Prosecutors say the victims were killed inside a southwest Detroit home.

DETROIT, Mich. — A Detroit man has been charged with killing three older men found dead in a basement after police followed a missing person report to a home on Edsel Street, Wayne County prosecutors said.

Lance Alan Clowney, 27, faces three counts of premeditated first-degree murder in the deaths of Mark Barnett, 65, Norman Hamlin, 66, and William Barrett, 72. Prosecutors say the case began Feb. 18, when Barrett’s wife reported him missing. Police later found all three men at Hamlin’s home in the 3100 block of Edsel Street.

The charges were announced March 30, more than a month after the bodies were discovered. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Clowney is accused of attacking the men on Feb. 17 inside Hamlin’s home. Prosecutors allege he struck the victims multiple times with a hammer and a knife, fatally wounding them, then left the scene. More evidence is expected to be placed on the court record as the case moves forward. Police have said the men were found in the basement and appeared to have been attacked inside the house, not brought there afterward.

The investigation first drew officers to the neighborhood during a search for Barrett, who lived in River Rouge. While officers were in the area of Edsel Street and Francis Avenue, a 69-year-old Detroit man told them he had also been attacked inside the same home. That report led police into the house, where they found Barnett, Hamlin and Barrett dead. Detroit Police Cmdr. Rebecca McKay said after the discovery that it did not appear the bodies had been brought to the house. “It appears that the assault happened inside of the home,” McKay said.

Police officials described a violent scene. First Assistant Chief Charles Fitzgerald said the victims had suffered blunt force trauma, and local reports said at least some had cuts. The bodies were found covered by dirty clothing and carpeting, according to police accounts cited in local and national reports. Investigators have not publicly released a motive. Authorities have also not said in detail how the three men knew Clowney, though local reporting said he had been staying at Hamlin’s home before the killings.

Clowney was already facing charges in the nonfatal attack on the 69-year-old man before the murder charges were filed. In that case, prosecutors charged him with assault with intent to murder, assault with intent to do great bodily harm and felonious assault. The charges are tied to the same Edsel Street home and the same date, Feb. 17. Prosecutors said the surviving man was attacked with a hammer. The assault case was bound over to a higher court, where Clowney could stand trial.

At an earlier hearing in the assault case, prosecutors argued Clowney posed a danger to the community. He was denied bond and remanded to jail. Wayne County records list him as held at the Adult Detention Facility with no bond amount. The jail record also lists three first-degree murder charges and three assault-related charges. A May 8 court date is listed for the assault case, and a June 15 court date is listed for the homicide charges.

The victims’ names turned a basement discovery into a wider loss for families in Detroit and River Rouge. Hamlin and Barnett were both Detroit residents. Barrett was from River Rouge, west of Detroit. Neighbors told local reporters they had not heard anything unusual before police arrived. One neighborhood leader, Thomas Barnes, called the discovery tragic and said the violence had been hidden “right there under your nose.”

The case now rests with the courts, where prosecutors are expected to lay out more of the evidence. Clowney remains jailed as of April 27, with the next listed hearing in the related assault case set for May 8.

Author note: Last updated April 27, 2026.