Arrest made in Level Plains slaying

Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said investigators expect to file at least one capital murder charge in the home invasion slaying of a 43-year-old Level Plains man on Sunday evening.

By Matt Elofson
Published: October 19, 2009

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Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said investigators expect to file at least one capital murder charge in the home invasion slaying of a 43-year-old Level Plains man on Sunday evening.

Olson said detectives have two men in custody who are believed to be involved in the shooting death that happened during a robbery at the victim’s residence.

Dale County Coroner Woody Hilboldt said he pronounced Marcus Blackmon, 43, dead around 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Hilboldt said Blackmon appeared to have died from a single gunshot wound to the chest. Hilboldt said he found Blackmon dead on the floor of the den in his home.

“We will probably be looking at a capital murder charge on one of them,” Olson said.

Olson said detectives took a man they believed was the shooter in the slaying into custody Monday morning. He said they later took another man into custody, and were still looking for a third man believed to be involved. Olson said one of the men in custody has been charged for his involvement, but the type of charges and names of the people involved were not released by Monday evening.

He said the shooter likely used a 9mm handgun while the second man apparently carried some type of rifle. He said a third man apparently served as the getaway driver, and waited down the road from the residence. Olson said there was no evidence of forced entry into the residence.

“He was not expecting them. It’s possible that they knew each other,” Olson said. “We have no evidence that they took something.”

A statement from Level Plains Police Chief L.A. Bonds said officers responded around 8:15 p.m. to a residence on Dale County Road 109 in Level Plains to a report of two men with guns having entered the home. According to witnesses, the gunmen demanded the location of drugs and money in the home. The investigation was later turned over to the Dale County Sheriff’s Office.

Olson said there were two women in the home at the time of the shooting, including Blackmon’s girlfriend and one of their friends. Blackmon’s girlfriend was assaulted during the robbery, but Olson called her injuries non-life threatening.

Anyone with information can call Dale County Sheriff’s Detective Marlo Walker at 774-2335.