Jury convicts Andrew Crowell and Akiraon Reed in 2023 killing of Columbus teen Dayton Willis

Verdicts delivered in Muscogee County trial

A Muscogee County jury has returned verdicts in the murder case stemming from the Aug. 31, 2023 shooting death of 16-year-old Dayton Willis, who was found inside a vehicle on Double Churches Road in Columbus, Georgia.

In verdicts announced March 18, 2026, the jury found Andrew Crowell guilty on all charges filed against him. Co-defendant Akiraon Reed was found guilty on all charges except malice murder.

What investigators say happened on Aug. 31, 2023

Police records show officers responded to the area of Double Churches Road and Rock Springs Drive after a report of a male inside a car with blood present. Responding officers located Willis suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Emergency responders were unable to resuscitate him, and the coroner pronounced him dead at the scene.

How the case moved through arrests and trial

Crowell was arrested on Oct. 17, 2024 in Henry County, Georgia, extradited to Columbus, and charged with murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. Investigators said the case remained under investigation as it proceeded through pretrial stages.

Opening statements in the murder trial began March 10, 2026, with prosecutors and defense attorneys laying out sharply different accounts of how Willis was killed and what evidence linked each defendant to the shooting.

Key themes argued to the jury

Prosecutors argued the killing was planned and presented evidence they said showed Reed set up Willis and that Crowell was the shooter. The state also highlighted text-message exchanges between the defendants in arguing intent and coordination.

Defense attorneys disputed the meaning and weight of those communications and challenged the strength of the state’s evidence. Crowell’s attorney argued that DNA-related evidence discussed at trial did not reliably identify who had been inside the vehicle, emphasizing limits of mixed DNA samples and the lack of time-stamping for when DNA was deposited.

• Crowell: guilty on all counts submitted to the jury.
• Reed: guilty on all counts except malice murder.

Rulings and testimony highlighted in closing stages

Testimony concluded March 16, 2026, with the prosecution’s final witness identified in court as the lead detective. Before closing arguments, defense lawyers sought acquittal for both defendants, arguing the evidence was insufficient; the trial judge denied the motion, citing conflicts in the evidence that were for jurors to weigh.

The judge told attorneys that conflicts in evidence are for the jury’s consideration and that those points could be argued during summations.

Jurors also heard that another teenager was in the area on the night of the shooting, was later released, and has not been charged in the case. Sentencing is expected at a later date, and the convictions open the door to life-prison penalties under Georgia law for the most serious charges.