Top Blood pleads guilty to kidnapping after Durham mistrial

A murder mistrial in Durham did not end the case. Darrius Tyson, 34, known as “Top Blood,” pleaded guilty Friday in Durham County Superior Court to first-degree kidnapping in the disappearance of club promoter Shawn Burton.

Tyson will serve between six and nine years in prison and will receive credit for about four years already spent in custody, according to ABC11. Burton was 44 and had been last seen in March 2022. A preview on The News & Observer’s X account said Burton had not been seen since March 22, 2022.

The plea came after a judge declared a mistrial in the murder and disappearance trial, leaving prosecutors without a verdict on the more serious homicide count. That earlier break in the case changed the leverage on both sides: the state still had a violent felony to press, but the defense no longer faced a jury trial with the same murder exposure hanging over it.

Tyson’s nickname also gave the case a profile that extended beyond a routine kidnapping docket. The News & Observer described him as a self-proclaimed “top Blood” gang member, a label that helped frame the case in Durham’s nightlife and street-violence circles even as the prosecution shifted away from a murder conviction and into a negotiated plea.

The underlying investigation had already moved through major charging decisions before the plea. On Feb. 21, 2023, Durham police said three men linked to Burton’s disappearance faced murder charges. Burton, identified by ABC11 as a Durham club promoter, remained the focal point of the case as prosecutors worked through counts tied to his disappearance.

The guilty plea gives Durham prosecutors a final result on kidnapping after the mistrial left the murder case without closure. It does not produce a murder verdict, but it does lock in a conviction and a prison term in a case that began with a missing club promoter and moved through one of the city’s most closely watched courtroom failures.