KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Mississippi investigators joined counterparts in Kansas on Thursday, hoping to secure evidence and interview the suspect in a three-state crime spree that included two Mississippi slayings, a New Mexico carjacking and the shooting of a clerk west of Wichita.
The store clerk, 19-year-old Riley Juel, was in stable condition at a Wichita hospital after Wednesday’s shooting in Pratt, Kan.
That’s where suspect Alex Deaton, 28, is suspected of stealing a car, which he later crashed, leading to his capture.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt late Thursday charged Deaton with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated robbery, theft and fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer. Deaton’s being held on $5 million bond and his first court appearance is scheduled for Monday in Pratt County.
Authorities said Deaton is believed to have strangled his girlfriend, Heather Robinson, 30, on Feb. 22, or early the following day at her apartment in the Jackson area.
He’s suspected of then driving her white SUV to nearby Neshoba County, where 69-year-old Brenda Pinter was shot to death at a church she was cleaning on Feb. 23. Authorities said he also is suspected of wounding a jogger in Rankin County on Friday morning in a drive-by shooting. He is then believed to have headed west, in Robinson’s SUV.
Rankin Sheriff Bryan Bailey said authorities began to link the Mississippi crimes once Robinson’s body was found Friday afternoon, when police found that her SUV was missing.
Bailey said Thursday that the SUV has been recovered in New Mexico, where Deaton is suspected in the Tuesday carjacking and brief abduction of two hikers, one of whom was shot and wounded after they pulled the release lever in the trunk of their Honda to escape.
Sandoval County, New Mexico, Sheriff’s Lt. Keith Elder said Deaton then briefly stole a van and forced the woman to get in. When she jumped out, Elder said, Deaton returned to steal the couple’s Honda. He was spotted in a Honda Wednesday morning. He eluded police, but was captured later Wednesday after the theft of the car at the Pratt Kwik Stop, where Juel was shot.
Juel underwent surgery and is expected to be hospitalized for about a week.
Bailey said he believes Robinson was killed because she was trying to break up with Deaton.
