TOLEDO -- Lloyd Henderson, 29, and Brian Davis, 29, from Springfield and Holland, respectively, were found Sunday afternoon in the back seat of a car parked in the 300 block of Lake Street in north Toledo. Autopsy reports indicate the two were shot in the back of their heads during the evening of Sept. 23. Details are still sketchy, with the police saying little except that this is a homicide case and it's "complex."
"The person or person that killed Brian Davis and Lloyd Henderson intended to kill them," said Police Chief Mike Navarre, adding that both men were involved in a major drug ring called "Operation Tailgate' that brought millions of dollars worth of cocaine from Chicago to Toledo.
On Sept. 13, the FBI raided Davis' apartment. Davis was charged with misdemeanor drug possession but got out of jail the next day. Several other men are facing federal drug charged that could land them in prison for life.
If Sunday's double murders are connected to the drug bust, the city worries about the potential for more violence.
"That's the kind of situation that could have lead and could be leading to possible further steps taken by the underworld characters to try and protect themselves, the higher ups protecting themselves," said Mayor Carty Finkbeiner at a news conference called to address rising violence in the area.
To help fight drug-related crimes, the Toledo Police Department is adding seven officers to the vice narcotics unit.
The sight of two murder victims on Sunday frightened neighbors who made the discovery shortly after 1:00 p.m. In fact, it's so scary, many said they'd have trouble sleeping Sunday night.
Sophie Savage told News 11, "This for me is too close to home." Sophie lives right across the street from the crime scene. She looked in the car, an act she now regrets because the image is burned into her memory.
She told us the driver's side window was busted out and "there looked like there was something in the back seat." She approached the car for a closer look and that's when she saw the two men hunched over in the back seat of what she thinks was a Cutlass Supreme. She said it looked to her like they'd been shot.
Sophie didn't recognize either victim, and she wants to know who they are. Police need to notify next of kin before the names will be released.
Sophie also wants to know why the bodies were left in her neighborhood -- an area she considered peaceful until Sunday's terrible discovery. "It could be drug related," she said. "And the way the window was bashed out, maybe someone drove them here and left the bodies in the back seat. Who knows?"
What Sophie does know all too well is that the images will be difficult, perhaps even impossible, to forget. "It's scary, scary, scary, " she said.
Life on Lake Street will be different for neighbors like Sophie who, from now on, will be living constantly on guard.
When we asked Sophie if she'd be able to sleep Sunday night, she said, "Probably tossing and turning, look out my window wondering what happened." She added that "it's just spooky -- too close to home for me."
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Updated by AEB
