Quentin Lamont Porter Convicted in Murder of Malik Darea Sims-Trial Summary

Most nights, Malik Darea Sims played video games with his friends. They would play Call of Duty, Fortnite or an edition of NBA 2K. 

On the night he went missing, he wasn’t online. His username didn’t show up as active. 

The night he went missing, on July 14, 2024, he had made plans with a girl. But as the day went on, she stopped receiving messages from him. 

Everyone did. 

The next day, Jennifer Hawkins was driving along a gravel stretch of Stephenson Road, near the Owen-Monroe county line. She looked into the field and saw what appeared to be someone laying on their left side, head down. She called 911. 

Sims was found dead, about 20 feet from the road with a black plastic bag tied over his head, covering up a single gunshot wound. He was barefoot, wearing just a pair of red shorts. His knees and thighs were covered in light-colored dust. 

The last person he was seen with was Quentin Lamont Porter Jr. 

Porter was found guilty for murdering Sims on July 29, 2026, at the end of a seven-day trial. The 12-person jury also found him responsible for four other charges: auto theft of Sims’ car, identity deception, theft of Sims’ phone and theft of Sims’ credit cards. 

Each day on the third floor of the Owen County Courthouse, the prosecution and defense made their cases, presenting evidence, calling up witnesses and urging the jury to vote in their favor, all while Porter sat at the defense table, watching and listening. 

The jury heard from Sims’ friends, Porter’s family, detectives and other law enforcement, forensic experts and other witnesses who swore — right hands raised — to tell the truth. 

In just over two weeks, Porter allegedly bought a Taurus 9-millimeter handgun, killed Sims, stole his car, cleaned the evidence, spent hundreds on the victim’s credit card and was arrested for murder. 

In an interview with detectives at the Bloomington Police Department (BPD) on July 24, 2024 — the day he was arrested — Porter recounted the way he claimed Sims’ death unfolded. He said he was only trying to get a ride home that day, when Sims drove from Bloomington to Owen County, “making a play,” Porter said.  

Investigators verified the location the two traveled using Snapchat records, historical cell-site analysis, business surveillance footage and Flock Safety camera images. 

On the way to Stephenson Road, Sims had sent a message to the girl he had plans with, saying “QP got me going through some bullsh*t.”

Porter said Sims was shot by someone in a white SUV, while he sat inside Sims’ 2012 Audi A4. At the trial, Porter’s public defender Megan Schueler claimed that he was scared for his life. 

The detectives tried to get Porter to say more about what they were doing there, who the people in the SUV could’ve been. They asked if it was related to marijuana, which Sims sold. 

“This looks like you killed a kid and left him out like trash,” BPD Detective Jeff Rodgers said in the interview. “Tell me how something else happened. Tell me how I explain this, to his mom, to his family.”

Rodgers asked Porter why he put the bag over Sims’ head.

“Were you ashamed of what happened?” he asked.

The day Sims was killed was a hot one. The temperature reached 90 degrees and it was just as hot the afternoon he was found. Less than 24 hours passed after he was killed before Hawkins called the police, but he was unable to be identified by his face, and his tattoo of a lion wearing a crown was used to establish his identity. 

After Sims was shot, by a gunshot wound that entered near his left temple and exited near the right, Porter didn’t call 911, he didn’t take Sims to a hospital, he didn’t notify anyone of what had happened. 

He claimed that he tried to get Sims into the vehicle but wasn’t able to and that the bag put over his head was to contain or stop the heavy bleeding. 

After allegedly killing Sims, Porter drove to his grandparents’ house in Indianapolis. During the trial, the prosecution, led by Owen County Prosecutor Benjamin Kim and Chief Deputy Prosecutor Parker Trulock, built their case against Porter with a collection of receipts and bank records. 

Porter, with Sims’ card, bought seat covers from O’Reilly Auto Parts and used them to cover bloodied seats in the Audi A4. On the fourth day of the trial, Sgt. Ian Matthews, an Indiana State Police Crime Scene Investigator, shared photos from inside the car, including ones showing red staining along the seat stitching and streaky metallic silver spray paint. He noted smelling cleaning solvent inside the vehicle as well.

Matthews said the closest description for the blood pattern in the vehicle was pooling, with blood saturating toward the bottom of the seat.

While in Indianapolis, Porter used Sims’ card and name to rent a Nissan Sentra from Enterprise Rent-A-Car. He later used a stranger’s phone to try and tow the Audi back to Bloomington, also in Sims’ name. Before the JL Transport Towing and Recovery driver could pick up the car, police had already towed it away.

After learning that Sims was missing, his friends Jayden Street and Kevin Mimms used Find My iPhone to track his phone’s location. Street showed up at the scene while police were beginning their investigation, after seeing that Sims’ location had been in one play for about 22 hours. 

Later, another friend’s phone showed that Sims’ phone was in Indianapolis. Mimms drove up and searched for the vehicle. He found it with a trash bag covering the driver’s seat window, but confirmed it was Sims’ with the license plate number. He called the police. 

When police processed the Audi, they found Porter’s backpack. Inside was the semi-automatic pistol, which was found to have red staining on the tip of the gun and on other areas. 

On July 18, 2024, Porter took Sims’ credit card to the College Mall in Bloomington. He spent nearly $1,000 on diamond earrings from KAY Jewelers and bought a black New York Yankees hat from Lids. A few days later, he purchased an iPad from Best Buy. 

Porter was arrested without incident on July 24, 2024 at a convenience market located at the corner of 17th and Dunn in Bloomington, with the help of Bloomington Police Department's CIRT or Critical Incident Response Team. 

“The evidence proves that Quentin Porter murdered Malik Sims,” Trulock said on the last day of the trial. “The state asks that you hold the defendant accountable for his actions.”

***

About 20 people sat in the gallery of the courtroom on July 29,2026, waiting for VanDerMoere to take the jury’s decisions out of a manila folder. Porter stood while the judge read the word “guilty” again and again.

The gallery was silent, full of both Sims’ and Porter’s family and friends. Some propped their heads up with their hands, some buried their heads in them.

Porter sat down after the decisions were read. Schueler rubbed his back.

“I accept the verdicts and I remand you to the custody of the Owen County Security Center,” VanDerMoere said. 

After Porter was escorted from the room, Sims’ mother hugged Kim and Trulock. Sims’ other supporters shook their hands. Some cried. 

VanDerMoere announced Porter’s sentencing would take place at 1 p.m. Aug. 26, 2026. 

Nicole DeCriscio  contributed to this reporting.

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This story first appeared in our August 7, 2026 print edition.

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