SMITHFIELD, N.C. (WNCN) – A Clayton man was found guilty in connection to a 25-year-old murder case this week.
On Monday, a Johnston County jury found Jonathan Lynn Jenkins of Clayton guilty of the murder of Elton Whitfield of Beulaville.
According to the Johnston County District Attorney’s Office, Whitfield’s family reported him missing to the Clayton Police Department on March 20, 1999. After searching for Whitfield for weeks, a civilian found a badly decomposed body later identified as Whitfield in a wooded area off Lake Myra Road in Wake County on April 22, 1999.
In April 2006, Jenkins pled guilty to the October 1998 murder of Richard Vestal in Clayton and received an active prison sentence. Prosecutors said DNA evidence linked Jenkins to a mask that was left at the scene of the Vestal homicide. After he was released from prison, the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office named Jenkins as a suspect in a human trafficking case.
On Jan. 19, 2016, Lieutenant Donald Pate arrested Jenkins and charged him with human trafficking, sexual servitude and possession of a firearm by a felon.