Police Officer Indicted on Murder Charge

May 19, 2021 – A Memphis police officer accused of killing a man in the back of his squad car and disposing of the body earlier this year has been indicted on first-degree murder and other felony charges, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.

Defendant Patric Ferguson, 29, also was indicted on counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse, official misconduct and official oppression.

He is being held without bond.

Investigators said that on Jan. 6, 2021, victim Robert Lee Howard Jr., 30, was reported missing by his girlfriend. Ferguson was developed as a suspect and eventually told investigators he had gone to Howard’s residence, abducted him at gunpoint and killed him in the back of his patrol car.

Ferguson also said he left Howard’s body at one location, then enlisted help to move and dispose of the body at another location where it was recovered on Jan. 10. A second defendant, Joshua Rogers, 28, was indicted on counts of accessory after the fact, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence. He is free on a $25,000 bond.

The case is being handled by Chief Prosecutor Paul Hagerman of the District Attorney’s Crime Strategies & Narcotics Prosecution Unit which incorporates and expands the work of the Multi-Agency Gang Unit, the Organized Crime Unit, Project Safe Neighborhoods/GunDone, GunStat, the Safe Streets Task Force and the Violent Crime Unit.