Oklahoma City Police Department say a late night Bricktown stabbing that killed a 22-year-old visitor is no longer sitting in the cold case file. The Oklahoma City Police Department Homicide Unit says new information pushed the May 24, 2021 investigation from cold to solved, and detectives formally announced that development on Feb. 12. The update has pulled fresh attention back to the downtown confrontation and the people caught up in it, according to KFOR.
As reported by KFOR, detectives said the new information implicated 27-year-old Taylor Johnson, who is currently serving time at Great Plains Correctional Center in Hinton. Investigators say they now consider the matter solved, although the department has not released full investigative details to the public.
What happened in Bricktown
On May 24, 2021, officers responded just before 1 a.m. to reports of a large fight that started inside a downtown bar, then spilled into the parking lot near Flaming Lips Alley and Mickey Mantle Drive. When police arrived, they found two injured men outside the venue. According to reporting from KOCO, 22-year-old Conroy Williams Jr. had been stabbed and was later pronounced dead, and another man was treated for injuries.
Detectives say a new lead closed the case
The Oklahoma City Police Department Homicide Unit says the case is now considered solved after what it described as "new information" surfaced, information that pointed investigators to an individual already in custody, per KFOR. Officials have not publicly laid out what that evidence is or whether prosecutors will seek additional charges tied to the 2021 incident.
How cold cases get reopened
Law enforcement can reopen and resolve older cases when fresh tips arrive or when advances in forensics create usable leads. Oklahoma City detectives have in recent years relied on tools such as DNA and forensic genealogy to close long-dormant investigations, including a decades-old case solved with genetic genealogy. KOCO has detailed how preserved evidence and new science can change the course of old probes.
Anyone with information about the May 24, 2021 Bricktown case is asked to contact the Oklahoma City Police Department Homicide Unit or Crime Stoppers. The city's Criminal Investigations page lists the Homicide Unit number at (405) 297-1126 and the Crime Stoppers Homicide tip line at (405) 297-1200, and more information is available via the Oklahoma City Police Department.
