A man in Arizona flagged police down in the road to confess to a murder, before leading cops to the missing body.
Jay Albert Stevens, 52, stopped a Cochise Sheriff’s deputy at around 1am on Thursday 8 September, having been ‘in the middle of the roadway’ on Central highway and Sage Lane near McNeal, Cochise County.
When the deputy asked if he was okay, Stevens explained that he had shot and killed someone, and, while unable to provide an address of the body, could lead law enforcement to the victim.
After discovering the body of an unnamed 61-year-old man, police charged Stevens with first degree murder and booked him into jail as investigations continue.
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Investigators have not yet confirmed the motive behind the shooting, or whether or not the two men knew one another.
A statement from Cochise County Sheriff’s Office said: “On Thursday September 8, 2022 at approximately 1:00 am, a Cochise County Sheriff's Deputy observed a male subject in the middle of the roadway on Central Highway and Sage Lane near McNeal. The male subject waived down the Deputy and when the male subject was asked if he was alright, the male subject said he had just shot and killed someone.
“Upon getting additional details from the male subject, he indicated that he did not have the address of where the incident occurred but he was able to lead Deputies to a resident where a 61-year-old man was found deceased.
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“Detectives were called to the scene and Deputies took 52 year old Jay Albert Stevens (McNeal) into custody and charged him with first degree murder when booking him into the Cochise County Jail.
“The investigation is being continued by the Cochise County Sheriff's Office and additional details will be released as they become available.”
Elsewhere in the US, a man who had pretended to help search for a father who went missing in 2019 ended up walking into a police station three years later to confess to killing him.
Roger Loyd Taylor of Sulligent, Alabama, went missing on 10 March 2019 while driving to visit his daughter in Mississippi.
During the night, he called her to say his car was stuck, and after that nobody knew where he'd gone.
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Taylor had been a missing person ever since then; two days after his disappearance his car was discovered abandoned, and a body was never found.
For more than three years Taylor's fate has remained a mystery, until pastor James Eric Crisp recently walked into Monroe County Sheriff's Office and confessed to killing the man.
Monroe County Sheriff's Office said: "We are glad for Mr. Crisp to get this off his chest so that he might be able to continue to do ministry wherever the Lord has planned for him, but this does not close the case for us.
"Investigators for MCSO will look at this new evidence and determine if there should be any other charges or new suspects."
Topics: US News
Jess Hardiman