Fourth suspect in Franklin County, Tenn., cornfield killing in custody

photo David Gordon Jenkins

The fourth suspect sought in the death of a man whose body was found March 24 in a Franklin County cornfield has been apprehended in New Mexico, authorities said late Tuesday.

David Gordon Jenkins was taken into custody by Lea County, N.M., on fugitive from justice warrants issued in the slaying of Cowan, Tenn., resident Corey N. Matthews, Franklin County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Chris Guess said in a release from the department.

Jenkins, 46 at the time of the crime in March, has been at-large since Matthews' body was discovered.

John Corey Lanier, Todd E. Dalton, both of Manchester, Tenn., and Coty Keith Holmes, of Hillsboro, Tenn., were taken into custody in the days and weeks following the slaying.

All four are now charged with first-degree murder and have ties to white supremacy groups, as did the victim, according to Franklin County authorities. Investigators believe the men's ties to Aryan Nation and possibly Aryan Brotherhood are linked to the slaying.

Twelfth Judicial District Attorney General Mike Taylor has said those affiliations will play into prosecution of the case.

Matthews' body was found in a cornfield across from the Jackson Cemetery on Slag Town Road after his family reported him missing. He was found lying on his back in clothes wet from a recent rainstorm with blunt trauma to his head and face, TBI and Franklin County officials said.

Jenkins is being held in the Leas County Detention Center in Lovington, N.M., while the status of his extradition is determined.

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