NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WGNS News) - A Nashville man recently charged in connection with a 2022 murder is also facing 14 separate criminal counts in Murfreesboro stemming from an unrelated 2024 case.
Deshawn Joyner, 35, has been charged with criminal homicide in the November 19, 2022, death of 19-year-old Pablo Ical-Caz at Southern Hills Condominiums, located at 370 Wallace Road in Nashville. The charge follows nearly four years of investigation involving ballistic evidence, witness interviews and continued detective work.
According to Nashville authorities, police officers and firefighters responded during the early morning hours of November 19, 2022, to a report of a blue Kia engulfed in flames. Ical-Caz was found in the driver's seat suffering from a gunshot wound and extensive burns. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
A few days after the killing, officers recovered a semi-automatic handgun during an unrelated traffic stop. Microscopic analysis by Metro Nashville Police Department Crime Laboratory scientists reportedly determined that the firearm had fired the round that struck Ical-Caz.
The man who possessed the gun during the traffic stop later told detectives that he had purchased it on the street. Investigators eventually identified Joyner as the person who allegedly sold the firearm. During an interview with detectives in 2023, Joyner denied responsibility for the murder but acknowledged selling the gun, according to authorities.
The investigation continued, and new witness interviews conducted this month reportedly led detectives to a man who said he was with Joyner on the night of the murder. According to investigators, that witness alleged that Joyner killed Ical-Caz following a dispute involving a woman.
Joyner was already being held in the Metro Jail on an unrelated robbery case when he was booked on the homicide charge. His bond in the murder case has been set at $1 million. Homicide Sgt. Madison Meiss and Detective Cooper Gauldin are leading the Nashville investigation.
While the murder case moves forward in Davidson County, Joyner continues to face a separate collection of charges in Rutherford County.
Rutherford County court records show Joyner faces 14 counts connected to an October 20, 2024, incident. The charges include one count of theft of property, one count of identity theft, one count of money laundering, seven counts of burglary to an automobile and four counts of fraudulent use of a credit or debit card.
Of the 14 Murfreesboro charges, 10 are felonies and four are Class A misdemeanors. Detective Aaron Gonzalez with the Murfreesboro Police Department Criminal Investigations Division is overseeing the Murfreesboro case.
Court records indicate Joyner was living in Nashville at the time of his Murfreesboro arrest. The alleged offenses in Rutherford County occurred approximately 23 months after the November 2022 Nashville homicide.
The 2024 case was also not Joyner's first encounter with the criminal justice system in Rutherford County.
Joyner had previously been accused of assaulting another person and causing bodily injury on Christmas Day, December 25, 2021. That case remained pending during the period leading up to the Nashville murder. The timelines of the two cases ultimately overlapped. Ical-Caz was killed on November 19, 2022, and less than one month later, on December 15, 2022, Joyner entered a guilty plea in Rutherford County in connection with the 2021 assault case.
Joyner was not charged with Ical-Caz's murder until nearly four years after the homicide, following the additional witness interviews and continued investigation by Nashville detectives.
The Nashville murder case and the Murfreesboro charges are separate criminal matters being handled in different jurisdictions. WGNS will continue to follow this case. Scroll down for a booking photo of Deshawn Joyner, 35.
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