There is a YouTube clip, jerky and brief, posted by his mother, showing Wilmer-Hutchins High School's Troy Causey Jr. going head-to-head against Madison's Johnathan Turner. Causey opens the game with a put-back jam. Turner responds with one on the other end.
Two months later, on March 23, Dallas police say the two faced off again in a confrontation that left Causey unconscious in front of his southeast Oak Cliff home with a fractured skull and brain swelling. He died the next night at Baylor hospital.
According to police, the fight started inside the house as an argument over a video game. Initially, Turner and other witnesses said that he'd punched Causey, who'd fallen to the ground and cracked his skull on the pavement.
But Turner and the other witnesses had suspiciously similar stories, almost like it'd been rehearsed. Then there was the physical evidence. The day after the attack, detectives determined that the distance the blood extended more than five feet from where Causey's body had been found -- an indication that the fatal wounds weren't caused by Causey's head hitting the ground.
Their suspicions were confirmed by autopsy results that came in two days later: Causey had been beaten to death as he lay on the ground.
Last Thursday, another witness came forward and told police Turner had admitted to kicking Causey in the head as he lay on the ground.
Turner was arrested earlier today at Madison on a murder charge. Police are still trying to identify additional suspects.
Send your story tips to the author, Eric Nicholson.
