MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Nearly four years to the day, Memphis police have charged a 19-year-old with the murder of a Parkway Village man.
68-year-old retired National Guardsman Robert Wong was found shot to death inside his home on Cochese Drive on Thanksgiving day, 2017.
Wednesday, Dallas Perkins was charged with his murder and the theft of his van.
The Shelby County District Attorneys’ office said Perkins, who would have been 15-years-old at the time of the murder, is already serving a seven-year prison sentence for aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary.
“Fifteen? Are you serious? That’s a baby,” said neighbor Kelvin Stephens.
Neighbors said they always think about the Wong family this time of year and remember the day like it was yesterday.
“I was here. I didn’t hear anything. I didn’t even hear the shot,” said Eddie Young.
In 2017, Wong’s daughter told WREG her father had just finished his last round of radiation treatment for cancer and didn’t have the energy to go out for Thanksgiving dinner that day.
Kim Wong said when they returned to his home a few hours later, they found him dead near a back door that had been forced open.
Wong’s Honda Odyssey van was also gone. Homicide detectives found the vehicle two days later on Mrytle Drive.
The DA’s office said new evidence and witness interviews led cold-case detectives to Perkins.
“I’m glad they broke it,” said Young. “I talk to his wife quite frequently. Matter of fact, two weeks ago, she was just telling me they hadn’t solved it.”
In 2019 Perkins pled guilty to the 2018 holdup of a pizza delivery driver on Hunter’s Place in Cordova. Perkins and two other men took the driver’s white Dodge Charger, $20, and two pizzas.
The following day, a Cordova woman reported the burglary of her home by someone in a white Dodge Charger. Perkins was arrested after police spotted him and another teen getting into the vehicle in a Parkway Village Neighborhood.
Perkins pled guilty in the two incidents to aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, theft of property, and intentionally evading arrest in an automobile.
He was sentenced to 7.2 years at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.
Wong’s neighbors said they will enjoy this Thanksgiving a lot more and can rest easier knowing the killer has been caught.
“It kind of gets you on pins and needles when you don’t know what’s going on and who’s responsible,” Young said.
Since Perkins was 15 at the time of the murder, his initial proceedings will be in juvenile court.