HOUSTON – A man wanted for the murder of an up-and-coming entertainer has been arrested, according to records.
Montrel Lenard Burley, 40, was identified and charged with murder in the death of Darrell Gentry, a 26-year-old rapper from the Cleveland area known as BTB Savage.
It’s a case that took investigators across the state and a murder detectives call retaliation, months in the making.
Records show that Burley was arrested around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, after police said he turned himself in, and booked into the Harris County Jail. He appeared in probable cause court at 10 a.m. Tuesday where his bond was set at $1 million.
“This suspect committed the murder of this complainant in retaliation for that complainant’s involvement in a shooting in the San Antonio area earlier in the year,” the prosecutor said during the hearing.
The state has filed paperwork asking for his bail to be denied pending trial, because he’s accused of using a deadly weapon in this case after being previously convicted of a felony.
“What gives this court significant concern is the allegation that Mr. Burley actually traveled quite some distance in order to essentially avenge the death of his friend or family member,” the magistrate during his first court appearance said.
His next court appearance is set for April 17.
“I was very glad to hear the news that he ... surrendered himself to authorities. I was upset that he got a bond because I didn’t want him to have no bond ... but, you know, I’m going to let the law be the law,” Gentry’s mother Bernita Ward said. “Conviction will give me justice ... and that’s all I want. I just want justice. I don’t want no more violence.”
IN CUSTODY: Booking photo of Montrel Lenard Burley, 40, who surrendered to authorities today after he was charged with murder in the March 30 fatal shooting of a man at 2100 Mid Lane.
— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) April 11, 2023
More info at https://t.co/aELHQbkowf#hounews #OneSafeHouston https://t.co/TcaqelasNO pic.twitter.com/x3blYVhkg6
Houston Police said Tuesday it’s still a very active investigation and that there’s still at least one other unidentified suspect in the shooting.
What happened
Gentry was killed on the night of March 30, at around 6:10 p.m. in the 4600 block of San Felipe Street at Mid Lane.
Houston police Chief Troy Finner said officers arrived to find Gentry dead outside the entrance of a parking garage. He had suffered at least one gunshot wound.
Investigators learned that the victim was driving a white Mercedes northbound on Mid Lane when a black, newer-model Subaru SUV drove up and began firing at the vehicle.
Witnesses told police the two suspects fled in the black Subaru SUV at high speed following the shooting.
Further investigation led to the identity of Burley as one of the suspects and he was subsequently charged in the shooting.
Docs show suspect’s elaborate plan prior to entertainer’s death
Court documents obtained by KPRC 2 spell out an elaborate plan that led up to the death of Gentry.
Four days before his death, documents revealed that Burley rented a black Subaru Outback with Florida license plates from an Avis in San Antonio.
Then, on March 29 -- about 26 hours before the fatal shooting -- the Subaru with Florida plates was picked up on a license plate reader traveling eastbound along I-10 in the Fayette County area.
A couple of hours later, around 7 p.m. the night before the shooting, investigators believe the plates on the Subaru were swapped with plates from a stolen Kia out of Harris County, which were scanned again on the Subaru at least 10 minutes after the shooting.
The Florida license plates were then put back on the Subaru and picked up about an hour and 40 minutes after the shooting while traveling westbound on I-10, according to documents.
License plate readers caught the rented Subaru traveling back toward San Antonio in the moments after the 6:10 p.m. shooting. Cellphone data eventually showed Burley back at his New Braunfels home around 11 p.m.
By the next morning, investigators had a search warrant for the rented Subaru. When New Braunfels police and its SWAT unit were moving in to execute the search warrant, the Subaru began driving away and was stopped about 100 feet from the home, according to documents.
Burley was riding as the passenger as his fiancée drove. He was arrested on a drug possession charge, according to documents.
Comal County records show Burley was released on a $2,000 personal bond for the marijuana possession charge the same day.
Houston Police investigators interviewed Burley at the time of his arrest in Comal County when he told them he wasn’t with the Subaru around the time of the shooting. Burley asked for an attorney when questioned about who he let use the car.
The Houston murder warrant didn’t come for another week after cellphone data was reviewed, which put Burley in the River Oaks area at the time of the shooting.
Docs show suspect was documented gang member, friends with man killed by BTB Savage’s fiancée during robbery
According to the documents, Burley is a known and documented gang member who was close friends with a man killed by BTB Savage and his fiancée at their San Antonio apartment in February.
San Antonio Police said the man tried to rob the couple at gunpoint in their apartment, when they shot and killed him in what homicide investigators deemed justifiable.
BTB Savage spoke about the experience in an interview with VLADTV on YouTube, which was published the same day Burley allegedly rented the Subaru that he’s accused of traveling to Houston in to kill the rapper.
“That interview ... It ignited a fire. It ignited a fire to where they were saying, ‘Oh we’re going to kill you’,” Ward said.
Anyone with information on the other wanted suspect is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or speak anonymously with Crime Stoppers at 713-222-8477.