TWO MEN TO BE CHARGED IN MURDER

They're Accused Of Killing Drug Dealer To Steal His Marijuana

Two men in custody for the murder of a Wild Rose man were drug dealers
who didn't want to pay Nathaniel Divine, 24, for four pounds of
marijuana worth at most $8,000, town of Madison police said Tuesday.

"The victim was trying to sell it. They tried to take it and they shot
him," police Chief Scott Gregory said at a news conference.

"I would consider it a drug deal gone bad," he said, adding that all
three men earned their livings selling drugs.

Divine was shot several times July 2 as he sat behind the wheel of a
pickup at an apartment building at 2316 Badger Parkway. Before the
shooting, Divine was seen talking to several people standing around
the truck. Witnesses said the truck rolled about 15 yards and hit a
parked car after the shooting, and that a man then reached into the
truck and pulled something out before running away.

Gregory said an initial court appearance for alleged trigger man Ben
Napier, 22, will be today in Dane County Circuit Court. Police have
asked the Dane County district attorney to charge him with
first-degree intentional homicide and armed robbery. Napier's alleged
accomplice, Tekeith Tate, 25, likely will be charged with being party
to the crimes of first-degree intentional homicide and armed robbery,
Gregory said.

Napier was arrested in Madison and was being held at the Dane County
Jail on a probation and parole hold, while Tate remains in Chicago in
the Cook County Jail. Police there arrested him during a traffic stop
on an unrelated warrant involving a domestic incident, Gregory said.
Napier was the man who reached into Divine's truck after the shooting,
grabbing the package of marijuana, Gregory said. The marijuana was not
recovered when the two men were arrested, and police think they had
already sold it.

Police are still searching for the gun, a .357- or .38-caliber revolver.

Court records show that Napier was convicted of escape in 2002 and of
delivery of cocaine in 2001. A 2001 charge of possessing cocaine with
intent to sell was dismissed.

Napier's last known Madison address was 922 Magnolia Lane, while
Tate's was 2314 Allied Drive. Both men have family ties in Chicago,
according to Gregory.

Tate, also known as Kevin Scott, is slated for trial in October on a
Dane County disorderly conduct charge. He was sentenced in Rock County
in 1994 to three years in prison after being convicted of first-degree
recklessly endangering safety while armed.

The murder victim, Divine, lived in Wild Rose, about 95 miles north of
Madison, but his father lives in the Madison area. Divine was
convicted of disorderly conduct in December in Monroe. In 2000, he was
convicted of misdemeanor possession of marijuana in Outagamie County
and disorderly conduct in Waupaca County. He was convicted that same
year of a felony hit and run involving an injury in Dane County.

Gregory lauded the work of his officers, particularly Investigator
Robb Hale and officers Mike Gehn and Steve Lindsay, as well as the
Madison Police Department, the Dane County Sheriff's Office, DeForest
police and Fitchburg police for their help in solving the case. He
also thanked Cook County, Ill., authorities and the Waushara County
Sheriff's Department.

"It was good, old-fashioned police work," he said. Officers searched
Divine's apartment, interviewed more than 150 people, checked
telephone records and "put two and two together" to identify Napier
and Tate as suspects, Gregory said. Information given by residents of
the apartment buildings where the shooting took place, who were able
to describe the color of a car that sped away, was "extremely
important," he said.

Hale, the lead investigator on the case, said, "I want to extend my
sympathies to the family. ... This was a tragedy that should not have
occurred."