Jailed in Nevada on an attempted murder charge, he’s now accused in a Fort Worth murder

A 27-year-old man jailed in Nevada on accusations of attempted murder was charged Tuesday with murder in connection with the fatal shooting of a Fort Worth man a year ago.

The victim, 41-year-old Matthew Gaines, had opened his home to Ray Capone Marshall, police allege.

But on the early morning of Jan. 12, 2017, investigators believe Marshall shot Gaines multiple times in the chest and arms, then fled town.

Gaines’ body was found six days later inside the living room of his Wind River apartment in the 8700 block of Calmont Avenue after concerned relatives requested that Fort Worth police do a welfare check.

“He just had a big heart. He didn’t mind helping people,” said Gaines’ sister, Tiki Willis. “I guess he helped the wrong person.”

According to an arrest warrant affidavit written by homicide Detective Tom O’Brien, Gaines had reportedly told a witness that he was planning on kicking Marshall out because the man wasn’t paying rent.

Court documents indicate Marshall had left a bag of marijuana on the kitchen counter before fleeing the apartment in hopes that investigators would believe the shooting was drug-related.

‘Admitted to shooting’

Gaines was last seen alive around midnight Jan. 12, 2017, after being dropped off by a co-worker at his apartment, located in the Las Vegas Trail area in west Fort Worth. Marshall, who did not have a key to the apartment, was waiting in the parking lot when Gaines returned home, the affidavit states.

When the co-worker went to pick up Gaines for work the following afternoon, no one answered the door. Gaines never returned to work, nor did he pick up his phone when called by family and friends.

When friends or family reached Marshall by phone, he claimed he hadn’t seen Gaines.

Though cellphone records, investigators learned that Gaines had last spoken with a woman after being dropped off at the apartment.

She told investigators that toward the end of their phone conversation, she heard Gaines arguing with another man, followed by a scuffle before the phone hung up.

Detectives also learned from witnesses that another man reportedly had been on the phone with Marshall and had heard the shooting. Phone records confirm Marshall had talked to that man about 1:09 that morning, the time that investigators say they believe Gaines was killed.

Detectives obtained a murder warrant for Marshall on Jan. 8. They later learned he was being held in the Nevada jail on multiple charges, including attempted murder, in connection with shooting at a man in Las Vegas.

On Jan. 15, O’Brien and Detective Matt Barron traveled to Nevada to interview Marshall.

“He admitted to shooting Matthew Gaines,” O’Brien said.

‘The life of the party’

Willis said her brother was raised in Grand Prairie and had lived in Fort Worth for years. He had six children, including two sets of twin boys, she said.

“He was very outgoing, always smiling, the life of the party,” Willis said.

Willis said she had only recently commented to someone that she felt like no one was ever going to go to jail for killing her brother. A couple days later, she talked to O’Brien on the phone and learned that Marshall had confessed.

“When I found out that he had confessed, I cried and cried and cried,” Willis said. “My mom was telling me I have to be strong; that I should be happy that someone is in jail. I don’t understand why he would do it because of the type of person my brother was. I really still feel hurt.”

Diamond McGhee, Gaines’ daughter, said her father knew Marshall through work.

“His girlfriend had kicked him out of his house,” McGhee said. “He asked my dad, could he spend a couple nights there until he could get a motel room. My dad said sure... He was a kind-hearted person. He wasn’t the type to leave people stranded without anything.”

But a couple of nights stretched into weeks and Marshall’s plan to get a motel room never materialized. During a weekend visit, McGhee said she became suspicious that Marshall was selling drugs from her father’s apartment.

“My dad was trying to find a way to tell him to leave,” McGhee said.

McGee said she last talked to her dad on the night of Jan. 11 as she drove to work. He wanted her to come pick him up.

“I told him that I had to work and I would come after work,” she said. “But when I called, he didn’t answer.”

McGhee would eventually reach out to Marshall, who claimed he hadn’t seen Gaines either. He said he’d been knocking on Gaines’ apartment door to try to get his clothes from the apartment but never got an answer

After days of not being able to reach her father, McGhee requested police do a welfare check.

Compounding the family’s grief, Willis said, is that her older sister, Arlie Gaines, had been murdered in Arlington in 1994.

According to a Star-Telegram article about the murder, an argument between two men over a bag of potato chips erupted into gunfire inside the Poor Monkey’s Lounge in central Arlington. Arlie Gaines, a 22-year-old innocent bystander, was struck in the chest and killed.

In that case, a jury convicted the shooter of criminal negligent homicide and sentenced him to two years in prison.

“Now, it’s just me,” Willis said. “I don’t have a brother or sister that I can call on or talk to. It’s hard. It’s so hard.”

This story was originally published January 23, 2018 at 3:05 PM with the headline "Jailed in Nevada on an attempted murder charge, he’s now accused in a Fort Worth murder."