A Taylor bar fight that turned deadly last fall has now resulted in a conviction. On November 25, 2025, a Wayne County jury found William David Parker, 40, of Ypsilanti, guilty of Second-Degree Murder for the fatal stabbing of 28-year-old Marcell Turner-Pongratz behind Big League Brews on October 26, 2024.
The violence broke out at 1:39 a.m., when Taylor police were called to a large fight in the back parking lot of the bar near Mayfair Street and Ecorse Road. Officers arrived to find a chaotic melee involving a large group of people. During the fight, Turner-Pongratz was stabbed once in the chest. He was rushed to Corewell (Beaumont) Taylor Hospital and later transferred to Beaumont Dearborn, where he died from the injury.
Turner-Pongratz had been out celebrating Halloween, one of his favorite holidays, and had attended a party at Big League Brews before the attack. Friends and family described him as kind-spirited and well-liked, with his sister saying, “He was the sweetest, nicest person you’ll ever meet.” The bar later hosted a packed candlelight vigil in his honor.
Detectives immediately began piecing the case together. They reviewed surveillance footage, collected physical evidence, interviewed witnesses, and identified a vehicle left at the scene. Through that work including clothing recovery and emergency phone location data investigators identified Parker as the suspected stabber. Police said it did not appear he knew the victim.
Later that same day, Taylor police and the Downriver SWAT Team located Parker at a residence in Ypsilanti and arrested him without incident. He was arraigned in 23rd District Court and held without bond, originally charged with Second-Degree Murder.
With this week’s verdict, Parker now awaits sentencing, scheduled for December 11, 2025.
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