Escaped prisoner back in custody after allegedly killing man during suspected drug transaction, police say

A prisoner who escaped a work release program is back in custody and now accused of murdering a man in Alabama during a suspected botched drug deal, police said.

On March 4, officers with the Dothan Police Department responded to a report of what was initially believed to be an accident involving a vehicle that struck a residence, police said.

Officers on the scene discovered the driver, who was the sole occupant of the crashed car, had suffered a gunshot wound to the upper torso, and the man was declared dead.

Investigators later identified the victim as 36-year-old Kevin Montrea Jones of Albany, Georgia.

According to police, Jones’ vehicle crashed through a chain link fence, hit an electrical pole and then collided with the home after he had been shot during a suspected drug transaction, WSFA reported.

Police arrested Alec Jamez Killingsworth, 20, on March 8 and charged him and a juvenile, who officials did not publicly name because of privacy laws, each with one count of capital murder-robbery, and one count of capital murder-shooting into an occupied vehicle.

Both were being held without bond.

Authorities also charged Nikisha Nichole Baldwin, 43, Kelly Victoria Arnold, 22, and 21-year-old David Sanford with hindering prosecution. Their bonds were each set at $15,000.

WSFA reported Killingworth escaped from a Houston County work release program last November after he served around one week of a 10-year sentence in connection to a theft and robbery case.

Officials released no further details about the ongoing investigation into Jones' homicide.