Suspect charged with murder of woman at Texas storage unit over husband’s botched drug deal, police say
A Detroit man has been charged with the slaying of a woman who was killed after her husband allegedly carried out a $125,000 drugs scam, according to local media reports.
Kip Stitts, a 57-year-old from Detroit, is accused of the fatal shooting of 33-year-old Sherry Dawson in Houston, according to ABC 13. Stitts has not been arrested as of Tuesday, KHOU 11 reports.
Dawson was found dead in a storage unit on November 5. Her common-law husband has since told investigators he knew Stitts and that they were involved in drug trafficking, according to court documents reviewed by ABC 13.
Her husband told police he had previously introduced Stitts to a cocaine supplier, ABC 13 reports. But when Stitts said he wanted to rob the supplier, Dawson’s husband and the supplier concocted their own plan to steal from him, he reportedly told police.
Dawson’s husband told police Stitts paid them $125,000 for cocaine, but he and a supplier never delivered the drugs, according to ABC 13. He said the incident took place about one month before Dawson was killed.
Now, Dawson’s husband has told police he believes his wife may have been killed over the theft, according to KHOU 11.
Dawson was found dead at the self-storage facility with multiple gunshot wounds on her arms, head and neck and her death was ruled a homicide.
Security footage reportedly shows Dawson arriving, a driver in a Ford pickup truck following her inside and the truck fleeing after the shooting.
Stitts’ cellphone data also places him at Dawson’s home before the shooting, at the storage unit the morning of her death and in north Detroit afterwards, according to court documents.
Prosecutors claimed Stitts had previous convictions on drug and assault charges, according to court documents reviewed by Click 2 Houston.
The Independent has contacted the Houston Police Department for comment.
