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Three teenagers and one 27-year-old man have been charged in connection with the fatal beating of 27-year-old Jordan Collins over the weekend.Photo by Contributed Photo /Chattanooga Times Free Press.
The life of a 27-year-old Red Bank man was taken for less than $1,000 spent on cigarettes, clothing and an Xbox game, according to police reports.
Jordan Collins was discovered inside his home Saturday morning, lying in a pool of blood after he was beaten four to five times on the head and face area with a crowbar. Authorities have charged his former roommate, 19-year-old Zachary Hughes, with criminal homicide in connection with his death.
Two others -- Markel Mitchell, 16, and Jeremy Sean Reinig, 27 -- also are charged with criminal homicide. All three and another man, 19-year-old Lorenzo Bell, have been charged with fraudulent use of a credit card.
Authorities believe Collins was killed between 11 p.m. Friday and 3 a.m. Saturday in his home at 3710 Redding Road. At 3:21 a.m. Saturday, his credit card was used at the nearby Kangaroo station on Redding, police said.
The card was used four times that morning at the store to ring up a total of $637.09 on cigarettes, the police report said. The fifth time, when a man tried to use the card at 7 a.m. to buy beer, the clerk noticed a tattoo reading "Zach" across his fingers, then noticed the credit card used to buy the beer had the name "Jordan Collins."
When the clerk asked for ID, the man replied he didn't have any on him and left, the report said.
Later, Collins' card was used to buy about $180 in clothing and an Xbox game at the Walmart on Signal Mountain Road, the report said. The card was tried again at the Walmart for a $1,200 purchase, but it was declined, said Red Bank Staff Sgt. Dan Knight.
Collins' mother noticed the activity on the card at Walmart and contacted Red Bank police, who pulled detailed images from the surveillance system.
When Mitchell and Bell were arrested at Bell's residence Saturday, they were wearing shirts purchased at Walmart using Collins' card, police said.
The crowbar was recovered near Lamar Avenue by authorities, according to police.
The four are expected to return to Red Bank court on Monday. Mitchell, Hughes and Reinig remain in Hamilton County Jail without bond while Bell has a bond set at $5,000.
Question: Why hasn't our local "hero" Monty "Python" Miller come out and made a statement? Isn't the mayor suppose to assure us that our neighborhoods are still safe despite the HUGE increase in car thefts, burglaries, and now homocides? I certainly do not want to rain on his middle school parade or his "super duper" efficient traffic system but, to be quite honest, I am more concerned about my own personal safety!
NOTE: Please do not read into my obvious sarcasm and disregard the valid point of high crime penetrating redbank!
Four cowards beating up on an innocent young man; this is the most revolting, disgusting, appalling thing that I can imagine happening to a loved one. To beat all, a former roommate was probably the one to set this up, a person (non-human IMO)whom this young man entrusted into his home. These 4 sociopaths with absolutely no conscience whatsoever should never see the light of day outside a jail cell again. Possibly someone on the inside will treat each one of them to the same fate they gave this young man.
$637.09 on cigarettes? Would that not be considered an unusual purchase? Would that not be a red flag for a cashier to check out? Hmm...ask for I.D. then maybe?
What a bunch of heartless idiots. Let's rob and murder someone and then go use his stolen credit cards at a store with hundreds of cameras.
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