WILMINGTON — Early this week, the prosecution in the TRU Colors double homicide laid groundwork of where it suspects the defendants were and went the night of July 24, 2021, when Koredreese Tyson and Bri-yanna Williams were killed and M’Kaila Walker was injured. The defense, in return, attempted to make the prosecution’s location data seem unsubstantial and shaky at best.
The prosecution called two investigators to the stand on June 2 and 3 to present evidence of the defendants’ alleged travel around Wilmington and Castle Hayne, and formulate for the jury the theory of how and when the defendants arrived at the scene of the crime.
FBI agent Harrison Putman was called on Tuesday to present the cell site locations of defendants Omonte Bell and Dyrell Green, and other alleged co-conspirators on July 23 and 24, 2021. On Wednesday, New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office Detective Calvin Barnes presented surveillance footage of the black Volvo SUV allegedly driven by Bell and carrying passengers to the Providence Road home where the murders took place.
READ MORE: Expert witnesses testify in TRU Colors case, defense pushback and another motion to sever
ALSO: Survivor, former TRU Colors COO take stand in double-homicide trial
CATCH UP: Opening statements, first witnesses presented to jury in TRU Colors double-homicide trial
Bell and Green are charged with one count of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. The conspiracy to murder Williams was dropped from their charges, though it still remains for Tyson. The two are accused of having committed the crimes alongside Raquel Adams, who was tried and convicted of the same charges Bell and Green face, as well as first-degree burglary, in May 2025.
Williams and Tyson were killed around 5:30 a.m. on the morning of July 24, 2021, with Walker — Tyson’s girlfriend — having been shot in the arm, due to a breaking and entering at TRU Colors Brewing COO George Taylor III’s home on Providence Road. Taylor’s father started the brewery and hired active rival gang members in the area in an attempt to curb gun violence. Tyson, Bell and Adams all worked there. Tyson was also living with Taylor for six months and had Williams and Walker over the night he and Williams were killed.
Tyson was the head of the Gangster Disciples in the state of North Carolina at the time he died; the Gangster Disciples are also known rivals of the Double ii Bloodset, also called United Blood Nation. Adams, Bell and Green are all members of the Double ii Bloodset; the year before Tyson died, a man named Daiquan Jacobs, or Polo, was killed in a rival gang dispute. It was suggested by the prosecution that Tyson’s death was retaliation for Jacobs’ death, due to the high ranking position Jacobs held when he was killed.
The prosecution placed Adams, Bell and Green together before and after the crime and presented evidence that places Bell and Green less than 4 miles from the scene of the crime. The defense suggested the evidence was insufficient and inexact.
FBI agent Harrison Putman
To map out the defendants’ actions just before the murders, Putman was tasked with gathering the cell site locations of involved parties, including the defendants, Tyson, Adams and a co-conspirator who was in prison at the time, named Tyzheem Nixon.
In addition to cell site location, Putman received images from a Circle K in Castle Hayne to help piece together the sequence of events the night of the murder. Most notably, his job was to inform the jury where the defendants were near the time of the murders.
While Adams’ phone is shown to be in the Providence Road area when Tyson and Williams were killed, Bell’s phone could not be tracked to the same location, his attorney Meleaha Kimrey noted. Putman said he can only gather a cell site location when a phone has been in use; so if Bell, who has been accused of driving a black Volvo implicated in the crime, was not on his phone at the time, it would not be traceable.
Green’s attorney, Matthew Geoffrion, said his client could have been at his 12th Street home between 4:11 a.m. and when Green next made a phone call near his home’s location at 7:22 a.m. Geoffrion also noted a phone call Green made at or near his home at 5:28 a.m., close to the time the murders happened.
However, NHCSO digital forensic examiner and detective Eric Kelley revealed to the jury Green had two phones and one was factory reset in August, after the murders — meaning data was wiped. The prosecution did not ask Kelley who reset Green’s phone or why.
“You don’t have any information that shows that Green phone leaving the area of that tower, in the 10th Street, 12th Street area, do you?” Geoffrion asked.
Putman did not.
He revealed in his report that M’Kaila Walker’s half-brother, Malachi Cooper — who was with Adams, Green and Bell on July 24 — was dropped off at Green’s home and is reported to be there at the same time Geoffrion alleged Green was home. The prosecution is building a theory that Cooper had one of Green’s phones at the time of the murder and Cooper wanted to give Green an alibi.
Putman and Kelley also showed the path Green, Bell and Adams took to the Providence Road home, according to the evidence. Bell and Adams collected Green from Fulton Avenue in Castle Hayne at 3:30 a.m., text messages revealed before they stopped at a Circle K to make an undisclosed purchase. Surveillance footage from Putman’s report shows Adams and Bell inside the store at about 4 a.m. and cell site location places Green with them. The photographs from Circle K proves all three suspects were together before the murders.
The three are theorized to have headed to the Providence Road home after dropping Cooper off in the area near Green’s residence.
Putman’s reports indicated after the murders, Adams was in the vicinity of Green’s home on 12th Street about 6:13 a.m., and Bell’s records showed him near the same area, with Adams, Cooper and Green at 6:38 a.m. This places all four of them together about a half hour after Williams and Tyson were killed.
NHCSO Detective Calvin Barnes
Barnes was tasked with gathering surveillance footage around the city to follow the movement of the black Volvo SUV Bell is suspected to be driving, which the prosecution alleges was taken to the Providence Road home.
Barnes first obtained doorbell camera images from the Providence Road home, which appear to include a black SUV leaving the neighborhood; the images were collected by law enforcement, including Kelley, who were at the scene of the crime on the morning of July 24. Law enforcement determined it was the black Volvo SUV and told Det. Barnes it belonged to Bell; however, no other doorbell camera footage was shown in court.
“Were you told that there were other vehicles that had been seen outside of Providence Road on the morning of July 24th?” Kimrey asked Barnes.
“I believe so,” he replied.
“Were you asked to look for any of those types of cars?” she asked.
Barnes said he was not but added he was also given information based on the cell site location of people in the car; the places where the car was spotted lined up with Adams’ cell site location, like at Gordon Road, 3.8 miles away from the crime scene. That is the closest the prosecution has been able to allege Bell and Green to be near the murder home, based on cell site location and surveillance footage alone.
When asked later if Barnes knew how many people were in the car, if he suspected it to be one or multiple, he replied with uncertainty because it was a dark SUV driving at night and the quality of the footage was grainy.
With footage from the traffic light at the New Hanover County Library on Third Street and traffic camera footage, Barnes traced the path the Volvo took from downtown Wilmington to Castle Hayne. More traffic footage was obtained from Castle Hayne toward the direction of the Taylor residence. For instance, it captures the Volvo at the New Center Drive and Market Street intersection, by the Chick-fil-A, and driving by the Stevenson-Hendricks Honda dealership along Market Street.
Previous video evidence presented during Detective Nicholas Lee’s testimony on Thursday, May 28, showed the Volvo, allegedly with Green, Bell and Adams inside driving along Market Street, with Barnes’ footage placing the SUV at Gordon Road.
The jury will next see messages, photos, emails and possible GPS locations of both Green and Bell, to aid in completing the timeline and filling in gaps. It is also meant to help the prosecution prove the conspiracy charge both defendants face.
Have tips or suggestions for Emily Sawaked? Email [email protected]
At Port City Daily, we aim to keep locals informed on top-of-mind news facing the tri-county region. To support our work and help us reach more people in 2026, please, consider helping one of two ways: Subscribe here or make a one-time contribution here.
We appreciate your ongoing support.
