MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Questions remain long after a senseless murder in Orange Mound leaves family members mourning.
Memphis police say three weeks ago someone murdered 64-year-old Willie Cowans inside his Orange Mound home and then lit the house on fire. Mary Lewis feels lost and alone without her big brother and best friend, “I feel hurt and betrayed.”
“I got a phone call from my cousin and she said, ‘you need to go to your brother’s house.'”
When Lewis arrived, all she saw was fire trucks in the street and flames coming from her brother’s home.
“I ran up there. The police officers stopped me, she said, ‘who are you?’ I said, ‘I’m his sister, Mary Lewis.’ she said, ‘you can’t go up there.'”
Lewis believes someone tried to rob her brother and set his house on fire to cover up the crime.
“He probably opened the door for somebody he knew, and they probably put a gun to his head.”
Lewis believes her brother may have struggled with his killers. She says after they killed him, they took what money he had and stole two of his vehicles.
“I’m praying and I pray to the good Lord every day that he was already dead before they put him on fire. He begged me, ‘don’t cremate me.’ but my thing is, they burned him so bad that I had to do the cremation instead of having a funeral.”
If you know who killed 64-year-old Willie Cowans, you’re urged to call CrimeStoppers at 528-CASH.
A two-thousand-dollar reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction, remember all calls are confidential.