Four men now charged with capital murder after Gautier man found floating in river
Charges have been upgraded to capital murder for three men who were arrested in connection with the death of Dustin Lee Settles, whose body was found floating in the Pascagoula River on Sept. 22.
Zachary Cooper, 27, of Moss Point, Jason Lee Miller, 36, of Lucedale and Taylor Allan Carpenter, 23, of Escatawpa, previously were charged with accessory after the fact to capital murder.
Joseph Paul McLeod, 33, of Pascagoula was arrested Sept. 24 on unrelated charges. The capital murder charge was added the following day.
Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell said the charges were upgraded Tuesday during an investigation into the death of the Gautier man.
All four men are being held without bail at the Jackson County jail after their initial court appearances.
Suttles, 29, of Gautier was found in the river by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks around 1 p.m., near the Roy Cumbest Bridge off Wade/Vancleave Road.
Suttles’ family identified him after the Sheriff’s Department shared a picture of his arm with tattoos including the numbers “334” and other images.
This story was originally published October 13, 2020 at 3:47 PM.
