DeKalb Sheriff makes arrest in 2 month old murder

FORT PAYNE, Alabama (WDEF) – The Sheriff of DeKalb County announces a grim end to a missing persons case.

The unidentified person was reported missing two months ago.

Then over the weekend, the Sheriff’s Office got a tip about a possible murder.

They interviewed 22 year old Marcus Gordon Ricketts at his home in Valley Head, north of Fort Payne.

The Sheriff says Ricketts confessed and showed him where he buried the body in the woods behind his home.

Investigators are still waiting on the official identification of the victim by the Alabama Department of Forensic Science.

Sheriff Harris says “This subject has been missing since May and a missing person report was filed. We received information that this person had been possibly stabbed or struck with a blunt object, stuffed in a 55 gallon drum that was sealed at both ends and poured with lose concrete. It only took a short amount of time to locate the barrel.

We had a lot of assistant from our Deputies, Investigators, the District Attorney’s Office, Mark Hopwood from the Department of Forensic Science at Jacksonville State University, Sylvania Police Department and various agencies and I would like to thank them all for their hard work.”