Patric J. Ferguson, 34, a former Memphis Police Department Officer, was sentenced Monday to 38 years in prison for civil rights, firearms, kidnapping, and obstruction offenses in connection with the fatal shooting of a man identified by the initials Robert Howard, officials stated.
Documents tied to the plea show that on Jan. 5, 2021, while on duty as a Memphis police officer, Ferguson kidnapped and fatally shot Howard, who was dating Ferguson’s ex-girlfriend. He then worked with co-defendant Joshua M. Rogers to hide the crime by dumping Howard’s body in the Wolf River and later selling the vehicle used to transport the body to a scrap yard.
Rogers pleaded guilty on May 8 to obstruction charges in the cover-up and is set for sentencing on Dec. 17.