Charleston police have charged three men with felony murder and a woman as an accessory after a man died in a fall from a ninth-floor window at Charleston's Vista View Apartments during an alleged robbery on Tuesday.
Felony murder is a charge used when someone is killed in the commission of a crime, in this case robbery.
Police said they found Bryson "B" Ward, of Detroit, dead outside 1311 Renaissance Circle, the result of a fall from the window of apartment 912 shortly before midnight Wednesday, as well as evidence of a struggle inside the apartment.
Tyler Ferrebee, 23, of Dunbar; Brian "BK" Parks, 26, of South Charleston; and Martez "Quick" Griffin are each charged with one count of felony murder and one count of first degree robbery. Lisa Ferrebee is charged with accessory to felony murder and accessory to first-degree robbery.
Charleston Police Lt. Steve Cooper, chief of detectives, said Ward died during a "violent robbery."
"The three men who are in custody, during that robbery, they all played particular roles in the crime which led to the death of Bryce," he said. "The three conspired to go to the apartment to rob him of heroin and a large amount of cash. They completed that robbery, and they did get the cash."
Several thousand dollars was divided between several people, according to Cooper.
Lisa Ferrebee, the girlfriend of one of the men charged, lives in apartment 912, according to a criminal complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court.
Surveillance video shows the three male suspects in the hallway outside the apartment at about the time police received a disturbance call, according to the complaint.
A witness told police that Lisa Ferrebee dates Griffin, and that Griffin stays off and on in the apartment with her, the complaint stated. The witness said she had been with them earlier in the day Tuesday, and that Griffin had been angry with the victim, saying "that mother------ ain't s---."
Cooper said Griffin and Ward knew each other from their hometown of Detroit and had traveled back and forth between there and Charleston often.
"Both of them were longtime associates and, due to circumstances that took place recently, there was a break in the friendship," he said.
On Wednesday, Tyler Ferrebee, Lisa Ferrebee's son, went to the Charleston Police Department to be interviewed. He said he had been present when Griffin and Parks formed a plan to "steal B's s--- and cut off his" genitals, according to the complaint. He said he agreed to drive them to 1311 Renaissance so they could complete the robbery.
Tyler Ferrebee said Parks and Griffin went into the building while he waited in the car, the complaint states. After thinking they were taking too long, he went to apartment 912 and stood outside. He said Parks and Griffin told him they were stuck inside because the door had no knob. After trying and not being able to open the door, he went back to the car. When he got back to the car, Parks and Griffin appeared and he drove them away, the complaint states.
Tyler Ferrebee allegedly took Parks and Griffin to the Dunbar Plaza Hotel. During the ride back, Griffin said, "We beat the hell out of B," according to the complaint. Tyler Ferrebee also said Parks and Griffin came back to the car with a black Jordan bag from the apartment, investigators wrote.
Tyler Ferrebee said he later learned from Parks' girlfriend that Ward had been killed from a fall from a window, the complaint states. Ferrebee admitted to receiving $2,000 cash from the robbery.
Detectives found texts on Tyler Ferrebee's cellphone from him to Griffin at about 11:40 p.m. saying, "If you don't do it now [sic] im gonna come up and f--- you up and b up i got the car running ready to roll with this s--- [sic]," the complaint stated.
Parks and Tyler Ferrebee were arrested and arraigned in Kanawha Magistrate Court on Thursday. They are being held without bail.
Lisa Ferrebee and Griffin were taken into custody by Arkansas State Police in Little Rock after reportedly fleeing there.
During their walk from the Charleston police station to a cruiser waiting to take them to their arraignments on Thursday, Parks and Tyler Ferrebee denied killing anyone, but they did say they were at the apartment complex.
"I didn't do nothing," Parks said. He said "no comment" several times when asked if there was a robbery or drugs and if he felt any remorse over Ward's death.
Tyler Ferrebee said he didn't know what happened because he "wasn't up there."
"I was in the parking lot," he said.
He said he did not know Ward, but started crying at one point "because he died," referring to Ward. When asked why he was crying, Ferrebee said, "because I'm not that kind of person."
Detective Canden Sharp said after the arraignment that Tyler Ferrebee and Parks had turned themselves in.
"They didn't know what the charges were," Sharp said.
Reach Erin Beck at erin.beck@wvgazette.com, 304-348-5163, Facebook.com/erinbeckwv or follow @erinbeckwv on Twitter.