Two Alabama teens have been arrested and charged with the murder of a 16-year-old Montgomery high school student who was found shot to death days after he was reported missing.
Michael Anthony Cole Jr. was found dead Monday, and Nedvin Maynard Jones Jr. and Nicholas Treyvon King-Sheppard, both 18, have been arrested, AL.com reported. Charging documents say the pair fired shots into an occupied dwelling last Thursday, killing Cole.
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency issued an emergency missing alert for Cole on Monday, shortly before his body was found, and canceled it on Tuesday, as CrimeOnline reported.
Jones and King-Sheppard were booked into the Montgomery County Detention Center before 7 a.m. Tuesday.
Cole was last seen around 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, and his family filed a missing person’s report on Friday, AL.com reported. Investigators initially believed he was a runaway, but tips from the public led them to change the status to missing person.
Before finding the body, police had learned of a shooting incident on Thursday with a link to Cole’s disappearance. At that location — in south Montgomery — they found bullet damage but not the missing boy.
On Monday, Cole’s body was found several miles from the shooting location, just west of the Montgomery Regional Airport. Investigators have not said what led them to that location or how they identified the suspects.
“There is indication that all parties knew each other,’’ Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert said. “All to often it’s individuals who know each other. That’s why it’s so important when we talk about de-escalation and conflict resolution.”
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[Featured image: Michael Anthony Cole Jr/Alabama Law Enforcement Agency]
