Investigation into Facebook Marketplace killing leads to arrest of multiple suspects through surveillance footage and digital evidence linking them to scene in Dallas County
Dallas County, Texas – In a tragic incident stemming from an online sale, a man lost his life after a supposed buyer turned out to be a setup for a deadly robbery. The meeting, arranged through Facebook Marketplace, was intended for the sale of jewelry but ended in gunfire and grief in Seagoville, Texas.
The victim, identified as William Dean, had posted several pieces of gemstone-encrusted men’s watches for sale on the social media platform. Interested in his offering, a buyer using the fictitious profile name “Jerry John” reached out to Dean. Unbeknownst to Dean, this profile was allegedly linked to a teenager from nearby Balch Springs, setting the stage for the grim outcome.
On December 2, 2024, Dean drove to the Seago Farms neighborhood to meet with the buyer. According to police reports, the transaction took a fatal turn shortly after the juvenile suspect entered Dean’s vehicle. A witness nearby recounted hearing a gunshot before both men exited the car, with Dean ultimately collapsing while the assailant made a swift escape.
Authorities arrived at the scene to find Dean critically injured. Despite prompt medical attention, he was pronounced dead at a local hospital. The crime scene presented grim evidence of the encounter: Dean’s vehicle contained not only his jewelry and a gemstone tester but also a chilling reminder of the violence—a spent 9 mm shell casing and a live round found in the passenger area.
The subsequent investigation leveraged neighborhood surveillance and advanced license plate recognition technology, which led to the identification of a gray Dodge Charger seen fleeing the scene. This vehicle was registered to 19-year-old William Young of DeSoto, who later confessed to being the driver at the time of the murder. Young also implicated RJ Nathan Bonner, 20, as the front-seat passenger and identified the juvenile as the individual who had entered Dean’s car.
Further bolstering the case, cell phone records placed Bonner, Young, and the juvenile at the crime scene during the time of the murder, with additional records indicating communication between Bonner and the juvenile earlier on the day of the attack.
Bonner has since been arrested and is currently held at the Dallas County jail with a bond set at $1 million. He faces charges of capital murder by terror threat or other felony, highlighting the severity of the allegations against him.
This tragic case serves as a grim reminder of the potential dangers inherent in online transactions, prompting calls for increased caution and the implementation of safer practices for buying and selling items through digital platforms.
