ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – The Roanoke Police Department has switched an assault investigation into a homicide case, following the death of the victim almost a year after the incident.
Police have arrested 41-year-old Justin Damar Garcia-Bailey of Roanoke.
Shortly after 5 p.m. April 24, 2025, officers were called to the 2500 block of Salem Turnpike NW. They found 69-year-old David Wayne Brown of Roanoke, with injuries sustained from reportedly being hit with a glass bottle.
Brown was taken to a hospital conscious and breathing for treatment of what initially appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries, according to police. But his condition deteriorated and he died March 11, 2026, and after an investigation, the medical examiner’s office ruled his death a homicide from injuries sustained during the assault…