LA GRANGE – On Friday, April 19, 2024, after three days of testimony and closing arguments by the parties, a jury found Charles Lee Tillman, Jr. guilty of murder in the 155th Judicial District Court of Fayette County, Texas. Following the completion of testimony and evidence presented in the punishment phase of trial, the jury then assessed Tillman’s sentence for a term of Life in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on Monday, April 22, 2024. He will be eligible for parole in 30 years.
On May 30, 2021, Tillman shot and killed David Wayne Harrison Jr. at the River Valley Apartments in La Grange, Texas. On the evening of his murder, Harrison had gotten into a verbal argument with Tillman’s daughter. She contacted Tillman, who then travelled from Glidden, Texas, to La Grange, where he confronted Harrison at his apartment. Tillman left and returned with a gun. He confronted Harrison a second time, shot him three times, and fled the area. Tillman eluded law enforcement for several months before finally being arrested in November 2021 by the U.S. Marshals. Tillman was on parole for a narcotics case at the time of the offense.
The Texas Rangers and the La Grange Police Department investigated Harrison’s murder. There were no eyewitnesses to the offense. However, law enforcement was able to obtain surveillance footage from the River Valley Apartments. Although Tillman could not be readily identified based on the surveillance footage, the video captured a Silver Nissan Maxima belonging to Tillman’s girlfriend travelling to and from the apartments at the time of initial confrontation and at the time of the murder. Law enforcement also obtained surveillance footage from a La Grange resident that captured the Silver Nissan Maxima travelling back and forth between Tillman’s daughter’s residence and the River Valley Apartments. After murdering Harrison, Tillman dropped the key fob to the vehicle at the scene. A resident at the River Valley Apartments found the key fob the following morning. The Silver Nissan Maxima was later located at a residence in Glidden.
During the investigation, law enforcement also obtained phone records for a phone number associated with Tillman. Cell tower data established that Tillman travelled from Glidden to La Grange and back in the timeframe of the murder, and call log information established that Tillman was in communication with his daughter and her mother just prior to the murder.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Joshua Somers and Assistant Attorney General Britni Cooper.