A Columbus man who has been held in Lowndes County Adult Detention Center for two years was acquitted Thursday for the 2024 murder of 23-year-old Elias Trudell, whose body was found burned in a vehicle near Luxapalila Creek.
Kenneth Jones, 21, was found not guilty of capital murder in Lowndes County Circuit Court after the jury deliberated for less than two hours, concluding a three-day trial of an alleged drug deal turned homicide.
Defense Attorney Anna Kate Robbins said Jones’ innocence was clear from the start.
“We put on a case that he was not guilty, and he indeed was not guilty,” Robbins told The Dispatch on Thursday, noting Jones testified on his own behalf. “He got up there and told the truth, and it won the day for him. We’re thrilled … that he will now be with his family again.”
During closing arguments Thursday, the prosecution outlined what Assistant District Attorney Marc Amos described as “almost the perfect crime,” with the state’s case relying on digital evidence collected from Jones’ cell phone and testimony from two of Jones’ co-defendants, both of whom are charged with accessory to murder.
During closing arguments, Amos referred heavily back to co-defendant Jalen Young’s witness testimony to make the prosecution’s case.
The prosecution alleged that on Sept. 1, 2024, Trudell traveled from Colorado with another man to sell counterfeit drugs to Young, then 24, of Starkville, and met Young, along with Jones, co-defendants Makye Butler, 20, and David Hall, 25, and two other men that evening at Yorkville Apartments in Lowndes County.
After their arrival, the men left in three separate vehicles heading to a residence on Highway 69 in Lowndes County, Amos explained. From there, at about 5:50 p.m., Young drove a car containing Trudell and Jones back toward Columbus, headed northwest on Highway 69, at which point he claimed to hear Jones fire two gunshots in the car, splattering Trudell’s blood on the dashboard.
Jones then allegedly called Butler and Hall, who were in a second car nearby, to follow them to a wooded area near the entrance to Luxapalila Creek off Doty Road. Once there, Young testified Jones stepped out of the car, took Trudell’s gun and shot him a third time before using his own clothing as an accelerant to light the car containing Trudell’s body on fire, after which all men left the scene in the secondary vehicle.
Amos said a medical examiner confirmed that Trudell’s body suffered at least two gunshots – one through the back and one through his head.
The prosecution also pointed to a photo taken from Jones’ phone two days later as the “big” piece of evidence, which showed the exact model of gun that was taken from Trudell’s body. However, the gun could not be identified by its serial number on the photo.
Amos also showed jurors a map of Young, Butler and Jones’ cell phone locations, obtained through the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office investigation, which corroborated Young’s and Butler’s testimony of their whereabouts.
“Execution, robbery and arson – those three words encapsulate exactly what happened … to a young man named Elias Trudell … for a simple exchange of weed,” Assistant District Attorney William Starks told jurors Thursday during closing arguments. “He had no way of knowing within hours of reaching his destination that he would be executed, … his remains charred almost beyond recognition and abandoned in a desolate wooded area in Lowndes County.”
Robbins, during the defense’s closing arguments, pointed to the prosecution’s lack of concrete evidence, noting a lack of gunshot and blood residue on any of Jones’ belongings, as well as a lack of motive for Jones to kill Trudell.
“They’re trying to convict him of capital murder because of a photo on his iPhone from two years ago,” Robbins told jurors. “… Both of the co-defendants, they have a vested interest to make sure (Jones) goes to prison, so that they don’t go for this crime. They have a vested interest in blaming someone else.”
During Jones’ testimony, he said he didn’t know Young or Butler well and claimed he was not in the vehicle with Young and Trudell when the murder occurred, Robbins told jurors during closing arguments.
Jones testified he gave his phone to Young to borrow while the men were still at Yorkville Apartments. After handing over his phone, Jones was speaking with a friend when Young and the remaining men left and did return his phone until almost 6 p.m. at his residence on MLK Drive.
“He was just in the car with (Young) and some other people that he knew, and he got wrangled up into all of this,” Robbins told The Dispatch. “Mr. Young was trying to do a drug deal, and it didn’t go as planned, and somebody got killed, but (Jones) didn’t do it.”
Amos, who called the murder of Trudell one of the most “gruesome” cases of his career given the damage done to the body, said it is too early to determine how Thursday’s verdict will affect the charges of co-defendants Young, Butler and Hall, all of whom are charged with accessory to murder.
“The jury heard all the facts and … we respect the verdict of the jury,” Amos told media outlets following the trial. “We’re going to have to sit back and adjudge the verdict and the proof that we had, and we’ll make some decisions at a later time.”
Those cases will likely go to trial in August.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
