Tyrique Wise was working at his self-owned painting and pressure washing business in Southern Shores, North Carolina, when the police came for him. The officer who slapped handcuffs on his wrists said that he was under arrest for a drug charge. Once in court, Tyrique found out what the charge really was: murder.
Tyrique protested. He had never killed anyone. Since his early 20s he had served probation a couple of times for possession of illicit drugs with intent to sell, but he had never been arrested for a violent crime.
When a judge read 32-year-old Tyrique the possible sentence that accompanied the charges--life in prison--the words took his breath away. As two of his relatives, who visit him weekly in jail, described to me, his thoughts flashed first to his 14-year-old daughter, Destiny, whom he had raised from infancy as a single father. Who would take care of her now?
Details surrounding the charge came out later. Earlier that day, April 16, 2018, personnel with the Dare County Sheriff's Office had responded to a 911 call reporting an overdose in the small coastal town of Wanchese, North Carolina. The 22-year-old woman who had overdosed on heroin was taken to the hospital, treated and released. Later that afternoon, deputies received a second call for an overdose at the same residence. By the time they arrived to resuscitate a 40-year-old man, it was too late to save his life.
Deputies questioned the young woman who had previously overdosed about where she had obtained the heroin and her answers led them straight to Tyrique Wise. He was charged with second-degree murder. His trial date is set for December 3.
