Pair charged in Mississippi pawn shop deaths
JACKSON, Miss. — A man and a woman who were wanted for questioning in a triple homicide in Mississippi over the weekend, were taken into custody in Kansas on Wednesday.
Jamison Layne Townsend, 35, and Joshua Garcia, 37, were formally charged with the Saturday homicide of three pawn shop employees.
The Jackson (Miss.) Police Department announced via Twitter on Wednesday that Townsend and Garcia were charged with three counts of capital murder each for the deaths of Bill Mosley, 81, Robert Ivy, 60, and Ted McLemore, 77, at Bill's Pawn Jewelry Coin/Stamp Exchange in Jackson.
Jackson Police Chief Lee Vance said Wednesday that police believe Garcia and Townsend could have been involved in another burglary of a different Jackson pawn shop leading up to the Saturday incident. He would not elaborate further, citing the investigation.
Vance said he hopes the extradition process moves quickly. He said he's not sure whether Mississippi would get first crack at the case since the suspects are facing their most serious charges in Mississippi.
"We've got three counts of capital murder pending against these two and obviously that would trump, so to speak, any other charges, because that's the most serious charge you can get," he said. "Hopefully we can get the first shot at it."
The FBI was called in for their resources to assist in the case, and as police tracked the fleeing suspects, state authorities issued an alert across the country to make law enforcement aware that the two were wanted in connection with the crime.
Townsend and Garcia, who were taken into custody in Junction City, Kan., also are the prime suspects in a burglary last week of Sam's Jewelry in Pascagoula, Miss., on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Addressing fears expressed by other pawn shop owners in the area, Vance said it's good to have the couple off the street.
"I think there's great cause for relief," Vance said. "I think the one thing that's the most unusual about this particular crime for what we know right now is it was committed by transient criminals. ... The coast is 150 miles from here."
A release from Geary County (Kan.) Sheriff Tony Wolf said around midnight Wednesday, deputies conducted a traffic stop on a Dodge Charger with no registration displayed on Interstate 70 and the driver sped away. The vehicle, with police in pursuit, took an exit and turned onto a road that led to a dead end. The vehicle was wrecked and inoperable, police said, and Townsend remained with the car. The driver was identified at that point as Garcia.
Deputies set up a perimeter and searched the area, including homes and buildings. Around 7 a.m., Garcia was found hiding in the back seat of a vehicle and was taken into custody. No one was injured, police said, though there was property damage at the scene of the crash. The suspects are being held at Geary County Detention Center.
The surveillance system at the pawn shop was damaged and parts of it were stolen, but two cameras captured a red Dodge Charger at the store on the day of the deaths. Garcia drives a red Dodge Charger that was spotted during the burglary of the jewelry story in Pascagoula.
Vance wouldn't discuss what evidence beyond the vehicle connects the triple homicide and the Pascagoula crime, but officials say there is physical evidence. Vance said Jackson police are confident, however, in their charges.
"We've found enough evidence to where we were comfortable in issuing arrest warrants. At this particular point I don't want to get too specific," he said. "We still haven't had a chance to get these suspects into our custody, our investigators have not been able to interview them, so I don't want to divulge much information at all, and that's on purpose."
Pascagoula Police Department Lt. Doug Adams said Tuesday that Tennessee Highway Patrol pulled over a red Dodge Charger with a paper tag around 11:30 p.m. As the trooper approached the vehicle, the driver fled. He pursued them and lost them between Chattanooga and Murfreesboro.
Garcia has been to prison multiple times for offenses in Harrison County, Miss. According to prison records, he was convicted of robbery in 1999 and sentenced to five years probation. In 2000, he received three concurrent five-year sentences for burglary, armed robbery, and receiving stolen property. In 2006, Garcia was sentenced to four years for burglary of an unoccupied dwelling, and in 2009, he was convicted of grand larceny and burglary of an unoccupied dwelling. He was released on parole in 2014 and was no longer under observation in January 2015.
Garcia also is wanted in Missouri for unlawful use of a weapon and second-degree burglary, according to the Greene County (Mo.) Sheriff's Department website.
It's not clear how the former nurse and mother of two from Missouri met the convicted felon from Mississippi, but law enforcement sources say they showed up together a few months ago when there was a traffic accident and Garcia was a passenger in Townsend's car. Townsend's license tag, registered to a BMW, also was on a red Dodge Charger with a black hood stripe that would not stop when a police car tried to pull them over in November. The pursuit was called off because of traffic congestion.
Townsend let her nursing license expire last year. The two had been staying in the Springfield, Mo., area. Her LinkedIn account identifies her as having worked at St. Mary's Hospital Medical Center in Blue Springs, Mo.
Follow Therese Apel on Twitter: @TRex21