While they have not located the shooter in a New Year’s Day triple homicide along the Mississippi-Alabama border, law enforcement has arrested a man they believed helped the killer.
The Greene County Sheriff’s Office arrested Drexler Johnson, 37, of Leakesville, on Thursday and charged him with accessory after the fact and conspiracy to commit a crime. Johnson is alleged to have aided the suspect behind the murders of Rhonda Deason, Lester Campbell, and Jason Thornton at a State Line gas station.
On the morning of Jan. 1, Deason and her boyfriend Campbell were opening the Clark’s gas station before 6 a.m. Thornton, who was a customer of the store, was also there when a masked man entered and shot both him and Campbell. As the intruder grabbed Thornton’s wallet, Denson locked herself in a backroom. The suspect is said to have broken down the door and dragged her to the front to open the cash register and store’s safe. Upon doing so, he shot her in the face and took the money.
The suspect, who was also wearing gloves at the time of the murders, stole a black Toyota Camry from the store’s parking lot before ditching it four miles away in the nearby Knobtown community.
The Greene County sheriff did note that community members helped lead investigators to Johnson, although he did not provide many details on Johnson’s alleged involvement.
“I am thankful for the community’s assistance in providing information [and] to continue to contact our office,” Greene County Sheriff Ryan Walley told WDAM-TV. “We are still actively investigating this case, and this case is my number one priority, so I may provide justice to all the families affected by this tragedy.”
Different parties have also joined forces to provide a $100,000 reward in exchange for information leading to the identification of the killer.
Anyone with relevant information is asked to contact the Greene County Sheriff’s Office at (601) 394-2342 or Mississippi Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-877-787-5898.
