UPDATE: Seven suspects have now been indicted on charges including murder and kidnapping in connection to the deadly attack on Preston Lord, 16, last October in Queen Creek.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has confirmed that Treston Billey was arrested late Thursday, March 7 and was charged with felony murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery.
Here is the complete roundup of the seven suspects now indicted, including their ages because they are all being charged as adults:
- Treston Billey, 18
- William Owen Hines, 18
- Jacob Meisner, 17
- Talan Renner, 17
- Taylor Sherman, 19
- Dominic Turner, 20,
- Talyn Vigil, 17
Queen Creek Police Chief Randy Brice and Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell announced late Wednesday that four suspects had been indicted on charges including murder and kidnapping in connection to the deadly attack on Preston Lord, 16, in Queen Creek. As of Thursday morning, two more suspects were taken into custody and they are all being charged as adults.
Mitchell announced just after 7 p.m. on March 6 that Queen Creek police had taken into custody William Owen Hines, Talan Renner, Talyn Vigil and Dominic Turner on felony murder and kidnapping charges. Hines was already in custody and has three pending aggravated assault cases against him, including a DUI-related assault. Turner was also charged with aggravated robbery.
"Let me be clear, we're not done yet," Mitchell said on Wednesday night.
Then on Thursday morning, March 7, two more suspects, Taylor Sherman and Jacob Meisner, were taken into custody. Hines, Sherman and Turner made their initial court appearances in front of a Maricopa County judge Thursday morning.
The Lord family’s attorney was present as prosecutors released the list of charges, including first-degree murder. The judge has set a $1 million secured appearance bond for each of the suspects in the Lord case.
“What has happened here today is a massive step forward in the quest for justice for Preston Lord,” Mitchell said during Wednesday night's news conference after detailing the indictments of Hines, Renner, Vigil and Turner.
The Lord family’s attorney released the following statement Wednesday night after the news conference: "We extend heartfelt gratitude to the community members who stepped up to provide information to secure these arrests. But for law enforcement’s collective efforts and community members’ invaluable cooperation, these arrests would not have happened. Each arrest represents a step towards accountability and justice for our son Preston," stated Bryn DeFusco, with DeFusco Law, P.L.C., the law firm representing Nick Lord and Autumn Curiel.
At Wednesday night's new conference, Brice took exception to his department being criticized as being too new an inexperienced to handle its first high-profile murder case. Queen Creek police officers officially began patrolling town streets at midnight on Jan. 11, 2022.
“This was a Herculean effort on the part of our police department. They put in countless hours, blood, sweat and tears to get to this point, and I’m very proud of what they’ve done,” Brice said.
Also at Wednesday night's new conference, Mitchell blasted critics who said the Queen Creek Police Department (QCPD) and prosecutors were taking too long to resolve the Lord case.
“You could not have been more wrong. From the night of the incident, the Queen Creek Police Department has spent hundreds of hours piecing together an extremely complex case that involves dozens of potential players, either suspects, witnesses or other individuals with knowledge,” Mitchell said, adding that since her office received the Lord case in late December 2023, they had to review a QCPD report that "was about 2,000 pages long" and that attorneys "also watched 600 pieces of video linked to the case over and over and over.”
An investigative grand jury started hearing the Lord case in early February. On Feb. 14, the jury received the report from the Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner determining the cause of Lord's death as a “homicide.”
Mitchell said an investigative grand jury is different from a regular grand jury as it allows them to do more investigating.
Lord, a Combs High School junior, died Oct. 30, 2023 from "a severe brain injury" after being brutally beaten on Oct. 28, 2023 outside of a Halloween house party near 194th Street and East Via Del Rancho Road in Queen Creek. He died on Oct. 30, 2023 at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
Two days after his death, on Nov. 1, 2023, QCPD announced the teen’s death was being investigated as a homicide. The FBI joined the investigation about two weeks later. In late December 2023, QCPD confirmed charging referrals had been submitted to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office against a total of seven kids and adults.
Booking photos and more information on the six suspects are still being released, so stay tuned at queencreeksuntimes.com as this story continues to unfold.
A vigil is planned for Thursday, March 7 in the Queen Creek neighborhood where Lord was brutally attacked last October. It will begin at 5:30 p.m. at 194th Street and East Via Del Rancho Road.
Also on Thursday, the Queen Creek Police Department released a previous statement from Mayor Julia Wheatley and updated details on the arrests in this murder case here.
