Two Indicted For Capital Murder After Two Bodies Found On Old Fayette Road

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated with quotes from Captain Jack Kennedy, commander of the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit.

NORTHPORT, AL — Tuscaloosa Patch has confirmed two suspects have been indicted for capital murder after the bodies of two men were found days apart in October on Old Fayette Road in northern Tuscaloosa County.

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Tuscaloosa County Jail records show that Barry Donnell Craig, 51, and Wesley Alexander Rice, 31, are both booked on two counts of capital murder, one count of murder and certain persons prohibited from possessing a firearm.

"The Violent Crimes Unit has not ceased to work on this case since that time," said Captain Jack Kennedy, the commander of the multiagency unit, in an update Tuesday afternoon. "This investigation has involved extensive amounts of forensic testing, cyber analysis, witness statements, and multiple search warrants have been executed."

Kennedy then said the suspects knew the victims and had been engaged in an ongoing dispute with one of them for some time.

"Both suspects were arrested late [Monday] night and committed to the Tuscaloosa County Jail.," he said. "These arrests are not the end of this investigation, and it is ongoing."

The underlying felony or felonies that elevated the charges to capital murder are unclear at this time and no details have been obtained regarding the additional felony murder charge on their jail records.

Court documents obtained by Patch in October showed that Craig, who has a prior record with at least one conviction for a violent offense, was already on law enforcement's radar as a "suspect in a double murder" in the immediate aftermath of the two bodies being found.

Craig's address, where he lives alone, is listed in court documents as being located in the 15000 block of Old Fayette Road — a residence that splits the difference between the two crime scenes, which are a mile or so apart.

As Patch previously reported, the body of Terance Smith, 43, was found the morning of Oct. 20 at a reportedly abandoned house on Old Fayette Road, just off Highway 43.

The exact circumstances and cause of death for Smith have not been made public at this time.

However, Smith's suspicious death prompted law enforcement to announce investigators were seeking 37-year-old Erik Bradley Thomas as a person of interest in Smith's death, before his body was also found in another abandoned house a few days later near the initial crime scene on Old Fayette Road.

Thomas' body was finally discovered by family members following three days of searching, with sources telling Patch he had been tied up and shot.

A deposition obtained by Tuscaloosa Patch shows that on Oct. 24 — the day after Thomas' body was found — the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit executed a search warrant at Craig’s residence, where they found a loaded shotgun and ammunition.

Craig had previously pleaded guilty in 2000 to trafficking cocaine and discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling. He was then arrested on Oct. 24 for a certain persons forbidden from possessing a firearm before being formally charged with capital murder on Monday.

The Oct. 24 arrest suggests investigators were still building a case against Craig at the time.

Court records show the Tuscaloosa County District Attorney's Office requested that Craig wear an ankle monitor as a condition of his release on a $50,000 cash bond for the felon in possession of firearm case, allowing them to monitor his whereabouts as the murder investigation moved forward.

No bond has been set for either suspect and it is unclear if any additional arrests can be expected.

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