UPDATE: Public Statement regarding Shannon Prewitt and Chad McMurray below.BSO Describes Crime Scene as ‘Brutal’ and ‘Violent’
Alfred Chadwick McMurray, 31, a gay man with a checkered criminal past, was found murdered in an Oakland Park home on Monday evening in the 1300 block of NE 34th street. The brutal killing has been featured in all the local media for the last 72 hours.
Friends told local news sources that McMurray, known as Chad to his friends, was discovered bound and on the ground in a pool of blood in the living room.
Late Tuesday, Broward Sheriff's detectives say they recovered McMurray's Toyota Tacoma truck stolen from the house. Investigators say it was abandoned at a Lauderhill apartment complex. Detectives hope someone might have seen the person driving it or leaving it at the complex.
Doug Warner owns the home and says he rents it out to two men. He says they are a nice couple and just paid their rent on Monday.
But neighbor Larry Green told CBS4 that this was not the first time there's been a problem there.
"A month ago, a month and a half," explained Green, "there was some kind of robbery over there. He told the police the person came through my backyard."
Homicide detectives speculate that the stolen truck will provide key evidence in the case. They are now trying to determine who had the vehicle just before it was found in Lauderhill.
McMurray had recently moved to Broward from North Carolina. There, according to online state offender information records, he had been arrested and convicted in 2002 of trafficking methamphetamine and was placed on probation.
North Carolina authorities revoked McMurray's probation in 2006 after he was arrested on a drug possession charge and sent him to prison for 16 months, records show. He was released from prison in September 2008.
Broward sheriff's investigators have not disclosed how he was killed or released a possible motive.
Sources say that at the time of his death, McMurray had apparently been in a relationship with Shannon Pruitt, publisher of Just Us Boys, a magazine featuring popular gay porn stars. Pruitt was unavailable for comment.
The Sheriff's Office asks that anyone with information about McMurray's death contact homicide Detective Louis Rivera at 954-321-4211 or Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS (8477).
UPDATE: PUBLIC STATEMENT REGARDING SHANNON PREWITT AND CHAD MCMURRAY:
We would like to thank those in the community who have showed us such an outpouring of sympathy and support upon learning that our dear friend Alfred Chadwick McMurray (Chad to his friends) was murdered Monday evening in the home that he shared with Shannon Prewitt, a former owner of JustUsBoys.com. The brutality of what has happened betrays words.
Those who don’t know Chad have been tempted to jump to knee-jerk conclusions based on spotty information. Chad was an amazing person who was loved and adored by all who knew him. He was just finishing his education to become a chef at Le Cordon Bleu in Miramar, Florida. He was an amazing student who loved to share his skills by preparing wonderful and elaborate dinners for his friends and family. He was quick with a smile and always had a joke to keep everyone laughing.
This tragedy is a local news story involving a horrible murder. It is not a gay porn news item, we ask bloggers and gay porn news outlets in the industry to resist the urge to sensationalize the event and turn it into a story involving the porn community. Despite any claims to the contrary, Chad was not and had never been a part of the gay porn industry. The only way this tragedy is tied into the industry is that a well-respected member of our community, Shannon Prewitt, lost his partner and best friend in a horrific display of inhumanity.
We ask at this time that you let Shannon and his extended family grieve in privacy while the investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice continues.
Shannon and his friends have joined with Crime Stoppers to offer a reward for any information leading to arrests in this case. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Louis Rivera at 954-321-4211 or Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS (8477).
