A fugitive wanted in connection with two killings in Rankin County and a supsect in a killing in Neshoba County along with a string of shootings was finally caught in Kansas Wednesday after he jumped across state lines.
Alex Deaton, 28, was a suspect in two murders and an additional shooting in Mississippi, and was linked to a shooting, carjacking and kidnapping in New Mexico and a carjacking and shooting in Kansas.
At around 7:50 a.m., Kansas State Troopers tried stopping a black Cadillac that matched the description of the stolen vehicle Deaton was driving near Dorrance, a couple hours northwest of Wichita. Deaton did not stop and sped eastbound down the highway. State police successfully stopped the vehicle with spike sticks a few minutes into the high-speed chase.
Deaton's Cadillac eventually crashed and caught fire. Deaton was arrested immediately, according to Technical Trooper Tod Hileman.
Deaton was believed to have stolen a couple’s car in New Mexico earlier this week before driving to Kansas where he allegedly shot a store clerk and stole his car, the Clarion-Ledger reports.
Deaton supposedly came out of a wooded area and approached a couple in a 2001 Honda sedan that was parked in the parking lot of La Luz Trail Head in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He held them at gunpoint and a struggle to escape ensued, investigators said.
Alex Bridges Deaton, 28, is wanted in the shooting of a jogger early Friday morning and is also believed to be connected to the death of his girlfriend, 30-year-old Heather Robinson. According to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation who is assisting Ranking and Neshoba County Sheriff Departments’, Deaton is wanted for aggravated assault and murder.
On Thursday, Brenda Strickland Pinter, 69, was found dead inside the office of Dixon Baptist Church on Hwy. 21 S. in Philadelphia.
Neshoba County Sheriff Tommy Waddell says shortly after Pinter arrived at the church to clean, a white SUV was spotted in the parking lot of the church and remained there for several minutes. No other vehicles entered the parking lot until shortly before 6 p.m. when Pinter’s husband discovered her.
Deaton has family in the Dixon community.
According to Rankin County authorities, on Friday, Feb. 24 at approximately 5 a.m., the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department received a 911 call from a woman who stated that she had been shot while jogging along Castlewood’s Blvd. During the investigation the victim stated that a white male with facial hair driving a small white SUV shot her from his driver’s window striking her in the thigh.
Also on Friday February 24 at approximately 4:20 p.m., the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office received a request to do a welfare check on a resident at Vineyards Apartments off of Vine Drive near Castlewoods subdivision. A deputy along with a family member found the 30-year-old female deceased inside the apartment. Robinsons’ vehicle, a white 2012 GMC Acadia SUV was missing.
