went far from home, but when he did go to parties his family made a habit of parking the vehicle a little ways down the street and making plans to meet back there if there was trouble.
“There were hundreds of kids just running everywhere,” Spears said.
J.D. Thornton, at the time a homicide sergeant, said on April 26, 2005, the number of party attendees meant the investigation was “going to take some time.” That was nearly 17 years ago.
A suspect arrested, then released
In June 2005, police announced they had a 17-year-old suspect in the killing. He was involved in a fight at the party, police said at the time. They told the Star-Telegram they believed the shooting was related to that fight.
In June 2005, the teenager turned himself in. He said he was in a fight, but he wasn’t a gang member and he had nothing to do with the shooting.
The Star-Telegram is not naming the suspect because in August 2006, the teen was released after months in jail. Charges were dropped without prejudice, giving prosecutors the ability to refile charges later. To date, they haven’t done that.
“I thought my life was going to be over and they were going to send me to the penitentiary for something I didn’t do,” he told the Star-Telegram after his release. “I stayed in the Bible, talking with the Lord. I see he came through for me.”
Then-prosecutor Ed Lasater told the Star-Telegram in 2006 some problems arose with relevant witnesses in the case.
“As we prepared for the trial, the case essentially fell apart,” Lasater told the Star-Telegram at the time. “In my opinion, [he] is still the prime suspect, but we don’t feel comfortable taking him to trial.
“The bottom line in a homicide case is: It’s not good enough not to be 100% sure.”
The man who was released from jail told the Star-Telegram in a 2006 phone interview, when he was 18, that he had never seen Lockhart before his picture was in the paper.
“I feel for the lady that lost her child,” the man said in the interview. “I can’t be mad at her for wanting to find the killer of her son. I just want her to know that it wasn’t me.”
The man’s defense attorney told the Star-Telegram that a few months before his release she made him take two polygraph tests. He passed both, she said. And while polygraphs aren’t admissible in court, she handed the results over to the district attorney’s office.
Prosecutors considered the case to be solid when police turned it over to them. Lasater said in 2006 the man they suspected was pointed to by witnesses who said he was the shooter or was in an area where he could have committed the crime. The witnesses who he said could provide him an alibi couldn’t do it and there were no other legitimate suspects, Lasater said.
But Lasater said in 2006 there was no gun, physical evidence or scientific evidence linking the man to the murder. Investigators re-interviewed relevant witnesses and several “changed their stories or remembered it different when we asked again.”
The defense attorney said she thought someone started spreading the man’s name because it was convenient.
“He got into this thing because one or two people called his name out,” the attorney said. “Somebody said his name that shouldn’t have. They took his name and started running with it. Hearsay is what got him into this.”
Still waiting for justice, ‘Famous was a good kid’
Later in August 2006, Black, Lockhart’s mother, said she hadn’t given up hope that someone would come forward with information that would lead to answers. Lockhart’s family said they would keep praying for justice.
“As long as I have breath in my body and blood running through my veins, I will not give up,” Black told the Star-Telegram in 2006.
There is no statute of limitations on murder and Lasater, who is no longer a prosecutor, told the Star-Telegram in 2006 that the case would remain open until Lockhart’s killer was convicted.
“It is our hope we will get more evidence that will provide us with a prosecutable case against the person who killed Famous Lockhart,” he said. “Famous was a good kid. He didn’t deserve this.”
This story includes information from the Star-Telegram archives.
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 12:21 PM.