MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Midtown neighbors say they’re fed up with the crime at what police call a “known drug house” with alleged ties to torture and murder.
Records show police were called to the house at 515 Summit Street 63 times between April 2017 through March 2019 for things like suspicious people, possible drug sales, and prowlers.
Neighbors say they made a pact to start paying attention to what was going on in their neighborhood after one night in April 2017, when they say they woke up to more than 20 gunshots fired at the house in the middle of the block.
“Nothing like waking up at 2 in the morning to gunfire,” said a neighbor who asked us not to use his name.
“When that happened, all of us neighbors were out here talking about it,” said another neighbor Dru Phillips.
That’s when they decided to form a community watch, and vowed to call police every time they see suspicious activity. They say they can hear cars coming, doors slamming, engines revving all hours day and night.
Of those 63 police calls, officers took a half dozen reports, mostly for drug activity. They also arrested several people at the home for allegedly having illegal prescription pills, marijuana and meth.
Their arrest records even refer to the home as “a known drug house.”
To make matters even worse, a man named Michael McGehee said he lived in the home when he reportedly played a part in a brutal murder.
Court documents state that in July 2017, McGehee and two other men kidnapped 60-year-old Robert Glidden, tied him up with duct tape, stripped him of his clothing and beat him with “a fist, feet, bricks and other items” including a “taser and handguns.”
Detectives say the trio then stuffed Glidden, still alive, into a trunk, then drove around for hours until they dumped his body next to a trash bin in an industrial area.
We found Glidden’s obituary, stating he was a retired FDA chemist from Little Rock, so we went there.
Glidden’s former neighbors in Little Rock didn’t want their face shown. They were too afraid after hearing what happened to him, but told us what they remember.
“Very quiet. Kept to himself,” said one neighbor. “The whole time he lived there when we saw him, we saw at least two people go in and out. Two people, that’s it.”
They also say when people moved into Glidden’s home, they found buckets full of needles.
Police haven’t said how Glidden is tied to McGehee, or anyone else in the Midtown home.
Neighbors say they never saw Glidden, but claim McGehee was seen at the home even after police put a warrant out for his arrest in February.
That’s what pushed them to finally voice their concerns to us, and we brought their concerns to Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich.
Weirich said her office has to have a strong case to file a petition and convince a judge a home or property is a nuisance, but many of the calls at this house are for issues that are not covered by a nuisance petition, like a suspicious person or burglar alarm going off.
There has to be evidence of certain types of criminal activity, she said: “drugs, sales of drugs, obscenity pornography, prostitution, and the statue even talks about quarrelling and drunkenness.”
Weirich encouraged neighbors to keep calling police when they see a problem.
“We really rely on the public very heavily for the nuisance actions we have taken in the past,” she said.
Neighbors say they won’t stop.
“We have reached out to authorities, we have reached out to everyone we can,” Phillips said. “We want a place where we can feel safe.”
The homeowner is a pharmacist in Arkansas. We have reached out to him multiple times, but have yet to hear back.
Neighbors also told us the home may be sold to an investor soon. We are trying to confirm that information.
McGehee will be back in court May 29.
