Seeking Closure: The Music Video Murder

On October 19, 2020, 25-year-old Stevie Gary, known as "5150 Sosa," attended a music video shoot at Club Maguey in Fort Myers. Friends say the night was filled with music, laughter, and celebration.

But as Stevie drove home, an unknown gunman pulled alongside his vehicle and opened fire.

In this episode of Seeking Closure, we revisit the investigation into what detectives call The Music Video Murder. Through 911 audio, investigative details, and available evidence, we examine the moments leading up to Stevie's death and the questions that remain unanswered.

Someone knows who killed Stevie Gary. If you have information, contact the Lee County Sheriff's Office at 239-477-1000. To remain anonymous, contact Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS (8477).

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Coal cases don't just disappear. You'll hear the stories behind unsolved cases, reopened investigations, and the details time tried to bury. Somewhere, someone may still hold the missing piece. I'm Sheriff Carlmine Marcino. And this is Seeking Closure.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Welcome into this episode of Seeking Closure. I'm Julie Sin. And I'm Autumn King. We are so excited to bring you guys season two of Seeking Closure. This is episode one. We think that we have a great cold case prepared for you guys to break down, try and get some leads from our community members to bring justice to our victims, family members, and friends. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

This first case takes us back to October 2020, where a group of friends is shooting a music video off a Palm Beach Boulevard in Fort Myers. It takes a deadly turn when our victim, Stevie Gary, leaves the club later at night and is gunned down while driving home. Autumn, I want to start off by talking a little bit about our victim, Stevie Gary. He is only 25 years old when he is murdered in Fort Myers.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

25 years old, full of life, and nobody expected this to happen, especially not him and his family and friends.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

Right. A little bit about Stevie Gary. He also went by 5150 Sosa, and his family referred to him as Mutt Mutt. He was an up-and-coming amateur rapper, really. He was trying to get his music career started. But we also know that he was an avid fisherman here in Fort Myers, and there's plenty of that to do right here in the golf.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Yeah, you see all through social media that he loved to fish. Him and his friends would hang out and either fish or create music. And it just seemed like just another day when this incident had happened where they're creating music, doing what they love to do, and it just turned into a tragic incident.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

Yeah, so let's go back to October 2020. We know that Stevie Gary had shown up to Club McGuire to shoot a music video for one of his friends, Gutter White. Now we want to show you this little PSA that went out on social media. Gutter White put this out asking people to show up to help be featured in his music video. And he pushed this out all over social media. So this was a planned meetup in advanced where Stevie Gary was just trying to show up for his friend and really have a good time.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Which seems like their friend group did consistently. Right. They were all trying to be up and coming rappers. Right. And it just seems like they would all help each other out.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

We have video actually from that night that was shot. We want to show it to you. Stevie Gary is there. He looks like he's having a great time. He's singing, he's dancing, really has no idea what is about to happen next. Autumn, Stevie Gary gets done wrapping up this music video and he leaves the club shortly after 11 p.m.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Right. He leaves before everyone else in the club. And just before we go on to him leaving, this isn't a big club. This is a small bar where it seems like the only people there were there for the music video itself. So he's not targeted, we think, from anything that had happened while at the club. They shoot this video, he leaves five minutes before everyone else, really. We're assuming to go home. He makes a right turn onto Palm Beach Boulevard, doesn't expect what is about to come.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

Right. So we want to show you a picture from the scene that night. If you see up in the right hand corner, it is Club McGuire. Stevie Gary pulls out of the club and pulls up to the first stoplight. That's when detectives believe a vehicle pulled up next to him and opened fire on Stevie Gary and his vehicle. And we know that it wasn't just one shooter, we know it was multiple shooters because multiple different casings were recovered that night. So Stevie Gary's vehicle was shot up. It then drifted across the other lanes of Palm Beach of Villard, and the final resting place was against a palm tree.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

So right after he is fatally wounded, his car is shot, his car is then ran into a tree. He is somehow able to call into 911, but doesn't give us too much information. We want to play that audio for you guys to listen in to Stevie Gary's unfortunate last words. 911, what's your emergency?

SPEAKER_02 4:32

Yeah, I just last shot.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

I'm on the Okay, sir, sir, what's your address?

SPEAKER_02 4:40

Sir. Can you hear me? And that was only a short snippet of the 911 call because it does become hard to listen to. Stevie Gary's last words were, I was shot. He called 911 himself to report his own murder. Um, right after that, our deputies arrived on scene and they transported Stevie Gary to the hospital where unfortunately he passed away, and that's where the medical examiner came in and determined that his case was a homicide.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

When homicide detectives got on scene, our investigation immediately begins with figuring out who was around, what had occurred leading up to this shooting, and they're able to investigate everybody that was at the club. This is where we get our information that seemingly nothing happened at the club. Everyone was in high spirits, the music video occurred. He leaves. So our rapper that was in the music video, Gutter White, he immediately responds to the scene and he goes over to the hospital with Stevie Gary. There were no issues between them. He was there for his friend in his last moments.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

Right. And I want to show some photos from the music video that night. Everyone in this photo has been identified, but maybe you recognize someone in this photo as well, and you have had conversations with them, or you can have conversations with them and maybe ask them about their recollection of that night and see if you can help us produce any more leads from that night. But like Autumn had said, we spoke with everyone who was there that night or attempted to, because when it comes to investigations like this as well, not everyone will always cooperate with law enforcement, but we were able to at least come up with some sort of story for every person who was there that night and kind of mark them off as a suspect. I also want to show some photos from the scene as well. You can see the bullet holes in the vehicle, the bullet holes in the glass, how it shattered some of the glass. I mean, Stevie Gary was shot at multiple times. He was obviously targeted at that point.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

The pictures happened a little bit later in the day because of the investigation taking its time, but this happened around 10 45, 11 p.m. at night. So what our detectives were able to come up with was that there was not any witnesses around at the at the time of the shooting or the crash. But that's kind of what we're hoping that we get out of this podcast is somebody maybe was around. Palm Beach Boulevard is a heavily traveled area, as you had mentioned. And there could have been somebody around that witnessed it or even drove by, kind of questioning what was on the road because it was dark outside and is able to provide us a little bit of information maybe of the suspect vehicle or um exactly what had occurred at that stoplight. But at this point in the investigation, detectives' leads run a little dry. Yeah. We're speaking with everyone who's willing to speak with us. They're able to give us as much information as they can, but it's still just not enough to lead us to what actually occurred right outside of this club.

SPEAKER_02 7:55

Right. So within the following months, detectives get their first lead. In December of 2020, we actually recover one of the firearms that was used in Stevie Gary's shooting. However, it was recovered in a completely different crime.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

The incident was a shooting into a dwelling case. Right. But it was, like Julie had said, completely unrelated. So it was kind of hard to track back other than us being able to match the caliber to the casings. We're not able to do much more with the firearm, but that is a lead nonetheless.

SPEAKER_02 8:28

This is kind of common too when you see guns being sold on the street illegally. It's usually like through a middleman or sometimes the people don't really know each other. So that's what detectives think happened at this point. When we recovered this gun, the person who had the gun in their possession said, Oh, I bought it from someone else, but I don't know who that person was, and someone else helped with that transaction. So at this point, we know we at least have one of the firearms that was used in Stevie Gary's case, but we know that there were multiple firearms used in this case.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Right. As Julia said that that came in December of 2020. Nothing else really came, did it?

SPEAKER_02 9:05

It hasn't. And it kind of makes you wonder what happened that night. Was Stevie Gary targeted? Did something happen in the club that night? Was someone in the club telling someone on the outside, hey, Stevie Gary's here. Stevie Gary is getting ready to leave. It really makes you wonder, and you kind of come up with some conspiracy theories as to what you think may have happened to Stevie Gary in those last moments.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

Right. Because we're under the impression that these were the only people that were at Club McGuire. Could there have been somebody in the club that we don't know about? Again, small club. So it couldn't have been a whole bunch of people. But maybe there was somebody there that was targeting Stevie Gary. Maybe somebody knew this flyer was going around beforehand and they knew to wait for Stevie Gary to leave because there's no coincidence that this occurred right after he left the club.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

Right, minutes after he left the club. And Autumn, I found an article from one of our local television stations. They actually interviewed one of Stevie Gary's family members. And that family member said, quote, they knew who was in the car, they knew who they were gonna try to kill. So even family thinks that Stevie Gary had this target on his back. And it kind of gives you that weird feeling. Was Stevie Gary being stalked in a sense, and they were waiting until no one was around to finally kill him.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

These are the family members that we want to provide that information to. We want to confirm their conspiracies or deny them if that's the case. Right. We just want to get the truth out there of what actually happened to Stevie Gary and bring a little bit of justice to this case. Right. But um, so that's the information that we had leading up. We had our conspiracy theories going. The only other added note that we have is last year somebody came forward with giving a little bit of information to a potential suspect who goes by the name KY.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

Last year, someone came forward and said, Hey, I know who shot Stevie Gary. It was a a guy by the name of KY. And it wasn't just one person who name-dropped this KY, it was multiple people who name-dropped KY. I think it's also important to note that our detectives have started doing a little bit of research into KY, and they believe that KY is also connected to another homicide in the city of Fort Myers, actually, a case that the Fort Myers police are working. So at this point, what we're looking for is more people or more information regarding KY to come forward.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Right. This could be somebody that you know not even having any relation to the Stevie Gary case, just a little bit of information on this guy and his whereabouts and what he was up to around the time of 2020 could really help us in ways that you wouldn't even expect. But also, if you know any information of KY being directly linked to this, we know that there are people that have more information on what had occurred that have not come forward to law enforcement.

SPEAKER_02 12:06

Right. This case is six years old, and a lot of people will talk years after it happened, or you know, maybe this KY person confided in someone or even wanted to brag about the murder of Stevie Gary. And so I think there's someone out there who knows what happened that night. It's all about getting them to come forward with that information and providing our detectives with that.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Right. It's putting this into perspective that if this was one of your family members, where you the only thing that you would want is answers. Right.

SPEAKER_02 12:37

And answers and justice. Yeah. And I think that's what's so important in this case is that the smallest piece of information could snowball into the closure and the conviction of the person who murdered Stevie Gary. Autumn, I want to talk a little bit about how people who are listening or watching this podcast can come forward and provide information to our detectives.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Right. So you have the obvious route of calling into the sheriff's office itself at 4771000. You can call that at any point in time and ask to speak with our cold case detectives. We have a couple members that are assigned strictly to cold cases. But there's another route. If you want to remain anonymous, we work hand in hand with Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

And those who call into Crime Stoppers or you could submit anonymous tips online, you can remain anonymous. You don't have to tell them your name, your phone number, where you're located. I want to give the phone number to those who are listening and watching. It's 1-800-780 tips. That's 8477. Again, any little piece of information that you know, we want you to call in. We want you to provide us with that piece of information because that could be the one single piece that completely changes the trajectory of this case.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Right. And we are so, so thankful for our partnership with Crime Stoppers because they help us to solve a whole lot of cases with the added element of people being able to call in and nothing is tracked. Your phone number calling in is not tracked. You do not have to provide anything other than simply the tip that you're wanting to provide to law enforcement. And guess what, Autumn?

SPEAKER_02 14:15

People can get paid for the tips that they provide to you. If your tip is used in some sort of way to bring closure to a case or help provide detectives with a really strong lead, you can get paid out by Southwest Florida Crime Stopper. So really, we're trying to pay you to come forward to provide us with any information that you have in not only the Stevie Gary case, but any of our cold cases.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Answers, justice, and cash sounds really good.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

It really does. It really does. What else do you need to come forward with any piece of information? So again, if you know someone who was at the club that night, we'll show that picture again of the crowd of people who were at the club. Maybe you recognize someone in this picture if they've had conversations with you about something that happened in the club that night, or maybe they know someone was tipping someone off outside of the club that night. Um, if you saw something driving down Palm Beach Boulevard, like Autumn had said, it is such a busy street. Maybe you've noticed a car peeling out of there really quick, or you saw someone firing a gun from a vehicle. If you have the color, the make, the model of that vehicle, that could help detectives so, so much.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

That's right. There is no bit of information that is too little. We are so happy to continue on season two of Seeking Closure, bring you guys these cold cases and try and spark a little bit more traction to some cases that have either run dry a while ago or even recently.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

Just starting conversations. If you don't know anything about the Stevie Gary case, that's okay because we're going to be highlighting different cases every single month. So continue to listen because a name may sound familiar to you at one point. You may see something that looks familiar, and you can call in and provide us with those tips. Again, no tip is too small. It can help us solve a case and bring justice for Stevie Gary and bring closure for his family as well.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

That's right. Thank you guys so much for listening. We are excited to continue this on, and we will be right back here next month.