3rd suspect charged in Montgomery capital murder case

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Montgomery police confirm a third man has been charged with capital murder in a deadly kidnapping case from November 2022.

Central Alabama CrimeStoppers reports that Jeffery Pruitt, 35, was taken into custody Tuesday. The U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Task Force reportedly found him hiding in a kitchen cabinet in an abandoned home in Montgomery.

CrimeStoppers said an anonymous tip led to Pruitt’s capture.

Maj. Saba Coleman of the Montgomery Police Department said Pruitt was wanted in the death of 47-year-old Nakel Johnson.

Two other suspects, Reginald Renard Jones and Jonathan Antonio Hoover, have already been charged in this case. According to their affidavits, Johnson was forcibly held in a hotel room between Nov. 13-15, where he was beaten with various objects then stuffed into the trunk of his own car. Investigators say that car was dumped - with Johnson trapped inside - in Lapine, where the suspects allegedly tried to burn the vehicle.

Investigators say all of this led to the victim’s death, which was pronounced on Nov. 15.

The motive behind the crime was not released.

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