On June 30th, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office received a tip about a possible murder that had reportedly happened approximately some two months earlier.

According to Sheriff Jimmy Harris, after deputies went to a residence located on Road 9095 in Valley Head to talk with a suspect – a 22 year old by the name of Marcus Gordon Ricketts, he confessed and lead Deputies and Investigators to a body which was buried in the woods behind the home, at which point he was taken into custody and charged with murder.

Harris stated that the investigation is on-going – adding that his office is still waiting for the positive identification of the body from the Alabama Department of Forensic Science.

The Sheriff says “This subject has been missing since May, and a missing person report was filed. We received information that this person had been possibly stabbed or struck with a blunt object stuffed in a 55 gallon drum that was sealed at both ends and poured with loose concrete.  It only took a short amount of time to locate the barrel.  We’ve had a lot of assistance from our Deputies, Investigators, the District Attorney’s Office, Mark Hopwood from the Department of Forensic Science at Jacksonville State University, Sylvania Police Department and various agencies and I would like to thank them all for their hard work.”     

We’ll have additional information as it becomes available.