WASHINGTON — More than 20 years after a D.C. man was fatally shot, a break in the decades-old case has led to his stepson’s arrest.
On the July 1995 day when police found his stepfather shot to death in their home, Taron “Fox” Oliver, now 42 of Oxon Hill, Maryland, told investigators he had only discovered the body of Nathaniel “Reggie” Williams.
Officers found Williams in an “upstairs bedroom nude on the bed with dried blood all over his face,” court documents said. Investigators determined he was shot the day before.
But a witness to the shooting — who had kept a secret for 21 years — had a different story and recently told it to Oliver’s stepsibling, who happens to work for the Prince George’s County Sheriff’s Department.
“Witnesses came forward, some good D.C. citizens, that allowed us to get to an arrest and that led us to the break that we needed to close the case,” said D.C. Police Capt. Anthony Haythe.
The witness — D.C. police did not specify the gender of the witness — relayed the story to D.C. police that he or she heard shots the night before William’s body was discovered and saw Oliver running from the home attempting to hide what looked like a weapon.
The same witness told police Oliver’s mother, who had three children with Williams, had moved out the week before the shooting. Court records show Williams had a history of domestic violence arrests and his wife left with the children for their safety. However, Oliver continued to live at the house on 20th Street SE.
The witness told D.C. investigators that before the shooting, Williams stated he had told Oliver he didn’t want guns or bullets in the house and found a box of .9 millimeter bullets. Williams asked the witness if he or she would take the box, according to court documents.
Investigators found six .9 millimeter cartridge casings at the murder scene.
Oliver was arrested Thursday, December 29 and is now charged with first-degree murder while armed.
