CLAY COUNTY — Four teens have been arrested and charged with capital murder, according to Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott. Two of the teens are sons of public officials in West Point.
William Austin Hill, 17, Emerson Houston, 19, and brothers Jeremy Klutts Jr, 15, and Greyson Klutts, 17, all of West Point, were charged with capital murder in the shooting death of Mikel Craven, 41.
Hill and Houston were arrested Friday. The Klutts brothers were arrested Tuesday.
Jeremy Klutts Jr. and Greyson Klutts are the sons of West Point Building Inspector Jeremy Klutts Sr. and West Point-Clay County Community Growth Alliance Director of Community Development Lisa Klutts.
The charge is capital murder because the shooting is believed to have happened during an armed robbery, Scott said.
Craven was shot on March 11 on Blake Road, near the intersection with Pine Grove Road, in Cedar Bluff, Scott said.
“This is the first time since I’ve been sheriff I’ve seen (a capital murder) with suspects this young,” Scott said.
Scott said it was a difficult case to work.
“I knew the (Klutts) family,” he said. “I pretty much watched those two grow up.”
All four defendants were arraigned Tuesday in Clay County Justice Court by Judge Thomas Hampton. Jeremy Klutts Jr. was granted a conditional $75,000 bond that included wearing an ankle monitor. The other three were denied bond.
“I don’t know how to respond as a public official because those are my babies,” Lisa Klutts wrote in a text message this morning in response to The Dispatch reaching out to her for comment.
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