Oconee sheriff: Ex-UGA player never a suspect in clerk's slaying until ballistics match

During a yearlong investigation into the shooting death of RaceTrac station clerk Elijah Wood, the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office compiled files on 51 people investigated as potential murder suspects.

But the suspect arrested Wednesday in Philadelphia, Pa., was not in that stack of files.

“This person was never on the radar until Feb. 15,” Oconee County Sheriff James Hale said Thursday during a news conference at the sheriff’s office.

The suspect, Ahkil Nasir Crumpton, is in a Philadelphia jail awaiting extradition to Georgia on a murder charge.

Crumpton, a former University of Georgia football player during the 2017 and 2018 seasons, is charged with the murder of Wood, who was working alone about 1:30 a.m. March 19, 2021, on the nightshift at the RaceTrac station on U.S. Highway 441 north of Watkinsville.

Watch: Oconee County sheriff speaks about the arrest made in 2021 RaceTrac shooting death

Wood, 23, of Watkinsville was shot to death in what Hale described as an apparent “robbery gone bad.”

Crumpton does not have a criminal history, Hale said. A UGA spokesman said Wednesday that Crumpton attended the 2021 spring semester, but he has not graduated the university.

Hale said there is no timetable for Crumpton’s return to Watkinsville, but it should be soon. He also could not say how cooperative the suspect is with police in Philadelphia, where Crumpton grew up and has family.

During the investigation on the night of the slaying, a deputy located a shell casing that ultimately proved the key evidence in identifying a suspect.

That shell casing, according to Hale, was matched to a shell casing found at a homicide scene in Philadelphia. From there, the investigation targeted Crumpton, but the details of how that happened have not been released.

Crumpton was living in the Athens-Oconee area when Wood was slain, but Hale declined to say specifically where Crumpton was living, nor would he say if the gun used in the killing has been recovered.

“We hope the family can get a little bit of solace and understanding that we have worked ourselves to death to make this case come to this part of the end,” Hale said.

Standing with Hale at the news conference were Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Agent Alisha Jones, who is in charge of the Athens field office, FBI Agent Andy Smith and U.S. Attorney Peter Leary, who said he grew up about a mile from the sheriff’s office.

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All three noted the cooperation in the investigation between the sheriff’s office, their federal agencies and the Philadelphia Police Department.

Hale explained that an ATF agent was at the sheriff’s office in February for a weekly briefing on the case when they discussed the use of the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) database.

The next day, he said, they received “a hit.”

“We were ecstatic,” the sheriff said.

As Hale described that moment, his voice cracked with emotion. The investigators needed verification on the match, Hale said, and “mountains moved within hours – I’ll tell you that.”

The match was made on Feb. 15 and a month later on Wednesday, authorities in Philadelphia took Crumpton into custody.

Hale was particularly moved by the help his office received in Philadelphia.

“There is a team at the Philadelphia Police Department right now that I will tell you – I’d go anywhere,” he said with an emotional voice. “They made this happen.”

“They put together an operational plan there that is unlike anything we’ve ever seen and we executed it with flawless ability,” Hale said.

The shell casing in Philadelphia was recovered at the scene of a homicide in July 2021 and according to a Philadelphia police website, the death of that man is still unsolved.

In the wake of the arrest, RaceTrac issued a statement Thursday.

“We continue to be devastated by this senseless tragedy. Our hope is that Elijah’s family and the Oconee County community rests a littler easier now that a suspect has been identified. The Watkinsville RaceTrac team will remember him as the always smiling big teddy bear who was an incredibly hard worker and their go-to guy,” the statement said.

UGA issued a statement saying: “We were stunned to learn that the suspect in this horrific crime is a former UGA student athlete. We offer our heartfelt sympathy to Elijah Wood’s family.”

Tripp Lemmonds, the brother-in-law of Wood, said this week that the family is relieved about the arrest.

Lemmonds said he was surprised by the suspect’s identity.

“It is sad that someone who could have had so much promise with his life could take the life of somebody else who had so much promise,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Elijah Wood death: Ex-UGA player not suspected until ballistics match