HOUSTON – A Michigan man has been linked to a murder at a storage facility in Texas, and while we have some details from court documents, there are many questions remaining about the case.
Local 4 has obtained the charging document that accuses Kip Stitts, 57, of Detroit, of murder in the state of Texas. That document was signed Friday, Jan. 16, 2026.
We are reaching out to authorities in Michigan and Texas to try to get an update on the case and the apparent search for Stitts.
Here’s a comprehensive breakdown of what we know about this case, followed by the questions that we’re still trying to answer.
Storage facility murder
The charge against Stitts stems from a murder on Nov. 5, 2025, at the storage facility in the 6400 block of Eastex Freeway in Houston.
An officer with the Houston Police Department said police were called at 10:15 a.m. Nov. 5, 2025, to the storage facility and found the body of Sherry Dawson.
Dawson had been shot in the head, neck, and arms outside a storage unit, and she was pronounced dead at 10:19 a.m., according to the charging document.
Her death was ruled a murder. Police believe she was shot at close range, and they said they found multiple shell casings from a 9 mm gun.
Dawson’s car, a tan Buick sedan, was found about 15 feet away with the trunk open, police said.
Suspect vehicle identified
Police quickly learned that the shooter had driven to the storage facility in a white 2004 Ford F-250 pickup truck.
The truck had a unique front end because the hood and front quarter panels were black or dark gray, not matching the rest of the pickup.
Officials said they were able to confirm the Texas license plate on the pickup, and they told nearly departments to be on the lookout.
Witness shares story
A woman at the storage facility told police that she heard gunshots right after she parked her car outside her storage unit.
She said she saw a man getting into the driver’s seat of a pickup truck. She said he passed her and exited the facility.
The woman told police that the truck had a black front end, according to the charging document.
Surveillance footage shows encounter
An employee at the storage facility showed police the surveillance footage from that morning, and police said they could create a detailed timeline of the exchange between Dawson and the shooter.
The Buick got to the facility at 10:05:40 a.m., stopping at the gate to input the code. Police said the pickup was right behind the Buick and entered behind it before the gate could close.
The charging document says that between 10:06:20 and 10:08:20 a.m., “there appears to be some stopping, reversing, and turning around” from the two cars. In the end, both had turned around and were facing the gate.
At 10:08:36 a.m., the witness above can be seen arriving, entering the code, and driving just inside the gate to her storage unit.
At 10:09:30 a.m., Dawson falls to the ground in the camera’s view while the shooter walks up to her, police said. The shooter was wearing dark clothing.
Police said the video showed “some sort of physical altercation” between Dawson and the shooter.
At 10:09:37 a.m., Dawson rose to her feet with the man in front of her, and three seconds later, she fell to the ground, according to authorities.
The shooter ran out of the camera’s view, and then, at 10:09:55 a.m., the pickup truck is seen leaving the facility, driving right past the witness while the gate was still open, police said.
Common-law husband arrives
While police were still at the storage facility investigating, a man walked up and identified himself as Dawson’s common-law husband, the charging document says.
He told police that his wife had gone to the storage unit to get some items, but she was taking a long time so he wanted to check on her.
He said Dawson had been driving a tan Buick sedan, police said.
When officers told the man that his wife had been killed, he “became distraught as expected and claimed he knew who might have done this to her,” the document says.
The man agreed to talk to police about the situation.
Drug deal gone wrong
The common-law husband revealed to police that he is involved in a drug ring where he acts as the middleman between a supplier and a dealer, according to the charging document.
He told police that his job is to collect money from a buyer and give it to the supplier, who would then get the product to the buyer.
The middleman said he had known Stitts for awhile and Stitts was looking to buy cocaine, so the middleman introduced him to the supplier so they could all conduct business, according to police.
At some point, Stitts told the middleman that he was going to rob the supplier, which upset the middleman because he didn’t want them to have any issues, the charging document said.
When the middleman told the supplier about Stitts’ plan, the supplier hatched a plan to set Stitts up and steal his money, the middleman told police.
“The supplier told (the middleman) that they wanted to set up (Stitts) to steal his money in retaliation for the betrayal,” the charging document says.
The middleman told Stitts that the product was ready, so Stitts paid $125,000, police said. That money was given to the supplier, who paid the middleman $10,000 but never sent any product to Stitts, according to authorities.
The middleman said that had happened about a month before the murder, and he had cut ties with Stitts, ignoring his calls and messages and blocking his numbers, according to police.
The middleman told police that about two weeks before the murder, word on the street was that Stitts was looking for the middleman, police said. That’s why he believes his common-law wife was murdered over that stolen $125,000, the document says.
Connection to pickup truck
The middleman said his friend told him that he had seen Stitts in Houston on Nov. 3, 2025. The friend sent the middleman a picture of the pickup Stitts was driving, according to authorities.
The middleman said he recognized the truck because his friend’s dad had been trying to sell it, police said.
When police searched the pickup on a vehicle database, they saw that it was registered to the father of the middleman’s friend, who lives in Beaumont, Texas.
Traffic stop after murder
The middleman had told police that Stitts’ brother lived at a home in Humble, Texas, and police began watching that home.
Around 2 p.m. Nov. 5, 2025 -- about four hours after the murder -- police said they pulled over a white 2016 Cadillac Escalade with a Michigan license plate. That car was registered to Stitts and a Detroit address, police said.
Officers said the Escalade had arrived at the address and someone got out of the driver’s seat. That man went inside and then walked back out, got into the Escalade, and drove away, according to authorities.
He was pulled over after running a stop sign about one mile away from the home, police said.
The 45-year-old man driving the car was found to have warrants from the Southeast Texas Crime Information Center. He was taken to the Houston Police Department headquarters and questioned, police said.
We aren’t yet identifying this man, whose initials are E.E., because it’s unclear what, if any, official charges he is facing. But his exact relationship to Stitts is unclear.
What driver said about Stitts
During their interview with the driver of the Escalade, police said he told them that he was unaware of who owned the Escalade. He said he thought his cousin had just bought it, so he was using it to drive to and from work, police said.
When he was asked if he knew Stitts, the man said he has known Stitts for about a year but didn’t realize he owned the Escalade, police said.
He told police that he last talked to Stitts on Nov. 2, 2025, and that they had talked about the Detroit Lions, the document says.
He gave police a phone number he had for Stitts and said he had just gotten back to Houston early in the morning after driving from Illinois with a friend. He said he had been sleeping for most of the day.
Driver’s cellphone search
Police said they got permission to look through the Escalade driver’s cellphone. They said he had received phone calls from Stitts at 10:20 a.m. and 10:36 a.m. on Nov. 5. The first was not answered, but the second was answered and lasted 10-20 seconds, according to police.
He also received two FaceTime calls from Stitts at 1:52 p.m. and 2:01 p.m. on Nov. 5. The first was answered and lasted about 12 seconds, and the second went unanswered, police said.
The man told police that during the phone call with Stitts, he told Stitts that he was waking up and would call him back. During the FaceTime, he said that he was heading to referee a game for work, according to authorities.
Witness from mechanic
Police spoke to a man on Nov. 13, 2025, who reported seeing Stitts at his mechanic on Nov. 2, 2025. It appears the mechanic is the man who was selling the pickup truck.
The witness said he saw the pickup truck at the mechanic’s place. He described a person who fit Stitts’ description as the one who got out of the driver’s seat, according to police.
The man said he recognized that person from an interaction he had at the middleman’s house.
He told police that the man with the pickup truck left the mechanic around 3:30 p.m.
Deputy reports pickup truck
A Harris County deputy spoke to investigators and said he was doing a “contract check” on Pine Desert Lane in Houston on Nov. 2 when he noticed the pickup truck parked on the street.
The deputy said that was at 3:23 p.m. Nov. 2. He said he saw the same pickup parked there the following day, but he didn’t remember what time.
Kip Stitts cellphone location data
Police said they used Stitts’ phone number to request cellphone location data.
On Nov. 3, the data showed Stitts was in the area of Pine Desert Lane around 6 p.m., which supports the deputy’s information.
The morning of Nov. 5, data suggests Stitts was in the area of Aquatic Drive in Humble, where the middleman said Stitts’ “brother” lived and where E.E. was seen driving the Escalade.
Police said Stitts’ phone then went to the area of Pine Desert Lane in Houston. It remained there until around 9:30 a.m., and then went to the area of the home where Dawson and the middleman lived, according to authorities.
“I believe at this time, surveillance was being conducted on the residence by Kip Stitts,” the charging document says.
Data suggests Stitts’ phone was in the area of the storage facility at 10:10 a.m., approximately the time of the murder.
Police said the phone then traveled back to Pine Desert Lane in Houston and placed a call to E.E. at 10:19 a.m.
Police said the phone then traveled to the area of Atascocita Road in Humble, Texas, and was there until around 6 p.m. Nov. 5.
Then, it appears Stitts traveled north out of the state and arrived in the Detroit area the night of Nov. 6, according to the charging document.
Pickup owner interview
When police spoke to the registered owner of the pickup truck, he told them that someone had flagged him down Oct. 30, 2025, at a gas station because there was a “for sale” sign on his truck.
He said they agreed on a price, so that person went to his house the next day to buy the pickup.
The pickup owner said the buyer gave him the name “Blake Keller” and a Louisiana address, but police weren’t able to find a person matching the buyer’s description with that name.
The pickup owner was showed a spread of six photos, including a picture of Stitts, and he told police the buyer had a skinnier face than all of the people in the photos.
Pickup owner’s son calls police
One week later, police said they received a call from the son of the pickup owner, who told them he lives on Pine Desert Lane in Houston and does mechanic work.
When asked about the truck, the son said he had last seen the pickup about a month ago when it was parked on his father’s property in Beaumont, Texas.
He told police he thought his father had sold the pickup, but he wasn’t exactly sure when.
Gas station footage
Police went to a gas station near the home of Dawson and the middleman in Houston to check surveillance footage.
This gas station is about two miles south of the storage facility, just on the opposite side of I-69.
Police said Dawson’s Buick can be seen at 10:01:57 a.m. Nov. 5 leaving the area of their home and heading toward the U-turn under the highway to go north in the direction of the storage lot.
The pickup is seen leaving the area at 10:02:09 a.m. (12 seconds later) and heading in the same direction, according to police.
Police said this surveillance footage supports the location data from Stitts’ cellphone.
More cellphone location data
Police received cellphone location data for both Stitts and E.E. for the final days of October into early November.
They said on the evening of Oct. 28, 2025, Stitts was in the area of Beaumont before going to Houston. He went to Pine Desert Lane and then Aquatic Drive, the home where the Escalade driver was later seen.
On Nov. 4, E.E. flew from George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston to Illinois and then traveled back to Houston, arriving around 2 a.m. Nov. 5, 2025, according to police.
Stitts was in the area of Pine Desert Lane at 10:19 a.m. Nov. 5 when he made the first call to E.E., according to authorities. Around 11 a.m., E.E.’s phone appears to travel from the area of his home to Pine Desert Lane, arriving around 11:30 a.m., police said.
The two phones belonging to Stitts and E.E. appeared to then travel from the area of Pine Desert Lane to the Atascocita area together, the charging document says.
In the document, the Houston police officer said he believes this data shows that Stitts called E.E. to pick him up and bring him back to E.E.’s house so they could leave the pickup truck at Pine Desert Lane.
What we don’t know
There are still some questions left unanswered, and Local 4 has spoken to Detroit police, Houston police, and U.S. Marshals about this case to try to get some clarity.
So far, here’s what we still don’t know:
What is the relationship between Stitts and E.E., who was referred to by the middleman as Stitts’ brother?
Is E.E. suspected of involvement in this murder case? He is mentioned several times throughout the charging document, which seems to imply that his statements to police didn’t add up to the cellphone and location data.
It’s also a bit unclear if the pickup truck has been recovered, though there is a line near the end of the charging document that says, “as of this date, the suspect vehicle ... has not been located, nor has it been re-registered to anyone.”
That suggests the answer is no, but the document also alleges that Stitts and E.E. left the pickup in the area of Pine Desert Lane after Dawson was killed. Do police think Stitts took the pickup to Michigan? If so, how did he get back to the pickup, and when?
“Stitts shows signs of flight leaving the Houston area the evening of the murder and heads back to Michigan despite his registered vehicle being stopped, (E.E.) being arrest(sic) and the vehicle towed to a storage lot,” the document says in the conclusion.
That might refer to the Escalade being towed. It also might be in reference to E.E.’s arrest on the aforementioned warrants, not in connection with Dawson’s murder.
It’s also a bit unclear how or why the Harris County deputy remembered seeing the pickup truck on Nov. 2. Was there a reason police were watching it? Or did he just remember because of the conspicuous, darker front?
What did it mean when police said “there appears to be some stopping, reversing, and turning around” from the two cars at the storage facility right before the shooting?
What is the significance to the mentioned locations on Pine Desert Lane in Houston or Atascocita Road in Humble?
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, how are authorities in Detroit or Southeast Michigan involved in this case? If Stitts is indeed a suspected murderer, is not in custody, and was last believed to be heading back to Detroit, what has that investigation looked like in the two and a half months since the murder?
We have asked these questions and are hoping to get answers soon.