Lexington detective: Video shows murder suspect used board with nails, screws attached
A Lexington police detective provided testimony in Fayette District Court Thursday about an assault that left a man dead.
The incident happened June 21 at Labor Works on Old Georgetown Street in Lexington. The Lexington Police Department previously said they respond to a report of an assault with a weapon and found a man dead at the scene.
The Fayette County Coroner’s Office later identified the victim as Charles McDowell, 57. The suspect, 50-year-old Roger Wiley, was arrested at the scene and charged with murder and second-degree assault.
During a preliminary hearing Thursday, Lexington police detective Josh Phillips said Wiley used a large piece of landscaping timber with screws and nails attached to the end of it during the assault. The detective said surveillance footage shows Wiley hiding behind a tree approximately 10-15 feet away from McDowell before sneaking up to the victim and beginning the assault.
A bystander tried to intervene in the assault and suffered cuts to the hand, leading to the assault charge. Phillips said he advocated for the bystander to receive medical treatment but they declined.
Surveillance footage captured the entirety of the incident, according to Phillips. Multiple witnesses provided statements to police which matched the events caught on video camera.
Witnesses also provided a description of Wiley and he was found near the scene, according to Phillips. He was detained and brought to police headquarters for an interview, where he confessed to the assault.
In the interview Wiley claimed McDowell had a knife but no weapon was recovered at the scene after officers canvassed the area, according to Phillips.
The case was ultimately sent to a grand jury, where Riley could be indicted on the murder and assault charges.
After the hearing Wiley’s attorney, Parker Mincy, asked Fayette District Judge John Tackett to lower his client’s bond to $50,000. Wiley’s current bond is $1 million, an amount Wiley doesn’t have a reasonable chance to post, Mincy said.
The Commonwealth Attorney’s Office and members of McDowell’s family present for the hearing expressed concerns and disagreement with lowering the bond. Tackett declined to lower the bond, citing a high-risk assessment of Wiley committing another crime if he were released from the jail on bond.
“It doesn’t get more serious than a murder charge,” Tackett said.
How many murders have there been in Lexington this year?
The incident is the seventh homicide to occur in Lexington in 2024. At this point last year Lexington had reported 11 homicides.
In 2023, Lexington reported 24 homicides, fewer than the record-breaking year of 2022, when 44 killings took place. The last time Lexington reported 24 or fewer homicides in a year was in 2018, according to Lexington police data, which dates back to 2008.
