Reward Doubled in Hunt for Neo-Nazi Murder Suspect
The manhunt for a white supremacist suspected in the brutal beating death of a comrade affiliated with the neo-Nazi Aryan Nations has dragged on for more than two months and stretched from Tennessee to East Texas to New York state.
Now, the U.S. Marshals Service has doubled the reward – from $2,500 to $5,000 – for information leading to the capture of David Gordon Jenkins, 46, of Manchester, Tenn.
Jenkins is the last of four suspects in the March beating death in rural Franklin County, Tenn., of Corey N. Matthews, 26, a volunteer firefighter who authorities say was affiliated, like his suspected killers, with the Aryan Nations.
The Aryan Nations was based in Northern Idaho for many years before a Southern Poverty Law Center lawsuit reduced it to a few squabbling splinter groups that each claim to be the rightful heir of the once-storied organization.
Franklin County authorities contend Matthews was killed in a dispute “over the white supremacist organization’s doctrine.”
The heavily tattooed, 5-foot-10, 185-pound Jenkins is on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s most wanted list. He is believed to have connections to the Aryan Brotherhood, one of the most violent prison-based white supremacist gangs in the country.
The manhunt for Jenkins has stretched from rural Franklin County to Corning, N.Y., where he once lived, to East Texas, where he was reportedly seen recently.
The other suspects were captured more quickly. Two of them – John Corey Lanier, 26, and Todd E. Dalton, 39, both of Tennessee – were arrested and charged with murder in early April. A third suspect, Coty Keith Holmes, 25, of Hillsboro, Tenn., remained at large until he was arrested in mid-April in Florida.
Matthews died of blunt force trauma to the head and upper body, and most likely was killed on the evening of March 23. His battered body was discovered the next day on Jackson Cemetery Road.
