{"id":3693,"date":"2026-07-01T21:37:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T21:37:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=3693"},"modified":"2026-07-01T21:37:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T21:37:41","slug":"how-prosecutors-say-a-durham-man-top-ranking-blood-killed-a-club-promoter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=3693","title":{"rendered":"How prosecutors say a Durham man, top-ranking Blood, killed a club promoter"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n

Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Ring cameras, phone records and DNA samples showed how a club promoter disappeared four years ago \u2014 and how a high-ranking Blood gang member was responsible, the prosecution in a Durham murder trial said in its opening statement Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Read more Bankruptcy administrator has concerns about where St. Augustine\u2019s case is headed<\/a><\/p>\n

Darrius Lavale Tyson, 34, is accused of killing Shawn Burton, 33, who was last seen on March 22, 2022. Authorities never found his body, The News & Observer previously reported<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tyson, who told prosecutors he is the top-ranking Blood in North Carolina, was originally charged with kidnapping Burton in May 2022. A grand jury indicted him on a first-degree murder charge in February 2023. If convicted, he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.<\/p>\n

The N&O found one case of a North Carolina jury convicting someone of murder without a body: James Opelton Bradley, who killed Shannon Rippy Van Newkirk in Wilmington in 2014.<\/p>\n

Tyson\u2019s trial began Monday with jury selection, which lasted until Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

In its opening statement, his defense argued there was no evidence of a struggle between Tyson and Burton, and Tyson would have no reason to murder his friend.<\/p>\n

The night of March 22, 2022, when Burton was last seen, he was visiting Ebony McGill at her Front Street apartment in Durham, Assistant District Attorney Mary Jude Darrow told the jury.<\/p>\n

Burton had recently been released from federal prison after being convicted of drug charges, Darrow said. He was living with his dad in Danville, Virginia, who suffered from dementia. Burton was in a relationship with McGill and had three kids with her, so he would occasionally visit Durham.<\/p>\n

Burton planned to go to the 919 Club to sign a contract and become a music promoter for the south Durham nightclub, Darrow said. McGill was doing laundry when she heard a scream from Burton outside. She saw a few cars and a few men she thought were carrying guns.<\/p>\n

Someone she didn\u2019t recognize got into Burton\u2019s truck, and the group drove off, Darrow said. She thought it was odd but didn\u2019t know what to make of it. So she waited.<\/p>\n

Later that night, McGill received a call from Rayshawn Henderson, Burton\u2019s cousin, Darrow said. Henderson checked the Ring cameras from his North Duke Street duplex and caught Burton\u2019s dark gray truck and two other vehicles, a white Kia and dark Sedan, in the background.<\/p>\n

Behind Burton were men with guns as he opened the door, Darrow said. Then the Ring cameras were ripped off.<\/p>\n

Henderson called McGill to figure out what was going on, Darrow said. McGill then called 911.<\/p>\n

Having no luck with local surveillance camera footage, Durham Police Department officers went to Henderson\u2019s duplex, Darrow said. The place was trashed, and there was blood in the bathroom.<\/p>\n

Read more Raleigh morning show co-host announces abrupt departure from station<\/a><\/p>\n

A forensics team collected swabs and fingerprints from Henderson\u2019s home, Darrow said. Blood found in Henderson\u2019s house, Burton\u2019s truck and Tyson\u2019s rented Kia all matched Burton\u2019s DNA, she said.<\/p>\n

The next morning, no one had heard from Burton, Darrow said. Durham police eventually identified Burton\u2019s license plate, using license plate readers to find the truck driving north on Interstate 85 near Creedmoor. Two cars that matched McGill\u2019s description and the Ring camera followed behind him.<\/p>\n

Police then looked at Burton\u2019s phone records, which showed four calls in the span of 20 minutes from a number belonging to Tyson, Darrow said. Police also found the white Kia following Burton\u2019s truck was the same one Tyson rented from a Sanford company.<\/p>\n

Still, police couldn\u2019t find the vehicle until they got a call from Warren County, where they found Burton\u2019s truck atop railroad tracks in the Soul City area. Search-and-rescue dogs were brought to several possible locations, but they found no sign of Burton.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody has seen or heard from him,\u201d Darrow said.<\/p>\n

Darrow compared her opening statement to the cover of a jigsaw puzzle box, telling the jurors their goal was to piece it together.<\/p>\n

So Tyson\u2019s defense attorney, Daniel Meier, told the jury in his opening statement to \u201cmake sure you look at the pieces that are missing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meier said that the Ring camera footage would show the men were calm and casual, showing no urgency. Henderson was also in his duplex for an hour and a half before police arrived and found his home trashed.<\/p>\n

Meier emphasized that McGill did not call 911 until an hour and a half after Burton left her apartment. There was blood in Henderson\u2019s house, but it was a few drops and not indicative of an assault, Meier said.<\/p>\n

Burton was a big man \u2014 at least 6-foot-3 and over 300 pounds \u2014 so he wouldn\u2019t go down without a struggle, for which there is no evidence, Meier said.<\/p>\n

The defense contended there was no evidence for any of the charges, especially not a conspiracy to murder, Meier said. Tyson\u2019s musical career was about to pop off before Burton\u2019s disappearance, and Burton was going to promote Tyson at the 919 Club.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were friends,\u201d Meier said of Tyson and Burton. \u201cThey called each other a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tyson was attentive but did not show any visible reaction to the opening statements. The trial will resume with the prosecution\u2019s witnesses at 9:15 a.m. Thursday.<\/p>\n

Read more NC’s long-awaited state budget clears first vote on a fast track to becoming law<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trial began for Darrius Tyson, who is accused of murder in the disappearance of Shawn Burton; prosecutors cite blood evidence, surveillance in Henderson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nHow prosecutors say a Durham man, top-ranking Blood, killed a club promoter - Durham Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=3693\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How prosecutors say a Durham man, top-ranking Blood, killed a club promoter - Durham Moving Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Trial began for Darrius Tyson, who is accused of murder in the disappearance of Shawn Burton; prosecutors cite blood evidence, surveillance in Henderson.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=3693\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Durham Moving Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-01T21:37:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3693#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3693\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bf1f081e7f06a3ab66052e5f6015fd85\"},\"headline\":\"How prosecutors say a Durham man, top-ranking Blood, killed a club promoter\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-01T21:37:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3693\"},\"wordCount\":933,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3693#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/9272119286003bc1a69b6b32ad5bcb11.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Read today's Edition\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3693#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3693\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3693\",\"name\":\"How prosecutors say a Durham man, top-ranking Blood, killed a club promoter - Durham Moving Hub\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3693#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3693#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/9272119286003bc1a69b6b32ad5bcb11.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-01T21:37:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bf1f081e7f06a3ab66052e5f6015fd85\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3693#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3693\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3693#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/9272119286003bc1a69b6b32ad5bcb11.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/9272119286003bc1a69b6b32ad5bcb11.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675,\"caption\":\"Darrius Lavale Tyson, 34, appears in Durham County Superior Court on Monday, June 29, 2026, before jury selection. 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