Houseguest Indicted in Murder of Couple

Feb. 22, 2022 – A 34-year-old man has been indicted in the shooting deaths last year of a couple with whom he had been living in their Berclair-area home in northeast Memphis, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.

Defendant Michael Barkley was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder and is being held without bond.

The shootings occurred around 4 a.m. on Sept. 19, 2021, at the residence in the 3800 block of Macon Road where Barkley had been living that summer with Leander Maxwell, 38, and his wife, Keisha Marshall, 33. Investigators said Barkley had been told he would have to move out by the end of the month.

They said Barkley walked into the couple’s bedroom that morning and began shooting, striking Maxwell twice and Marshall four times. The victims managed to run from the house, but Marshall collapsed on the sidewalk. Maxwell made it to a nearby gas station where he asked the owner to call police.

The victims were taken to hospitals where they died a few hours later.

Barkley was identified as a suspect and was arrested that same morning at a relative’s home in the 600 block of Hudson St. in the Binghampton area.

The case is being handled by Chief Prosecutor Carrie Bush and by Asst. Dist. Atty. Chris Whitten of the District Attorney’s Vertical Team 4 which handles cases in General Sessions Division 12 and in Criminal Court Division 4.