Man charged with murder for shooting death outside Middletown bar

A man has been charged with the shooting death of a Middletown man two weeks ago outside a Verity Parkway bar.

Marquan Cardelle Cortez Cook, 28, has been indicted by a Butler County grand jury on the charge of murder, according Middletown police, who said the indictment was unsealed this morning. He is accused of shooting Brandon Frank Nathanial Moneyham Sr. to death during the early-morning hours of Oct. 11.

Middletown police are asking for assistance in locating Cook.

At about 12:49 a.m. on Oct. 11, police received a call about a person found behind a business at 601 N. Verity Parkway. The man was dead when officers arrived. An initial investigation revealed Moneyham had been at the 513 Lounge next door. A group of people were leaving the bar when shots were fired, and at least one person was hit, according to police.

According to the Middletown police report, the first officers at the scene found Moneyham with several gunshot wounds, unconscious and not breathing.

John Sagas told officers he was Moneyham’s friend and had met him at the 513 Lounge.

“He (Sagas) stated that he was inside the bar when a group of people came in screaming that someone had been shot in the parking lot and he went outside and observed that it was his friend. He stated that his friend came there by himself and he just met him at the bar and stated that he was going to walk down the street and did not give a reason as to why,” according to the police report.

Detectives said a day after Moneyham’s homicide, they had a suspect.

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