Investigators say a late-night argument over missing food ended with Charley Collins dying at the scene.
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — A homicide case in Milwaukee is focusing on the final seconds of a hallway and kitchen confrontation after police said a woman shot a man during an argument that began when he returned inside with a food delivery early Feb. 21.
Bonnie Blackwell, 41, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in the death of 63-year-old Charley Collins. Prosecutors say the shooting happened at a home near North 22nd Street and West Locust Street around 12:30 a.m. The case now turns on witness accounts, scene evidence and Blackwell’s own statements, all of which prosecutors say point to a deliberate shooting after a dispute over a missing chicken order.
Police said the first signs of trouble came after Collins got food from a delivery person outside the home. A witness later told detectives Collins returned inside, and Blackwell confronted him. According to the complaint, the witness said Collins placed the food in a bedroom and then walked into the kitchen. Blackwell then came out of her bedroom armed with a gun, yelled at Collins and fired one shot. Officers responding to the house found Collins in the kitchen. Rescue efforts failed, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Early in many homicide cases, investigators must separate rumor from sequence. Here, the known sequence described by police is compact and direct: a food delivery, an argument indoors, movement through a hallway and kitchen, a single shot and an immediate death investigation. That compressed timeline is likely one reason prosecutors moved quickly to file one of the state’s highest-level homicide charges.
Blackwell’s own statement, as summarized in court documents, adds detail but does not remove the central conflict in the evidence. Detectives wrote that she said Collins had been saying “somebody stole his chicken.” She told investigators she checked outside, saw a Dr Pepper on the porch and did not see any chicken. According to the complaint, she said Collins was moving toward her in the hallway, calling her names, and she backed up before the gun fired. Yet the same complaint says she admitted she shot Collins in the back as he was walking away. That combination of details is likely to define the court fight ahead. A statement about fear during a heated argument can suggest panic, but an admission that the victim was shot in the back while walking away points prosecutors toward intent. Public records released so far do not fully describe whether there were prior tensions between the two, whether anyone else tried to break up the argument or whether drugs or alcohol played any role. Those remain open questions.
The physical evidence described by police is limited in quantity but potentially important in meaning. Investigators said they found a fired bullet near Collins’ feet and a spent shell casing in the hallway. In a shooting inside a house, those placements can help experts and attorneys map positions, direction and distance. The fact that Collins was found in the kitchen while the casing was in the hallway supports the idea that the fatal moment unfolded across connected spaces rather than in a single fixed spot. That may sound minor, but it could matter when lawyers argue about whether Collins was advancing, retreating or turning away. Cases like this often become a close reading of indoor movement: where a person stood, whether a doorway blocked sight, how far one room was from another, and what witnesses could actually see. The public attention around the missing-food argument gives the case a strange and memorable hook, but the courtroom emphasis is likely to stay on trajectory, position and intent.
Investigators say the case grew stronger after they examined phone contacts involving Blackwell. Detectives learned that jailed inmates had called her, and one call on the day of the shooting became part of the complaint. In that call, prosecutors say, the speaker said, “I just shot somebody last night, and I think I killed him — I am going to be on the run.” Authorities say the caller then went on to describe the shooting. Blackwell was arrested Feb. 24 at a mental health facility in West Allis. Investigators also say she later sold the gun for $200, an allegation that may become relevant both to consciousness-of-guilt arguments and to efforts to recover the weapon for testing. Her first appearance in court was scheduled for Feb. 28. At that stage, judges usually address the complaint, legal representation and release conditions, while prosecutors begin converting the police narrative into the formal rhythm of a criminal case that may last months or longer.
Collins’ death gives the case a blunt human center that court language cannot soften. By the witness account, he had gone to the door for a food order and came back inside. Minutes later, police found him dead in the kitchen. For Blackwell, the next chapter now unfolds in hearings, filings and evidentiary disputes. For Collins, the public record stops at the inside of that house and the final moments described by others. It is one reason homicide complaints often read with unusual force: they reduce an ordinary act, like accepting takeout at the door, into the beginning of a fatal timeline. In this case, the ordinary detail is not just background. It is the thing that appears to have sparked the argument that prosecutors say ended with a gunshot.
The prosecution remained in its early stage in Milwaukee County, with Blackwell accused and the allegations still untested at trial. The next immediate marker was the scheduled Feb. 28 appearance, where the court was expected to begin setting the path for the case ahead.
Author note: Last updated March 26, 2026.