Investigators with the Bogalusa Police Department arrested a man in relation with the shooting death of a Lumberton man, which occurred July 1.
Bogalusa Police Department Public Information Officer Maj. Percy Knight said the suspect is identified as 21-year-old Kakeithan Dantel Matthews of Bogalusa. Matthews was picked up Wednesday night after investigators observed him get into the passenger side of a vehicle. Knight said the investigators had already established him as a suspect, and conducted a traffic stop on South Dauphine Street to take him into custody for the offense of first-degree murder.
Knight said the details of Matthews’ involvement in the case are currently unavailable.
Matthews was arrested in relation to the shooting death of 54-year-old Jon Kelly Smith of Lumberton, according to a press release from the Bogalusa Police Department. Smith’s obituary lists his age as 50.
According to the release, a report that someone was shot in the area of Bund Street near Sullivan Drive brought Bogalusa Police officers to the area the day of July 1. When they arrived, no one was at the scene and checks at the local hospital found no had come in with gunshot wounds, Knight said.
After receiving a community tip that someone had thrown a suspicious black object in the trash, officers searched the receptacle and found a checkbook belonging to the wife of Smith, the release states. Knight said during a previous interview that the checkbook was the first piece of evidence the department received linking Smith to the incident.
According to previous coverage by the Item, the wife drove Smith home after he was shot instead of bringing him to the hospital. Smith was struck in the chest and hip with gunfire, previous coverage states. Pearl River County Deputy Coroner Dempsey Seals said during a previous interview that Smith collapsed on the ground in front of his home after exiting the passenger side of the vehicle and was pronounced by emergency personnel.