When police stopped a trucker suspected of toll evasion in New Jersey they got a big surprise. His passenger who had hitched a ride and had been traveling with the trucker for almost a week was a person of interest in a Tennessee murder case.
Murder suspect Charles Randy Kelley, 52, of White Pine, TN, was in a truck driven by Manuel Velasco when Port Authority police stopped the truck when Velasco tried to bypass the toll booth at the George Washington Bridge leading into New York City, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. Kelly is charged with the May 21 murder of Johnny Arwood, 47, also of White Pine and is also wanted on forgery and theft charges.
The fugitive had been riding with the trucker since he asked for a ride at a gas station off Interstate 81 in Tennessee on Sunday Sept. 16. Port Authority police pulled the pair over on Friday Sept 21. Velasco said he had taken Kelly on deliveries and even to his home in Valley Stream, NY, for dinner.
