Good morning and thank
you for being here today.
I would like to 1st to say I want to
thank the dedicated Sheriff officers,
investigators and the Gulf Coast Task
Force for their dedication to this case.
We refused to give up on this case.
It has been almost two years since
this double homicide of the massive
brothers the massive family.
Because of this dedication and this
cooperative teamwork of the Gulf
Coast task force and my dedicated
investigators of our homicide division,
the Massey family would get some
seminars of justice here with us today,
all the members of that task force
and my investigators behind me.
We also have with us who also
did not give up on this.
Faith and helped us in this investigation.
The DA's office. Brian Middleton.
At this time I will have my detective
James Willoughby to come up.
And after him Brian Middleton
of the DA's office.
Thank you.
My name is Sergeant Charlie Willoughby.
I'm in the Criminal Investigations division.
Over the past. Almost two years
we've been working on this case.
15 year old Devon Massey and
17 year old Jonathan Massey.
This happened on December 20th,
December 12th, 2020 in Fresno and when
deputies responded to the 300 block of
Broadmoor and reference to a shooting.
Upon their arrival, there were
three victims with gunshot wounds.
Two of those victims had fatal injuries
and were deceased upon their arrival.
After further investigation.
We went through.
Tons of evidence at the beginning
the detectives were able to locate
a lot of a lot of good things.
They they weren't together with the crime
scene unit and got all the evidence
needed for this investigation and.
Over the course of it,
we've been able to put the pieces together.
With the assistance of the Gulf
Coast Violent Offender Task Force,
they were able to take the warrants.
Once we identified the suspects and
as of Wednesday, they were able to
have all four of them apprehended
and in our custody here at the jail.
One of the first suspect is Dylan Phillips,
he's 19. And he's charged with murder.
And aggravated assault with
a deadly weapon as well as.
Previous warrants for evading arrest,
and that he had prior to this
total of over $1,000,000 in bonds,
Donovan Phillips, age 20,
was arrested as well, with with Dalon.
He too, was charged with the same thing,
$1,000,000 bonds.
Jalen Allen 19.
As was also charged same charges,
$1,000,000 bonds and also Jayden
Gaines $1,000,000 bonds for murder and
aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Without the initial investigation and
everything wouldn't have we had the
Gulf Coast they took the warrants.
They did everything they did to make
sure everyone was safely apprehended,
and without the collaboration of everybody,
we wouldn't be here today so.
With that you can give us your name,
Charlie Willoughby Willey,
and the Sergeant in the Criminal
Investigations Division.
Excuse me, good morning.
When this crime first occurred,
I was immediately notified and
I was devastated to learn that
a mother had lost two of her
children and one criminal episode.
Shortly after that,
my phone began ringing from people in the
community who were upset who were hurting.
That these two very popular
young men had been killed.
There was a demand for justice and we
began meeting and trying to resolve.
The issue in our community.
I am thankful for God thankful to God
for these men behind me who could have
very easily let this case go cold.
It took some time to solve it
because it was a difficult case,
but they stayed the course.
They remained vigilant and diligent
in their efforts and were able to
bring these individuals to justice.
It's a sad case. But it's a
reminder that every life has value.
These young men, the Massey boys,
will now have a voice.
These men will be brought to justice
and they will answer for their crimes.
So I thank the Sheriff's Department.
I thank sheriff Fagan.
I thank all these men behind me
for working so diligently to bring.
These suspects to justice.
As a result of that efforts,
our community is better off.
Humanity is better off and our
and so grateful that this has
been done in our community.
Thank you.
This still is an ongoing investigation.
Like Brian said. We're devastated,
all of us were devastated for a mother and
father to lose two children and assessive
act of active crime at the same time,
two young men lives were taken senselessly.
And like he said,
this was over two years ago, two years ago.
But the dedication of my investigative
team and the dedication of the Gulf Coast,
team and dedication of the DA's office,
we all stayed the course and made
it one of our priorities cases.
Other investigators worked on this
case too and they handed the ball
off to a new investigative team
that built on to that investigation.
So this this took a lot of time.
A lot of effort,
but it was worth it to bring justice.
For this family at this time,
we'll take questions,
but like I said, it's on,
it's still is an ongoing investigation,
so some questions when we won't
be able to answer at this time.
What was the relationship,
if any, between the suspects
and the victims in this case?
We're looking into that right now.
We think we have a possible motive for.
But like I said,
it's a working, working case.
But we think we have a motive and why,
how they got connected.
Anything you can tell us
on that motive today?
No, not at this time.
And you know, after,
I mean nearly two years,
what what was it that that
broke open this case after
being a cold case for so long?
The difference maker,
in this case,
the the, I'll have to say,
the citizenry. Getting tips.
Getting tips. Look, we can't.
I don't want people to take this lightly.
We in law enforcement.
We need the we need the public's help when,
when when things happen to not be
afraid to come forward to let us know.
These individuals we arrested
were dangerous individuals and
took the lives of two young men.
If we didn't get them off the street,
there's no telling what could have happened.
So we need the public's help to work
with us and that joint effort brought
these individuals into custody.
I was going to ask, can you provide
some more information on when and
where these suspects were arrested?
Moving. Golf course. Yeah. So.
First one Jalen Allen.
He was apprehended at his home.
Jayden Gaines I believe,
was also found near his residence as well,
and both Dalen and Donovan Phillips
were in Houston and apartment complex.
They had been followed there.
It was that all like within the
past week or the time period.
Yeah, we had Jalen Jalen was the
first one. We got him on August 9th.
Jayden, we had him on this past
Monday and then both Dylan and
Donovan were apprehended on
Wednesday this past Wednesday.
Any kind of resistance, or.
I don't believe so. Did
they say anything to officers?
We're not going to talk about
the interviews right now.
The films are they brothers.
Yes, yes and well.
You say it's an investigation.
Is it because you're still
looking for more people?
Why is it still an ongoing?
It has to go to court.
We're we're the law enforcement side of it.
And now we're depending on the DA side
who's working with us to do the case.
So it's ongoing investigation
with the DA's office.
You know these guys where they
friends or they sit and they can.
You just talk about how young these guys
were two years ago so they were 16 and 18.
They all were a member of a of
a group together, so they hung
out together. We do know that.
Yes, ma'am.
No, I'm not saying it was a gang.
You just know they they hung out
in a group. Definitely they're
they're acquaintances, yes. Yes.
When you guys make the arrest. They have.
Well, like you said the.
Investigator will be just saying
we can't discuss what they said.
That's a part of the
ongoing case. Yes, ma'am.
So are they all in jail now?
When are they going?
They are all in jail, but.
Good morning, my name is Mark Hanna. I'm the
chief of the Special Crimes
Division I work for Mr. Brian
Middleton. They are still in
custody at this time. They have
not yet been indicted by a grand
jury and that will begin the timetable
before they're actually brought to trial,
and that could be any number
of months or possibly years.
And sure, if so, are you looking for
any additional suspects at this point?
At this time, we're not,
but we we never know. Like I said,
it's an ongoing investigation.
If something turns up where we
felt like it was another suspect,
we'll we'll look into
it. And these four gentlemen
who were arrested.
Were they known to law enforcement?
Or did they have any kind of
criminal history? Sure where
yet they each one had prior history.
Prior criminal history, yes.
I know you said you can't say much
about the motive at this point,
but can you say I mean does this
at this point appear random or no
no. We don't believe it
was random. No, yes ma'am.
Three weeks.
How did that happen? What
happened during the past month?
Getting evidence gathering
evidence in a case like this,
you don't want to make a mistake.
You don't want to make a mistake.
You want to be careful so it it took time
when it when it happened we had no tips,
none they worked cold on this case and so
it it took time to gather the evidence.
And when we gathered we had to follow
the suspect and things like that
until we can get enough evidence
to to warrant to get a warrant.
To make the arrest,
so we have to be very careful,
and that takes time.
Say something yes,
I got it.
He's not gonna toot his own horn,
but I can tell you.
This was a difficult case.
They didn't give up on it and they
were relentless in their pursuit of
justice and that's why it took two
years because it was a difficult case.
There was a lot of work that had to be done.
And they did it.
They didn't give up.
This was a strong effort.
There was no lax.
In in their efforts in trying
to apprehend the suspect,
it's just sometimes cases are complicated,
and it takes this much effort
to to bring people to justice.
Milton Sheriff or anybody else up here,
have you spoken to the family of the
victims since the arrest and and if so,
can you share a little bit
about what they told you?
Yes, we we reached out to the
family here at the Sheriff's
Department and the DA's office.
We kept them in the loop as
much as much as we could could,
so we have reached out to the
family and they do know that
the suspects have been arrested.
I would imagine they're probably
pretty pretty relieved.
Did they say anything like that?
Well, that there are.
I won't say relieved because
they lost two children.
They were happy that that
the suspects were arrested.
That's all I can say about that.
Can you talk about?
I mean just the countless hours
all of you guys have put into
this and then to finally actually
give these people in custody.
I know not really,
even you can't bring these boys back,
but it's gotta feel good or
somewhat of an accomplishment to
be at this point after all these
years. Yes, we we do feel good
and it was hundreds of hours.
Man hours if not thousands of man hours my
my depth and the Gulf Coast we talking.
They worked sometimes over 24
hours a day staying on it,
relieving one another to work on this.
They never gave up on this case.
My investigators, they they say,
they slept, and dreamed about it.
Wake up and think I look,
let me try this.
Try something else because like I said,
it was a this case.
We had nothing at the beginning,
no tips or we getting wild tips that we
had to disclaim and things like that so.
This team should be proud of the men and
women who work for the the Sheriff's
Department here and the Gulf Coast.
I can't thank them enough.
The Gulf Gulf Coast Task Force
for helping us with this.
Yes.
I really can't answer that
at this time, you know.
What I can say to you at the time,
be the victims in this case were
very well known in the Community.
Very popular young men.
The suspects lived in that same community,
so I think it's safe to assume.
The answer to your question
is that they knew each other.
OK, there's not any other questions.
Thank you again for coming. Thank you.