Teen couple in Arlington murdered at birthday party over a tank of gas: warrants
A 26-year-old woman accused of murdering her cousin at an Arlington apartment in November was angry at him because he returned her car without gas, court records state.
Diamond Curttie and four other suspects have been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Dayton Allen and his 18-year-old girlfriend, Alexis Tyler. The shooting occurred Nov. 23, the eve of Allen’s 20th birthday.
Curttie and another one of Allen’s cousins, 20-year-old Shannon Steele, are currently in the Dallas County Jail. Twenty-one-year-old Demarian Owens, 19-year-old Eddie Walker and 18-year-old Chrisaveon Whitted are being held in the Tarrant County Jail. All five suspects face a capital murder charge, according to court records.
Allen and his girlfriend were staying at an Airbnb-style apartment near AT&T Stadium that he had rented for his birthday party. Officers were called to the apartment in the 600 block of Slaughter Street around 10:20 p.m. after someone reported hearing shots and seeing several people run from the area.
Police said they found Allen and Tyler with multiple gunshot wounds. Allen died at the apartment, and Tyler died at Arlington Memorial Hospital less than an hour later.
A white car following the victims home
Surveillance footage shows the couple leave the apartment around 8 p.m. for Dallas, where they met some of Allen’s family. Allen and Tyler left there about 9 with Allen’s cousin Curttie in their car, according to an Arlington Police Department search warrant affidavit. Owens followed them in a white car with Steele, Walker and Whitted as passengers.
Curttie later told investigators that the victims knew they were being followed, according to the warrant. She said Allen had invited Owens and the others to join him in Arlington for his birthday party.
The victims and Curttie ordered food to go at a restaurant in Grand Prairie while Owens and the other suspects waited in the parking lot. Traffic cameras show the white car trail the victims all the way back to Allen’s apartment, according to the warrant.
Allen, Tyler and Curttie went inside the Airbnb apartment. The white car parked in the parking lot, and surveillance footage shows four people dressed in dark clothes get out and walk toward the front door. One of them carried a duffel bag.
At 10:19 p.m., bullets can be seen hitting the adjacent apartment building. Four people, including the person with the duffel bag, run back to the white car. Curttie follows them seconds later and gets in the backseat.
Curttie told investigators that she had no prior knowledge of the murder. She said she was in a closet in the back bedroom when she heard gunshots. She came out and saw Whitted, Steele and Walker fire handguns, modified with switches to make them automatic, at Allen and Tyler.
Curttie claimed the suspects ordered her to get into their car and threatened her with guns on the way back to the house in Dallas. They warned her not to talk to police, she said, and threw her iPhone out the window.
A fake story about losing her iPhone: police
Allen’s family later told investigators they were surprised Curttie had been with him that night. The two had argued a few months before after Allen borrowed Curttie’s car and returned it without gas. Curttie had refused to accept Allen’s apology, the warrant states.
Curttie, however, insisted she and her cousin had made up. She turned her new iPhone over to Arlington police. Detectives noticed a Google search on the new phone for “insta cash cell phone machines,” dated the day after the murder.
Investigators discovered Curttie’s girlfriend had sold a black iPhone at an ecoATM on Nov. 24. Surveillance video at the Walmart where the kiosk was located showed Curttie apparently entering information into the machine. She then stepped out of the way, and the machine took a photo of her girlfriend as the seller, the warrant states.
According to the warrant, investigators believe Curttie’s phone contains evidence that might link her to her cousin’s murder, and she lied about it being thrown out the window.
Curttie was arrested during a traffic stop Thursday and is being held on a $1 million bond, according to jail records.
Steele was arrested in December and is being held on a bond of over $2 million. Court records show he was indicted in February in a separate murder case, the June 2022 fatal shooting of Vernon Rivers in Dallas.
Owens is being held on a $1 million bond, according to Tarrant County Jail records. A second search warrant affidavit lists him as the owner of the white 2018 Ford Fusion that was used by the suspects the night Allen and Tyler were killed.
Owens denied driving to the apartment in Arlington, according to the warrant. He told investigators he got drunk that night and passed out in a back bedroom in Dallas. When he woke up, Curttie was standing over him with his car keys in her hand.
Police said that account contradicts Curttie’s account of immediately getting in her own car and leaving once she was dropped off at the house in Dallas. Investigators obtained the warrant to analyze data found on a video recording device in Owens’ car.
Walker and Whitted are also being held in the Tarrant County Jail on $1 million bonds, according to court records. It’s not clear if the five suspects have obtained attorneys to represent them.
Arlington Police Chief Al Jones praised the investigative work of Homicide Unit detectives.
“This was an extremely complex investigation that required a significant amount of interviews, search warrants, and data analysis,” Jones said Friday on X. “I’m grateful these suspects are now in custody.”
This story was originally published June 20, 2025 at 3:32 PM.
