Three men in their 60s were discovered dead in a Detroit basement as officers checked on a missing person, while a 27-year-old man arrested nearby now faces attempted murder charges in an alleged hammer attack. Prosecutors publicly linked him to the victims, yet no homicide charges have been filed.
TLDR
Detroit police, investigating a missing person, found three men over 60 dead in a basement. Prosecutors say a 27-year-old hammer assault suspect is connected to the deaths, but he is currently charged only with assault with intent to murder and assault with a dangerous weapon.
The case centers on three victims, identified by police as 66-year-old Norman Hamlin, 65-year-old Mark Barnett, and 72-year-old William Barrett, who were found in the basement of a home on South Edsel Street in Detroit. The man prosecutors have tied to the scene, 27-year-old Lance Clowney II, is jailed on serious assault charges, and investigators are still working to determine how, or whether, he will be charged in the killings.
Officers went to the South Edsel Street address as part of a missing person investigation. According to Detroit Police Cmdr. Rebecca McKay, officers were in the area when someone approached to report being attacked near the home. Inside the residence connected to that report, officers found the three men in the basement, covered with clothing and a piece of carpet, and already deceased.
Triple Homicide Discovered During Missing Person Check
Police officials have publicly treated the deaths as a triple homicide. McKay told reporters that the condition of the scene suggested violence had taken place inside the house rather than elsewhere. According to her account, officers did not believe the bodies had been moved from another location, and there were visible signs that the men had been assaulted.
Local television reporting, cited by Law & Crime, described extensive blood inside the home, and authorities estimated that the men had been dead for roughly a day when they were found. Neighbors told reporters they did not notice anything unusual before the discovery, underscoring how little independent information exists about what happened in the hours before the men were killed.
Hammer Assault Charges and Unfiled Murder Counts
Near the same address, a victim reported being attacked by a man wielding a hammer. Prosecutors allege that man was Clowney. According to the account relayed at his arraignment, officers detained him shortly after the report and recovered a hammer, a baseball bat, and three phones from his person. Those phones are a potential evidentiary link that investigators have not yet explained in public filings.
Online court records, cited by Law & Crime, show Clowney is charged with assault with intent to murder and assault with a dangerous weapon in connection with that alleged hammer attack. During the arraignment, a prosecutor told the judge, “Due to the assaultive nature, we believe the defendant is connected to not only this assault with the complaining witness in this matter, but the connection to three decedents in the basement.” Despite that assertion, no homicide counts were listed against him at the time of that hearing.
Lance Clowney II allegedly used a hammer when he attacked an individual in Southwest Detroit. On Monday, he appeared in court on charges including assault with intent to murder and assault with a dangerous weapon. https://t.co/fc0qH5Pf2g pic.twitter.com/0Ol9rOMRwb
— FOX 2 Detroit (@FOX2News) February 24, 2026
Criminal History and Questions About Supervision
Court records reviewed by Law & Crime show Clowney has prior felony convictions that include armed robbery, carjacking, felony firearm possession, and fleeing police. He was sentenced to a prison term of five to fifteen years on the carjacking and robbery counts and was released from prison in early 2025. In May of that year, he pleaded guilty to assault and battery in a separate matter and received a 40-day jail sentence with credit for time served.
Those records framed prosecutors’ argument that he should be held without bond on the new assault charges. At the arraignment, they described him as a danger to the community, and the judge ordered him remanded. McKay, speaking about the crime scene, said, “It does not appear that the bodies were brought there. It appears that the assault happened inside of the home.” That account, combined with Clowney’s criminal history, raises questions about how closely he was being supervised after his release, although state corrections officials have not publicly detailed his status.
Clowney has a probable cause hearing scheduled in the assault case, which will test whether prosecutors can move the charges toward trial. Detectives continue to investigate the three men’s deaths, and officials have not said what additional evidence, beyond proximity and the alleged hammer attack, links Clowney to the basement where the bodies were found. Until any homicide charges are filed and detailed in court documents, the precise connection between the accused assailant and the three dead men remains a central unresolved issue.
