Kenneth Leroy McCoy, Jessica Nichole Roberts
FLORA, Ill. - Flora Police thought they were rounding up a couple of panhandlers at a city business yesterday...and ended up with homicide suspects on their hands.
Flora Police Chief John Nicholson said that at 1:38 p.m. yesterday afternoon (Thursday, December 14), the Flora police department responded to a complaint of two people asking for money at the Mach 1 gas station, on North State Road, in Flora.
Upon arrival the officers determined that the two individuals had already left the area.
Officers then went to the Walmart parking lot to check and see if the individuals had maybe gone there.
Officers located the reported vehicle from Mach 1 parked in the Walmart parking lot unoccupied. A records check was run on the license plate, which indicated that the plate was a stolen plate out of Indiana.
Flora officers conducted surveillance on the suspect vehicle and a short time later they observed a male and female approach the car.
Upon making contact with the two individuals the officers identified them as Kenneth Leroy McCoy, 33, and Jessica Nicole Roberts, 25, both of Parkersburg, West Virginia.
Officers then conducted a records check on the vehicle's VIN and it was determined that the vehicle and suspects were wanted in West Virginia for a recent homicide investigation.
Both suspects were taken into custody and transported to the Flora police department. West Virginia authorities have been notified. Both suspects are now in the Clay County Jail awaiting extradition back to West Virginia.