July 22nd, 2010
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Author: Published: Thursday, July 22, 2010, 7:01 PM
CITRONELLE, Ala. — A 28-year-old man was charged with murder today after the body of a 72-year-old man was found at a home in Citronelle late Wednesday, the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office said.
Charles Gene Dees Jr. was charged with murder and first-degree theft of property Thursday in connection with the death of Allen Charles Thomas, whose body was found at his home at 19220 N. Fourth St. in Citronelle, sheriff’s spokeswoman Lori Myles said.
Dees had been arrested Saturday, hours after the killing is believed to have taken place, on a charge of carrying a pistol without a permit, but Citronelle police, sheriff’s deputies and relatives of Thomas were unaware at the time that Thomas had been killed.
Dees, who had been released on the gun charge, was turned in to deputies Thursday at the sheriff’s office in downtown Mobile by Dees’ relatives after they found out Thomas was dead, Myles said.
The gun confiscated Saturday is being examined to see if it was used in the killing, Myles said.
Dees lived in what Myles described was a “shed or similar structure” on Thomas’ property.
Thomas’ relatives contacted Citronelle police late Wednesday when they became aware that no one had spoken with him since the weekend. Once Thomas’ body was discovered, the sheriff’s office was brought in to aid in the investigation, Myles said.
Deputies arrested Dees late Saturday on the gun charge while in Thomas’ pickup at a gas station at Lott and McCrary roads, Myles said. According to jail records, he was freed on $1,500 bail Tuesday evening, about a day before Thomas’ body was discovered.
A bail hearing for Dees will be Friday morning in Mobile County District Court, according to jail records.
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