Metro Atlanta man arrested for part in California “murder-for-hire” killing, police say

Credit: MGB

A Brookhaven man is in custody facing multiple charges after investigators say he took part in a “murder-for-hire” killing in California.

Jerry E. Wheeler is facing charges of murder, murder for financial or other consideration, and criminal conspiracy to commit murder.

Authorities say the arrest was in connection with the Jan. 13th killing of 30-year-old Aaron “A.J.” Jacob Parr in Murrieta, California. According to the City of Murietta Police Department, officers were called to an apartment complex on Jackson Avenue and found Parr dead inside one of the units.

After determining Parr’s death was a homicide, the California police department arrested two people: Ignacia Perkins, the victim’s ex-girlfriend, and James Petri, described as Perkins’s acquaintance.

Investigators say they identified two other suspects in the case: Wheeler and 39-year-old Kenneth Maxwell. Both were arrested on Wednesday, with Maxwell taken into custody in Midfield, Alabama.

In a release announcing Wheeler’s arrest, the Brookhaven Police Department described Parr’s death as a “murder-for-hire, deliberately and methodically planned.”

Both Wheeler and Maxwell are now waiting for extradition to California.

Officials are asking anyone with information that would help with the case to contact detectives with the Murrieta Police Department at (951) 461-6353.