His number was the most recent call on a slain man’s phone. Now he’s awaiting trial

Detectives investigating the Sept. 11 fatal shooting of a man at an English Avenue apartment dialed the number of the most recent call on the victim’s cellphone.

A man answered, but hung up after the detective identified himself.

When the detective called a second time, the man — Qontavis Markis Bryant — told the detective his name and agreed to meet for an interview,

After being advised of his rights, Bryant said he and Brandon Jermaine McAllister had ridden bikes to 36-year-old Ralfeale Lowe’s apartment and while there another man fatally shot Lowe, prosecutor April Herbert said at a Thursday hearing in Bibb County Superior Court.

Bryant, 18, was charged with murder Sept. 22 and indicted in December.

He appeared in court Thursday asking for a bond. A judge denied his request after listening to arguments from Herbert and Bryant’s lawyer, Tamika Fluker.

Herbert said a Bibb County deputy smelled “a strong odor of marijuana” when he arrived at the apartment complex behind Vineville Academy and not far from the Pio Nono Avenue Kroger supermarket.

The door to Lowe’s apartment was open. There was blood on the door and front steps. Shell casings from a 9mm gun and marijuana were scattered across the pavement.

A man was on his knees holding Lowe, who’d been shot once in the chest.

Herbert said witnesses have told police Lowe sold marijuana out of his apartment.

His mother, brother, sister-in-law and some children were upstairs when the gunshots were fired.

Lowe’s brother heard him call out for help. His mother reported hearing two shots and seeing three men running toward English Avenue, Herbert said.

Bryant and McAllister went to a friend’s house after the shooting and told the friend “they had just hit a lick and he needed to watch the news,” Herbert said.

The friend told police Bryant and McAllister had said before the shooting that they were going to rob Lowe and take his marijuana, she said.

He also said Bryant and McAllister later bragged to him and admitted killing Lowe, Herbert said.

Bryant was convicted of a 2013 armed robbery in juvenile court, she said.

Fluker said her client cooperated with police and is not a risk to flee the jurisdiction.

McAllister, 18, also is charged with murder and is being held without bond at the county jail, according to jail records.

This story was originally published March 9, 2017 at 3:15 PM with the headline "His number was the most recent call on a slain man’s phone. Now he’s awaiting trial."