Blood evidence has linked 19-year-old Michael Browning to the 2016 murder of DeAngelo Golphin at a 7-11 pump station in the north Lake Highlands area.
Police at the time released disturbing surveillance video evidence of the murder of 28-year old Golphin. Just before midnight Feb. 11, he parked at the gas pump at 7-11 on Skillman near LBJ. While he is inside the store, another man climbed into the backseat of Golphin’s car. When Golphon re-entered his vehicle, the man shot him several times in the head, according to a police report (the inside of the car is not visible on the video). Several witnesses called 9-1-1. Video showed the suspect exiting a rear door and fleeing across the lot before responders arrive. Golphin was DOA at the hospital. Police followed a blood trail to a nearby dumpster where they believe the suspect parked a getaway car in which he fled. Investigators collected samples, and the blood did not match the victim’s blood.
Last September, detectives received word that forensic scientists had matched the blood to blood samples in the CODIS system — the blood belonged to Michael Browning, age 19, who in April 2016 began serving a 15 year sentence for aggravated robbery.
When detectives finally interviewed Browning at the Texas Department of Corrections in March, he declined to talk and requested counsel. Detectives however noted what appeared to be a scar from a gunshot wound on his hand and that he matched witness descriptions of the suspect, according to a warrant. The investigation has not yet revealed how, exactly, Browning was injured. But if he had not been wounded, the case likely would never have been solved.
On April 11, they charged Browning with Golphin’s murder.