Press Releases
07/20/2023
Jury Finds Rashad Sellers Guilty of the 2019 Murder of Stephon Walthrust in Stamford
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Stamford, CT) – Stamford/Norwalk State’s Attorney Paul J. Ferencek announced today the conviction of Rashad Sellers for the crime of Murder in violation of Connecticut General Statutes § 53a-54a(a).
A Stamford Superior Court jury on July 19, 2023 found Sellers guilty of the March 30, 2019 murder of Stephon Walthrust, age 26, of Queens, N.Y., in Stamford.
During the trial, witnesses testified that at about 10:40 p.m. on March 30, 2019, they heard multiple gunshots fired and observed a person running away from the scene. Each witness provided a description of the suspect to police the evening of the incident. Officers responded to the scene and located the victim unresponsive in his vehicle. Both driver’s side windows appeared to have been shot out, and the passenger side door of the vehicle was found open. While a spent bullet was found on scene, no firearm was ever found. Two additional spent bullets were found during the investigation.
Video evidence from the area showed the suspect's vehicle arriving in Stamford at 10:27 p.m., parking one block over from the crime scene, and the suspect exiting the vehicle and walking down the block. Minutes later, the same person is seen running from the scene of the crime and getting into the passenger side of the same vehicle. The vehicle then proceeded to get back on the highway at 10:45 p.m. and leave the area. Area business camera footage provided clear images of the suspect, which led to the identification of the suspect as Rashad Sellers by his probation officer and parole officer at the time.
Further investigation revealed that the defendant and the victim had met while both were incarcerated in Connecticut in 2018, and they had stayed in touch after their release, according to phone records. Those records revealed that on the day of the murder, the victim attempted to contact the defendant more than 30 times, and called the defendant’s girlfriend 13 times. Friends of the victim testified that these calls were an attempt to collect a debt from the defendant.
In the days following the shooting, the defendant changed his phone number and searched for news related to the crime on Facebook 52 times.
Sellers is scheduled for sentencing on October 2, 2023.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorney Elizabeth K. Moran and Assistant State’s Attorney Margaret Moscati.