Thomas King’s relatives said he may have been targeted because of his disability and speech impediment.
FORT WORTH, Texas — The family of a 31-year-old father killed after a Taco Casa shift says he was bullied before police accused a co-worker of shooting him and stealing his car.
Thomas King’s death has become both a capital murder case and a family’s demand for answers about how he was treated before he disappeared. Police have charged Gregory D. Lewis, 34, in King’s death after saying Lewis confessed during an interview. King’s relatives said he had an intellectual disability and speech impediment, worked to care for his family and did not deserve the violence that followed his April 13 shift.
Relatives said King was a steady presence at home. He was the oldest of four siblings, the partner of his high school sweetheart and the father of two sons. Family members said he usually went to work and came back without trouble. Richardson, his partner, said he told her he loved her before the shift and said he would return. That routine shaped the family’s alarm when King did not come home from the Taco Casa on Bridgewood Drive in Fort Worth.
King’s family reported him missing April 14. He had last been seen the night before in his Taco Casa uniform, after finishing work at the restaurant in east Fort Worth. By then, relatives said, the lack of contact did not match his usual pattern. Richardson said every workday normally ended with King coming back to the family. The unanswered calls and missed return turned a normal night into a missing-person case that quickly drew Fort Worth police into the search.
The first major lead came from King’s car. Investigators tracked the vehicle to a Quality Inn on Interstate 20 in Arlington, miles from the restaurant. Police said surveillance footage showed someone else arriving at the motel in King’s vehicle shortly after King left work. Detectives reviewed that footage and identified the person as Lewis, a co-worker who had been working alongside King at Taco Casa. The discovery moved attention from where King had gone to who had his car.
Homicide detectives took over April 16 and arrested Lewis on unrelated charges as the investigation widened. Police said Lewis later admitted killing King and leaving his vehicle. Officer Buddy Calzada said investigators interviewed Lewis and received a confession tied to the missing-person case. The next day, April 17, police found King’s body in an open field on Fort Worth’s east side. Authorities said he had been shot, but they have not released every detail of the confrontation they believe happened after work.
King’s relatives said the arrest did not answer the question that mattered most to them. They said King had been bullied at work and that Lewis was among the people who mistreated him. One sister said King largely kept to himself and may have been targeted because of his hearing and speech issues. “I feel like they felt like he was an easy target,” she said. Another sister said the family wanted to know why anyone would do this to him.
A fundraiser for King’s family described him as kind, trusting and dedicated to his children. It said he lived with a mental disability but showed up each day with strength and love. The fundraiser also alleged that someone had bullied him and taken advantage of his limited mental capabilities. Those claims have not been fully detailed by police in public statements, and investigators have not said whether alleged bullying is being treated as a motive, a possible factor or a separate part of the case history.
Taco Casa said the death was a tragic loss involving two employees but happened away from company property and outside work hours. The company said it was not aware of prior issues or conflicts between King and Lewis. Taco Casa also said it is committed to a safe, respectful and supportive work environment. For King’s family, the statement left unresolved the gap between what the company said it knew and what relatives believe King had endured.
Lewis faces a capital murder charge in connection with King’s death. He also faces counts tied to unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and a parole violation, according to jail records cited in reports. The capital murder allegation raises the case beyond a standard murder charge because police say King’s car was taken. Prosecutors will decide how to present the evidence as the case moves through Tarrant County courts.
The medical examiner’s findings are expected to form part of the official record, including the confirmed cause and manner of death. Detectives also have the motel footage, the location of King’s vehicle, the field where his body was found and the police account of Lewis’ statement. What remains less clear is what happened in the time between King leaving Taco Casa and the shooting. Police have said they believe some kind of confrontation took place but have not laid out the full sequence.
At home, King’s absence has been measured in questions from his children and grief from the adults around them. Richardson said the boys had asked where their father was and were having a hard time understanding what happened. Relatives described King as gentle and devoted, a man who worked and cared for his family. Their public comments have kept the focus on who King was before he became the victim in a capital murder case.
For now, Lewis remained in Tarrant County custody as the case continued. Fort Worth police had not announced a final motive, and King’s family continued to seek answers about the alleged bullying, the final ride and the killing that followed his April 13 shift.
Author note: Last updated May 17, 2026.