Authorities arrested a Delaware man on Tuesday wanted in a 1967 murder and kidnapping cold case in Arkansas, Jackson County sheriff's office officials say.
James Leon Clay, 67, of Georgetown, Del., was arrested as the result of an investigation started in January when an FBI agent contacted Jackson County Sheriff David Lucas with information about the cold case, Lucas said in a news release.
Clay admitted to a cellmate in 2012 while in prison for attempted bank robbery that he had "killed James Ricks in Arkansas in 1967 and that he was never charged with the murder," according to an arrest affidavit.
Remains were found on Aug. 27, 1967, near Newport and later identified as belonging to Ricks, 27, of North Little Rock, the affidavit states.
Ricks died from a gunshot wound to the back of the head, according to the affidavit.
Clay and his brother Leon Clay were arrested in Maryland in 1967 for carrying concealed weapons that were identified as being stolen in Little Rock, and were in possession of Ricks' vehicle, according to the affidavit.
The brothers were transported to Little Rock and were convicted on charges of transporting a stolen vehicle to another state but were never charged in Ricks' murder, the affidavit states.
Clay is being held in the Sussex County jail in Georgetown without bail and is expected to have an extradition hearing this week, Lucas said.
Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.